Jonathan of lowwintersun is on the board of Operation Farm and currently working on a lottery-funded feasibility study for the project. The Operation Farm visioning sessions took place on 21st and 23rd January 2012 at the Park Cafe, Hyde and were attended by over 60 people.

Facilitated by Kindling Trust the sessions saw participants from the community, voluntary and public sector as well as volunteers and potential users, working together to pool ideas and articulate a vision for Operation Farm in Tameside and Glossopdale.

This work will be written up and form a key part of the Operation Farm business plan lowwintersun are co-authoring for the project.

Social Enterprise North West’s ‘In Business For Good’ trade fair

10am-4pm, Bolton’s Reebok Stadium on October 18th 2011

The North West’s biggest social enterprise showcase comes to Greater Manchester. Be inspired, meet new contacts, trade with other social enterprises and raising your profile

A cost effective way to come to the attention of funders and clients. Featuring keynote speakers: Peter Holbrook, Social Enterprise UK, Sarah Flood, Social Investment Business, Nick Donohoe, Big Society Bank and Claire Young from The Apprentice.

Workshops on finance, leadership, promotion and European franchising.
Places cost just £49 (+VAT), exhibitors from £200 (+VAT)

To attend visit www.senw.org.uk email info@senw.org.uk or telephone 0151 237 3986

social enterprise - co-operatives - social finance - inter-trading - social impact bonds - marketing - leadership - community interest companies - employment - social firms - environment - health and social care

In partnership with TogetherWorks, the social enterprise network for Greater Manchester

www.togetherworks.org.uk
twitter.com/togetherworks

I made the trip down to Oxford last week to attend the New Internationalist’s annual meeting and make a presentation to the co-op on Information Architecture and the NI’s website.

There’s many definitions for Information Architecture, I described it to the NI as simply making their website cogent, ie ensuring it makes sense for the user, that they are able to find and extract the information they require, and that for the organisation it achieves their aims and objectives for the site (and importantly generates income).

I wont share the contents of my presentation but there was certainly a good response from the co-op members present. For me it was a really interesting topic to research and hopefully my recommendations to the New Internationalist will be of use.

Thanks to funding from Social Enterprise North West we’ve been mentoring performer Sonya Moorhead. With our help she has set up a social enterprise, Canopy, to create theatre to inspire bravery and nurture a sense of well-being. Take a look at her new website.

Together Works is the social enterprise for Greater Manchester. I’ve been involved in creating a series of video case studies profiling the breadth and diversity of the members. What struck me about visiting these videos was the inspirational stories of the individuals involved in these enterprises, all of them share the concept of trading to benefit society but carry out that in such different and innovative ways.

Many thanks to Sarah Irving for carrying out the interviews, Dave Gee for photography and Damien Mahoney and Helen Lagoe for carrying out the video production.

Recycle IT case study for Together Works.

FC United case study for Together Works.

We’re full up at OpenSpace so with the help of the Co-operative Fund we’re installing a mezzanine floor. We’re working with Loop Systems architects and Ecorenovation builders and we’ll gain extra floor space and a meeting room. It should all be ready for mid-December 2009 and you can chart progress below.