It’s Time to Show Love for Your Local Market

The National Campaign returned on Saturday 16th October and will continue until Saturday 30th October 2021.

Many markets rose to the challenges of the last 18 months by offering new services, online shopping and delivery services and it is clear that a rediscovery of their importance for local communities and our high streets is underway.

Love Your Local Market runs across the UK with hundreds of markets taking part. It offers the support of a national campaign, created and supported by NABMA (The National Association of British Market Authorities). 

Our local Allerdale markets

We have four fabulous markets in our area. Go along, enjoy and support Keswick Market Thursday and Saturday, Silloth Market Thursday, Workington market Saturday and Wednesday and Wigton Friday Market. Such a lot of great variety to browse and buy.

Want to know more or apply for a stall?  Allerdale Markets

• During Love Your Local Market our Keswick and Workington Markets will be providing some great entertainment from Jason the Juggling Jester and Free Face painting as follows: Wednesday 27th Workington Market,Thursday 28th Keswick Market. 
• On Saturday 30th, Keswick Market will host Jason the Jester once again as well as the Allerdale Market Trader of the Year Award.

Allerdale Borough Council invites quotations for the provision of a shop local marketing campaign to encourage Allerdale  residents to shop local to support the recovery and growth of retail businesses in the borough following the lifting of Covid regulations. The campaign costs are funded by the Government's Welcome Back Fund. More details here. 

The closing date for submission of quotations is 5 November 2021.

We are encouraging eligible local businesses to apply for a new version of a government-backed grant made available to those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.      

A relaunched Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) is available from today (Monday, October 18^th) for eligible businesses who can demonstrate that Covid-19 restrictions and regulations reduced their turnover in the financial year 2020/21 compared to 2019/20. 

This is the third time the ARG scheme has been in operation since the start of the pandemic and is open to businesses who have not made an application for, or have not received, a grant through any earlier Covid business grant schemes administered by Allerdale Borough Council. Businesses must have traded throughout the financial years 2019/20 and 2020/21. 

Grants of between £2,000 and £10,000 may be available to eligible businesses depending on how much their turnover has been affected. 

 The ARG funding is to support those businesses who have been severely impacted by restrictions and were not eligible for any of the previous Covid business support grants administered by Allerdale Borough Council.  

The last date for receipt of applications for this final round grant scheme is 12pm on Friday, 12 November, 2021. To apply, and see a full description of the eligibility criteria, should  visit our website here: ARG Grant relaunch.

Following a Housing Act 2004, Housing Health and Safety Rating Inspection, Allerdale Borough Council is seeking quotations for the remedial action to a property in Allerdale.

Further details are outlined in the specification of our Request for Quote document. 

The project / contract is for approximately 1 month. The intended commencement date is 01/12/2021 (or sooner) for completion by the end of January 2022.

Further details are available here upon registration of your interest to this invitation.

All further correspondence about this project must be directed through the notification link on The Chest.

Submission Deadline for quotes is 26^th October 2021 at 11:00am

Market Engagement Allerdale and Copeland Borough Council to assess the level of Market Interest in delivering Leisure Services

THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION

Allerdale Borough Council in conjunction with neighbouring authority Copeland Borough Council are seeking to engage with external suppliers and organisations to assess the level of market interest in delivering both Allerdale and Copeland Leisure Services when their respective current contract’s are due to end in March 2024. The purpose of the engagement at this stage is to develop an understanding of the benefits of outsourcing provision and identify solutions to managing the future service. 

This is a pre-tender exercise and is to test and analyse what the market could offer and what capacity and interest there is in providing this service. For further details, to register your interest and to return your response, please log into The Chest – you can register for free from the link. Further details are available upon registration of your interest to this invitation. All further correspondence about this project must be directed through the notification link on The Chest. *Please note that this is not a contract opportunity at this stage*

Deadline for responses is 29^th October 2021 @ 11.00am

Link Market Engagement Leisure Services

Webinars and videos about trading with the EU are available online and provide practical details about moving goods between the EU and Great Britain (GB) including on procedures and systems at the borders and detail about the new import requirements in Great Britain (GB).

They cover details of interest to all in the supply chain, traders, hauliers, intermediaries and trade associations.

A full calendar of webinars for organisations that trade with the EU can be found on GOV.UK Webinars

Businesses can also use the Brexit Checker tool, which provides a personalised list of the most up to date actions that businesses need to take. Brexit Checker Tool.

Cumbria's bid for new fusion technology moves one 'STEP' closer

Remembrance Sunday Workington and Harrington
Sunday 14 November 2021

Workington Town Council are encouraging businesses and residents to participate with tributes in honour of Remembrance Day. They are asking locals and businesses to also send in photographs of their Remembrance themed window displays and other areas of tribute. The photographs will be featured on the Workington Town Council Facebook page and on the colour screen in the town centre.

Harrington: The parade assembles at The Royal British Legion in Harrington from 9.30am and leaves at 9.40am.
The parade arrives at St Mary's Church at 9.50am for a service from 10am-10.40am.
Participants then move outside for a short service by the Cenotaph before parading back to the Harrington Royal British Legion at 11.15am for pie, peas and gravy.

Workington: The parade will assemble on Pow Street from 1.45pm for a 2pm start.
The parade will then go onto Vulcan Park for a service by the Cenotaph and continue the parade onto St Michael's Church for a 3pm service.

Around the Town
Look out for the silent solider silhouettes. The silhouettes were first displayed in 2018 as part of the ‘There But Not There’ project but are now displayed annually. The soldiers will be installed at Moss Bay (near the Forgehill estate), Workington Railway Station, Jubilee Corner on Oxford Street, and on Church Road in Harrington. Remembrance Sunday

The multi million pound Civil Engineering Training Centre has officially opened at Lakes College.

Guests including local employers, dignitaries and education and training leaders gathered as Copeland MP Trudy Harrison cut the ribbon to mark the opening of the £3m centre.

This was followed by a tour of the facility, then brunch served by Lakes College catering students.

The Department for Education awarded £1.6 million for the project, along with £900,000 from Cumbria LEP’s Growth Deal fund, and £550,000 of college funds.

Some of the courses which will be delivered in the new centre are: T Level in Design, Surveying and Planning; Construction and the Built Environment Apprenticeships; Site Safety for Supervisors and Cable Detection. See more.

Upload your events

As we prepare for half-term and Halloween (where did the time go?) don't forget to make the most of your Cumbria Tourism membership. If you're a business organising events, upload them to the CT website for FREE HERE and also use the calendar as a resource to share with your guests. Also, be sure to make the most of wider initiatives including the upcoming Cumbria Dark Skies Festival 

Campaigning to retain the VAT cut

Ahead of the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget (on Wednesday 27 October), CT are calling on the Government to permanently lower the 12.5% VAT rate for tourism businesses to help protect jobs and safeguard the long-term future of the county’s visitor economy.

CT would like to extend a 'thank you' to all members who fed into their research on this topic to strengthen our voice. 77% of survey respondents believe that maintaining the 12.5% VAT rate will be ‘highly important’ to businesses, with 6 in 10 saying the planned return to 20% VAT in April could lead to serious cutbacks and job losses.

Cumbria Tourism will continue to lobby on this important issue. Learn more HERE.

Joining forces with Creative England to further promote film tourism

Cumbria Tourism is proud to announce that they are now part of the Filming in England partnership, working in partnership with Creative England to highlight Cumbria as a location to production crews.

Previous work has seen fantastic promotion of the county on both the large and small screen (including Supernova starring Colin Firth, ITV's Deep Water, BBC One's The A Word and more, and with the benefits also including crew accommodation and hospitality alongside marketing hooks they are committed to further promoting the county through this medium. Click HERE to learn more.

Josie Gibson takes on Honister Slate Mine's Via Ferrata

TV personality Josie Gibson's latest challenge saw her face her fear of heights. She was very brave (and very vocal) as she took on Cumbria's very own toughest challenge, Via Ferrata. The episode aired last week to kick off her spin off series on ITV Good Morning

Take a look at her extreme mountain challenge, courtesy of ITV Josie's Extreme Adventures

One of the Lake District’s oldest inns has reopened following a full-scale refurbishment.

The Pheasant Inn, Bassenthwaite has opened its doors once again following a major restoration project to breathe new life into the 17th century coaching inn.

The redevelopment has seen the inn’s dining and bar areas undergo a careful restoration, along with the transformation of its 20 bedrooms by owners, multi-award winning pubco, The Inn Collection Group. Seen cutting the ribbon to officially reopen The Pheasant was head housekeeper, Gillian Gaston, who has worked at the inn for 25 years. (Image George Carrick Photography)

Pheasant Inn, Bassenthwaite

Award for family business and oldest outdoor centre

We’re delighted to see that Newlands Adventure Centre & Keswick Climbing Wall  been named Best Outdoor Centre in the North region. Naturally, they are both proud and delighted and the team say...

'We had some fantastic competition for this award this year so it really is an honour to win this award and go on to represent the north region in the national finals!' 

They go on to represent the North of England at the national final of the Amazon Rural Business Awards in February 2022. The awards are organised by rural business for rural business with the aim of celebrating the achievements of rural businesses and developing a strong network for rural business owners. Newlands have won the national finals for the past two years. Good luck Newlands - here's hoping February sees 3 in a row. 

See their sheer delight on their Facebook page post: Newlands win

Join FSB for this bite sized session led by Detective Superintendent Neil Jones, Director of the North West Cyber Resilience Centre (NWCRC), to help you understand the threats you face as a business, the impact a co-ordinated cyber-attack can have on a small firm like yours, but – crucially – what you can do to reduce your chance of being targeted. Event details

FSB Small Business Virtual Conference: The Journey to Net Zero - Tuesday 2 November 2021, 10:00 – 15:30  

As the COP26 climate talks take place in the UK this November, this gives us the perfect opportunity to explore the significant role small businesses will play in the transition to Net Zero. Join us for this free conference to find out what’s in it for you. Event details

Cumbria LEP

This free-to-access session is open to all Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and are part of CLEP’s expanded business support programme delivered at no cost to participants.

Performance Workshop

Digital Tech Cumbria

Funded by the Welcome Back Fund - funded by ERDF