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Following their success in a Social Firms UK competition, 3 students from Manchester’s Radcliffe Riverside High School - Mohammed Saad, Chloe Gaffney and Elliot Bramah - visited Brighter Future Workshop in Skelmersdale on the 29 January. Over lunch they were introduced to Peter Cousins MBE and Jackie Tittle who spoke to them about Brighter Future Workshop as a Social Firm. They were then given a tour of the impressive workshop. All three students thoroughly enjoyed their visit. They were particularly amazed at the energy and enthusiasm of Peter Cousins MBE who they found to be a real inspiration. Having the opportunity to see a Social Enterprise in action, rather than as a theoretical activity, was particularly motivating for the students. They were accompanied on their visit by Business Studies teacher, Andrea Smethurst, who initially encouraged them to enter the competition and was especially proud of their success.
Photo: Peter Cousins, MBE, and Jackie Tittle from Brighter Future Workshop with students Mohammed Saad, Chloe Gaffney and Elliot Bramah from Radcliffe Riverside High School
As part of last year’s Social Enterprise Day (19 Nov), Social Firms UK, in partnership with Make Your Mark Club, ran a competition asking what type of Social Firm people would set up if they could and why. The winning students suggested that a call centre would make a good business for disabled people. It would also have a staff canteen that employed people with learning disabilities and get its business from small private sector companies. Sally Reynolds, CEO of Social Firms UK, said “We thought this idea was well thought through from start to finish and liked its originality and clarity.”
Brighter Future Workshop (www.bfworkshop.co.uk) was crowned ‘Best Social Enterprise 2009’ on the 3 December at a gala reception in London. The Awards are run by the Social Enterprise Coalition in partnership with The Office of the Third Sector; Department for Children, Schools & Families and the Department for Communities & Local Government.