Lakes Colleges’ new Business and Conference Venue

Julie Osborn and myself had the pleasure of attending the launch of the new business meeting and conference venue, the SEN centre at Lakes College West Cumbria yesterday afternoon.

The SEN centre was clearly very versatile, holding a capacity of 340 seats theatre style, which is the largest conference centre in west Cumbria, also the centre can be transformed in to three classrooms and together with Hi Tech facilities the centre offers, it really is very impressive.

We were also treated to a delicious afternoon tea in the lovely Lakes College restaurant.  I would like to thank Alan Jones and Vivienne Almond for being such welcoming hosts.

Jill Hetherington

Semi-Pro Boxing Evening

On Saturday night Jaimi Wilson, Robert Nordon, Ricky Taylor, Mark James, Emma Marshall, Danny Roper, Sam Verry, Paul Campbell, Kevin Batty and myself attended the ‘No Guts, No Glory Boxing – New Blood’ Semi-Pro boxing event held at the Swallow Hilltop Hotel in Carlisle.

The evening began with an explosive first bout between a local Carlisle boxer and an opponent from Newcastle, this set the bar for the evening as each bout was filled with action.  It was good to see a mixture of all shapes and sizes competing ranging from the 18 stone heavyweight power punchers to the 9 stone lightweights with lightening fast hand speed.

The last bout of the night was between a local boxer from Carlisle and a local boxer from Aspatria.  This heavyweight bout was full of action from the opening bell as each boxer was putting a title belt on the line and did not want to lose their title.  Both boxers had a huge following in the crowd so the atmosphere was electric.

The sportsmanship was brilliant throughout the bouts and even afterwards as each boxer had a photograph and shook hands with his opponent and his opponents’ coaches after each bout.

All of the home boxers were from a local not for profit club called New Blood Martial Arts for which I am the head coach and chairman.  It was a good night of results for the club and will be the first of many home shows for the boxers to showcase their talents.

Keep an eye on the local press as New Blood Martial Arts have fighters competing in MMA, Boxing and K1 Kickboxing on every local show. 

David Scott

Carlisle Racecourse Chairman’s Dinner

On Monday evening David, Alison and I were kindly invited to the Chairman’s dinner at Carlisle racecourse with the first flat race meeting of the season.

On arrival we were greeted with a glass of Bucks Fizz, then settled down to a delicious three course dinner, followed by cheese and biscuits.

We enjoyed a fantastic evening of flat racing with a full race card and even managed to back a few of the winning horses.  The event was very well attended with glorious evening sunshine as a bonus.  We had a chance to mingle and meet new contacts and thoroughly enjoyed the company.

Sandra Gowling

Cumbria YFC Northern District Field Day

On Saturday Craig, Leanne, Sarah, Emma T and myself all took part in the Northern District Field Day at Jackson Rigg, Longtown.  My day started at 6.30 when I was up making fruit scones for the industrial section but it was worth the early start as they came third. 

There were various competitions through out the day including Cross country, Cumberland wrestling, Cookery, Flower arranging, Woodwork and a Queen tribute act with the final competition being the Tug of war.

Overall Caldbeck came first with Raughton Head second and Kirklinton third.  Everyone had a great day which was made even better with the fantastic weather. At night it was time to celebrate with a few drinks and music from Band Camp.

Fiona Steel

NABO at the Skinny Gorilla

I attended the NABO networking event which was held at the Skinny Gorilla in Carlisle last night.

The Skinny Gorilla is a new venue for the NABO meetings and it was at a new time of 4.30pm, with a new host Kaylee Davidson of Cherrytree Marketing.  It was an ideal opportunity to meet new people and the venue enabled attendees to interact well in a relaxed and informal setting.  Group discussions were done as well as the usual 1 to 1’s and we watched a video on marketing strategies.

The next NABO meeting is a breakfast meeting and will be held at our offices in Dalston.

Carrie Taylor

Aspatria Rugby Club Sportsmans Dinner

On Friday 18 May, myself and Michael Peile invited eight guests to the Sportmans dinner at Aspatria RUFC.

A lovely three course meal was followed by a game of stand up Bingo, a Raffle, an Auction and Mel Hanley's Lions XV.  Our guest Peter Timperon was the winner of Mel Hanley's Lions XV quiz, matching the most answers with Mel.  

The guest speaker was Tommy Martin ex St Helen's stand off, followed by comedian Nicky Newsome.

A great evening was had by all.

Craig Pollock

Young Enterprise Success – Caldew School

Our very own Rebecca Allen is part of the Scranbition team from Caldew School who has been very successful in this year’s Young Enterprise competition.

Scranbition chose to focus their project on social responsibilities rather than profit and helped launch a food bank to raise awareness about poverty in the area.

The team have launched the project, presented this to various audiences (which in turn has boosted the donation fund), prepared a trade stand and produced a quality business plan.  McVities factory have been their main business advisor and I happily came on board to help and review the business plan.

The team successfully made it on to the short list of 6 schools from the original 20 and learned of their recent success at the Cumbria finals which took place at Carlisle Racecourse on Thursday night; they won best company presentation and new media!

The next stage is representing Cumbria in the North West Regional Finals which are to be held at Manchester Airport on June 21.

We wish the team the best of luck!

Kirstie Somerville