Welcome to the Lancashire and Cumbria Homepage

Our region covers a huge area, from Carlisle in the north to Preston and Leyland in the south; from Accrington in the east to Blackpool in the west. We have about 7,800 members.

Click on 'Branches' to the left and call the branch secretary to check on current events. Branches depend on their members to come to events and suggest topics that they would like to hear about, so keep the ideas coming.

Your regional office is your first port of call if you need information. Phone Freephone 0800 083 3560 to speak to the Regional Office Administrator, Teresa Seed.

*** STOP PRESS - news/local events/opportunities ***

Free masterclass shows how to use people power to beat recession

1 July, Barton Grange Hotel, Preston

Part of the Northwest Regional Development Agency's Manufacturers Survice and Thrive series of events.

Speakers: Russell Brown, personnel manager of Herbert Parkinson (Darwen), part of the John Lewis Group; Terry Duffy, senior adviser to ACAS; Professor Tom Cannon, Professor of Strategic Development at the Unviersity of Liverpool Management School; Ann Mulhaney from MAS North West.

For tickets long on to www.manufacturinginstitutte.co.uk/future or telephone 0800 458 9585.

Morecambe and Lancaster Branch

9 July 2009, Greenlands Village Farm, Tewitfields, Carnforth

We proudly invite you to this year's Summer Event, an interesting and enjoyable experience at the newly opened Greenlands Farm Village. Here you can learn how food gets from farm to fork. The centre has an open farm, a farm shop with a butcher, green-grocer, local jams and chutneys, a clothes and gift shop, a Woodcrest garden centre, The ZONE children's indoor play area, Wyn Abbot's pottery and much more.
   Roger Mason, the owner of Greenlands will show us around and briefly present his business. Wyn Abbot, an active FSB member is happy to open her beautiful studio so everybody who wishes can have a go at throwing a pot. You can taste wines from the renowned Wine Time, part of EWGA who started their business in the Lakes in the 70's and have now opened a shop at Greenlands. We finish off with a three course meal. There are 2 menus to choose from. The price (all included except the drinks that go with the food) will be £16.50 per person. Every member is welcome to invite a guest who pays the same price.

IMPORTANT! To book, we need you to send the secretary a cheque payable to "The Federation of Small Business" of £16.50 per person and a neatly filled in form. We will need your cheque and this form by 3rd July. No refunds after this date!
To pay by VISA, please contact the treasurer.

Kendal College Procurement Event - the North West Business Network

9 July 2009, Kendal College

How to tender presentation and one-on-one ‘surgery'. Join us on Thursday 9 July 2009 at Kendal College, Milnthorpe Road, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 5AY.

How To Tender:
39 Frequently Asked Questions
The North West Business Network would like to invite you to a free FAQ presentation and one-on-one how to tender ‘surgery' that will help your business understand the public sector tender process and how to prepare to tender for contracts from London 2012 and other public sector organisations.

Many businesses are aware of the commercial opportunities available in the public sector but often are not well briefed in understanding this sector's procurement processes and the implications of completing the tender documentation. This presentation and surgery will discuss the tender process and will offer valuable advice on how to prepare your business for public sector tendering. 
 
Morning Session - How To Tender
Afternoon Session – One-on-one surgery

The valuable afternoon session (1.30pm – 4.00pm) will facilitate one-on-one discussions. The surgeries, limited to 10 minutes, will be available to provide realistic guidance to small businesses on how to ensure they are best placed to provide their goods and services to Public Sector ‘buyers'. 

When registering for the event, please confirm that you would like to attend the one-to-one surgery session. A form will then be emailed to you to complete in advance where you will be asked to select the clinic(s) you would like to attend. Surgery times will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and details of your session time will be provided to you in advance. Please note the advice is free and provided for your consideration only. Acting on the advice is your decision!

To register online for this event please go to www.businesseventsfor2012co.uk 
 
South Lakeland Branch

14 September 2009. Eagle & Child, Staveley.

Cheese, Wine and Networking. Guest speaker Frank Lee from Kendal Wine Club and John Natlasen from Church Mouse Cheeses.

Lancaster University speaker on funded business development courses ... and more.

Carbon Trust delivers credit boost for small businesses

Small businesses struggling for credit during the credit crunch received a boost today as the Carbon Trust announced it has doubled the maximum size of its interest-free Energy Efficiency loans from £100,000 to £200,000 – and increased the overall loans pot by 45 per cent to £31 million this year.

The move is in response to the difficult market conditions and will enable small businesses to implement energy saving projects on a far more ambitious scale than previously possible. It is expected that the new scheme will generate 20 per cent more carbon and energy savings this year than would have been possible under the previous limit.

The loans, which are unsecured, interest-free and repayable over a period of up to four years, provide a cost effective way for small businesses to upgrade equipment with a more energy efficient version – thereby reducing energy bills and cutting their carbon footprint.

Loans are often offered on a partial basis, but the economic climate has made availability of alternative sources of financing more difficult. Large projects that can deliver the necessary carbon savings will now be eligible for loans that fund a greater proportion or total project cost.

It is expected that the larger loans will also lead to more applications from larger, more energy-intensive SMEs.

Hugh Jones, Solutions Director at the Carbon Trust, said: "We know that SMEs want to play their part in tackling climate change, and reduce their energy costs at the same time. But in the current economic climate, the tighter credit conditions are making it harder for small businesses to find alternative sources of funding.

"We know that some companies found that the £100,000 limit made it hard for them to finance the more ambitious projects they wanted to invest in, such as large lighting installations, boilers projects, or multiple equipment purchases such as variable speed drives with compressors and heat recovery equipment.

"£200,000 loans pave the way for companies to take on such projects and significantly reduce both their carbon emissions and their energy bills, which in turn will enable them to reduce operational costs and become more competitive."

Call 0800 085 2005 to find out more.

Go green without costing the earth

Lancashire businesses have the opportunity to save money and the planet by going green.

Lancashire County Council (LCC) has launched a new project that funds up to 50% of small scale renewable energy generation equipment. The project, run by LCC's economic development department Lancashire County Developments Limited (LCDL), will fund 50% of the cost and installation of the following equipment:

• Biomass boilers
• Ground and air-source heat pumps
• Solar electricity
• Solar powered water heating
• Small-scale hydro power
• Wind power.

The aim of the project is to help businesses save money on energy bills whilst cutting CO2 emissions and reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Participation in the project will also help businesses promote their green credentials to their clients.

Any SME business within Lancashire County Council's administration area can apply as long as they have carried an energy efficient audit. Lancashire Business Environment Association (LBEA) can carry out the audit for free.

County Councillor Niki Penney, chair of Lancashire County Developments Limited, said: "It is vital for us all to look at ways of saving energy and using the latest technology to supply clean reusable energy. We are encouraging businesses to purchase technology that cuts their costs whilst helping Lancashire achieve a cleaner environment."

For more information please contact LCDL on (01772) 536600 or visit http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/lcdl.

Directory and Email

Is your business in the FSB Online Directory? Don't miss out - go to the top of this page and click on SHOW, then click on 'update your details here'. You'll need your membership number and V code.

And while you're there, please consider giving us permission to contact you by email. We promise not to flood your In Box, and this is a very useful way of updating you on short notice events or scams.