County's first multi-sector event to connect businesses and communities

Business leaders across the County are being invited to register for a new event, Connecting Gloucestershire, supported by GFirst LEP.

The event will connect businesses with key figures from the voluntary and community sectors and will take place on 8 October 2014 at Gloucester Rugby, Kingsholm. The Rugby Club are hosting the event in partnership with Business in the Community (BITC), a UK-wide charity that promotes responsible business.  It is also supported by the Gloucestershire VCS Alliance and Gloucestershire Environmental Trust.

The event has been organised by Gary Little, Community Manager at Gloucester Rugby and Sarah Sheasby, BITC’s Business Connector for Gloucester, as part of her 12-month secondment from Lloyds Banking Group. Sarah explains the main aim is to encourage skills-sharing and collaboration to help promote opportunity and tackle social disadvantage.

She says: “Businesses and communities are mutually dependent on one another for prosperity. We aim to deliver a unique event that sets the context and benefits for collaborative working. It will equip businesses and charities to make the right requests of each other and to identify genuine opportunities for mutually beneficial exchange."

Connecting Gloucestershire will feature speakers from Renishaw, Lloyds Banking Group and Commercial Foundation, who will discuss different aspects of their community and education partnerships. Sarah Dunning, Westmorland Ltd, and Mark Gale of the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust, will give an interview on the innovative charity / business partnership that drove the creation of the new M5 Gloucester Gateway Services.

Ecclesiastical and Pippin Consultancy will deliver a tailored seminar for community groups helping charities to consider the ways in which they can add value for businesses. This will be followed by an hour of cross-sector networking.

Gary Little, Community Manager at Gloucester Rugby, concludes: "Gloucester Rugby is very pleased to host this event. Having such a diverse mix of skills and expertise in one room should be a powerful catalyst for connections which have a beneficial social impact."

Entry to this event is free but spaces are limited. For more details and to register for this event, please click here