Report:Surrey Hills Enterprises CIC - Activity Report

Item: 6 (b)

Date:13th September 2017

Report:Surrey Hills Enterprises CIC - Activity Report

Written by:Simon Whalley

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Purpose of Report

To provide an update on the work of Surrey Hills Enterprises CIC

Staffing Update

There have been some key staff changes within Surrey Hills Enterprises over the last couple of months.

Wendy Varcoe took up her post as the Executive Director at Surrey Hills Enterprises on 21st August. Wendy was the Founding Executive Director at the highly successful Community Foundation for Surrey for the past 12 years following a career in land regeneration and conservation and over 9 years at Waverley Borough Council securing funding to support local communities.

Marketing support is being provided by an Advisor as a Gift in Kind following Rosslyn Rouse moving on from her position as Marketing Manager. Additional support is also being provided by TG Media who have agreed to make Surrey Hills Enterprises one of 2 charitable partners. Support will include social media, publications and marketing. Tracey Fairclough who joined as a Director in spring is also supporting the marketing through her knowledge and expertise within the food and drink industry.

Business Plan

Directors are finalising the details of the 3 year Business Plan covering 2017 – 2020. This includes a review of the Vison, Mission, Goals and Strategic Aims for this next stage of the Surrey Hills Enterprises development. The budget and targets for 2017-18 have been agreed and there is an income generation plan in place to support the Enterprises funding to deliver the work programme. A copy of the draft Vision, Mission, Goals and Values is attached.

Draft End of year Accounts, 2016-17

The draft end of year accounts for the financial year ending 30th June have been completed and shows a small profit.

Memberrecruitment

Excellent progress has been made over the last few months in supporting and engaging with existing members, recruiting new Members and securing membership renewals. In particular the progress has been supported by the personal visits and the range of membership events and activities. The aim is have a total of 122 Members by the end of the financial year (June 18).

Part of the Membership programme is to build a stronger Trade Mark brand which is highly visible and recognised by the public and which helps to support rural businesses. Work has started on this alongside the review and development of services to members.

Events

Sculpture Garden – May 2017

The Sculpture Garden event had another successful year with some 4000 visitorsover the 4 week period. It included a well-attended Members Evening and 2 Preview evenings. As a first run jointly with Surrey Sculpture Society there was a very high quality of sculptures on view and sales were consistent with those in most recent years though not reaching the peak of 2015.The importance of promoting art in the countryside is demonstrable both for those producing art in many forms but also in relation to health and well-being of the community through stimulation of the senses and respite from stress.

Future planned events for 2017-18 are as follows:

Wood Fair- 30th September / 1st October

The aims of the Wood Fair are:

• Highlight the importance of the Surrey Hills and local woodlands
• Support and profile local businesses and artisans including our members
• Profile woodlands and local products and services

Now in its 8th year, the Wood Fair has become a key event in the Surrey Hills calendar profiling woodlands and local businesses to over 6,000 visitors. The event management is well underway with over 120 stall holders including a range of wood related stalls, demonstrations and local food and drink.

Rural Economy Conference

A Conference is planned for spring 2018 to link with and celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Surrey Hills AONB and bring together the wider rural business community and producers. The aim is to raise awareness of the issues in rural Surrey, provide a key platform for networking for Businesses and support Member recruitment.

Food & Drink

Whilst local food and drink is a key factor in most of the Surrey Hills Enterprise events, we are also developing specific events and publicity around this theme focused on the local provenance and quality of food and drink. We are developing a number of partnerships and collaboration to support this work including Merrist Wood Agricultural College.

PROGRAMMES

Woodland/landscape management

The planning and development of the West Surrey Woodlands/Greenscape Facilitation Fund project is underway with the aim of encouraging collaborative work across the landscape and bring real benefits for Surrey landowners.

Recommendations

The Members are asked to:

Note the activities of the Surrey Hills Enterprises CIC