Social Enterprise: The Enterprise Agency

starting and developing a business in teesdale

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Ed Thompson, Crook Town Cricket Club
Crook Town Cricket Club started working with the Agency in 2003 when the club was in great danger of closing.

We asked the Agency for help, they started by listening, then going through our problems and suggesting ways we needed to change. It has been a long and at times a hard road, but the Agency was always at hand to help.

We have now, with the help of the Agency, secured over £40,000 in funding and sponsorship, our membership has grown, the club is now on a sound footing, we have opened a toddler group. The club hosts the town carnival and an annual schools cricket day supported by the community

Nick Wilson, Butterknowle Village Hall

We have a major project in hand which includes developing the car park, re-surfacing and in stages thereafter re-fencing and re-marking it. We are being assisted by Anne Marie from the The Enterprise Agency, who has prepared a Business Plan for the Village Halls Association and has been chasing funding for the entire project. Anne Marie has worked very hard on our behalf and we are making very good progress. Before Anne Marie joined us, both Sue Ellwood and Shaun Stuart set the entire project up and for that we are very grateful.

Wendy Withers, Gainford Playground

Having met just twice with Anne Marie from the The Enterprise Agency and we are definitely much more focused and now have prioritised actions. She has injected motivation into the group which now has a number of new members. She has been a great help in developing a Business Plan and help with grant applications. Also we now have written a constitution thanks to Anne Marie. She has a lot of background information on awarding bodies. With successful grant applications we are hoping to buy new play equipment.

Castle Players, Jill Cole

Although the Castle Players is a very well established and successful community group with a good track record, there has never been any attempt at a strategic overview of the organisation, which has for years just been delivering what it does well and assuming that this will continue. Having an outside eye to help us scrutinise our 'modus operandi' in some detail and put together a Business Plan for the next three years has been an invaluable exercise which has thrown up some illuminating and interesting thoughts and highlighted some clear areas of concern and weakness as well as pointing out strengths. The end product (ie The Business Plan) will prove an invaluable tool in assisting us with more long term and strategic fundraising as well as giving us a clear idea of a sustainable route forward. It has also helped us to think about how we fit into the wider picture as a community project in Teesdale.

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