Latest updates and stories from Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce and its Members

Award winning conference, training and leisure venue Wyboston Lakes Resort has again been recognised as one of the best conference venues in the country, also as among the most sustainable.

Woods Hardwick Planning have this week been shortlisted for the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence 2023. 

The team is up for Small Planning Consultancy of the Year alongside DAC Planning, Lawson Planning Partnership Ltd and Sphere25 in the East of England category.

Deroiste Natural Beauty, a Bedfordshire-based business, has received a boost from Retail Entrepreneur Theo Paphitis. Esther Roche, Founder of Deroiste Natural Beauty, tweeted Theo about her business during ‘Small Business Sunday’ (SBS).

Local businesses invited to sponsor a sculpture

Keech Hospice Care’s Wild in Art trail will be back for 2024. The last trail in 2021, which featured 60 brightly-coloured elephants, raised over £230k for the much-loved local charity.

One of Luton’s longest established family-owned group of businesses, Neville Trust, which comprises of Neville Funerals, Neville Special Projects and Neville Joinery, has successfully installed and registered its first publicly available automated external defibrillator (AED), at its premises on Marsh Road, Luton.

An expanding research company has agreed deals on two office suites at a leading technology park in the heart of the Oxford Cambridge Arc, commercial property consultants Kirkby Diamond announced today.

SEMLEP High Growth Business Adviser Sandra Edwards has more than 18 years’ marketing experience in a variety of industries, working with B2B and B2C organisations.

It’s a double celebration for the King on 6 May, not only because the world will watch his Coronation at Westminster Abbey, but because it’s the day the entries open for his (recently renamed) King’s Awards for Enterprise 2024 – and we want to do everything we can to support a strong showing from our county and our members.

HM Lord-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Susan Lousada, is delighted that three Bedfordshire-based companies are among the winners in the 2023 King’s Awards for Enterprise. Formerly known as the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, these prestigious business awards are announced annually.

An intensive growth programme has announced it will deliver an extra university masterclass for business leaders to cope with demand for the service.

The Y Spa at Wyboston Lakes Resort has earned prestigious recognition by being announced as a finalist in the coveted Good Spa Awards 2023.

A dynamic growth programme is gearing up for its last two fully-funded university masterclasses for business leaders.

The Foxley Kingham Anniversary Foundation aimed high – literally – this year to raise funds for its charity partners. The courageous team of accountants undertook challenging, even ‘death-defying’ acts to inspire people to dig deep into their pockets for the three important local health and wellbeing charities.

When it comes to the importance of employees’ mental health and wellbeing, the stats speak for themselves: in a recent CIPD UK survey, 75% of HR professionals stated that these would be the most important areas in which to provide support to staff in 2023.

Fast-growing businesses across Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes and Bedfordshire only have a few weeks left to sign up for a dynamic peer networking group.

Company colleagues’ charity collections assist aid efforts following earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

Caring colleagues at Peli BioThermal have made substantial donations to help the ongoing relief efforts, supporting victims of the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

As the new financial year kicks in on 6^th April, your business will naturally find itself focused on the challenges and opportunities the new year will bring – projecting leads, assessing pipeline, forecasting income, and planning budgets.

Wyboston Lakes Resort in Bedfordshire has introduced a new sustainability initiative to reduce food waste across the resort.
 
The People’s Pantry will ensure that unsold or unused food from the Resort’s hotel and two event venues will be made available for colleagues to take home to share with their families.

Bedford-based Stuart Amies, of new Chamber member Kenect Recruitment, has a very clear vision of his role. It is not to shoehorn candidates into positions, but to understand and solve employers’ underlying recruitment problem – something they may not themselves be fully aware of.

With over a decade’s experience in recruitment, initially in the specialist education sector, he runs and manages the entire business - covering Commercial, Industrial, Travel, and Recruitment Consultancy.

The Bedford Giving Residents’ Panel has awarded its first grants to organisations to help young children in Bedford to thrive.

Neville Funerals, one of the Home Counties longest-established family-owned businesses, is reporting an increase in requests for Direct Funerals in the wake of both the pandemic and as a result of the current cost of living crisis.

Schoolreaders is a national child literacy charity, and their vision is that every child should learn to read well.  The charity was founded in Bedfordshire in 2013 and so celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. By recruiting volunteers and placing them into primary schools across the country to provide one-to-one reading support sessions, Schoolreaders is bringing greater literacy skills to many thousands of children every week.

“Cutting and simplifying” – this is how the Government headlined its 2023 Spring Budget.

So, we did some cutting and simplifying of our own, boiling the budget down into its business essentials to highlight the changes and opportunities you need to be aware of - and how we at the Chamber help our members take action to get on top of them.

Time is running out for businesses to access a free intensive support programme designed to help them achieve sustainable long-term growth.

It’s been a busy few weeks here at the Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce.

We welcomed a visit from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Director General, Shevaun Haviland, published the results on an opinion poll on the planned expansion of Luton Airport, met with Vauxhall to discuss electric vehicle strategy and funding, and hosted a Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) event to help businesses combat the skills shortage.

Company’s industry-leading passive products receive renowned recognition in annual Asia awards, achieving accolades for excellence five years in a row

Peli BioThermal, the life science industry’s partner from discovery to distribution, is celebrating its latest awards success, including being announced as Best Temperature Control Packaging Provider.

James Trumper, is a sixth-generation member of the family-owned Neville Trust group of businesses based in Luton that includes Neville Special Projects, Neville Joinery and Neville Funerals. He made the decision that a degree apprenticeship, that will lead to him being fully qualified as a Quantity Surveyor via the programme offered by Westminster University, was the choice that best suited his needs, and his future plans.  

Giving her full reaction to today’s spring budget, Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: 
 
“The Chancellor has acted to address the unfilled jobs blighting our economy. It is especially good to see the help on childcare and for over 50s workers.  

Five ways looking at your foreign exchange provision can help you cut costs in 2023

By Sophia Awan
Strategic Partnerships Manager at Moneycorp 

Kirkby Diamond is celebrating being crowned the leading commercial property agent in Bedfordshire after completing 122 deals in 2022.