Faster News
Fastershire presented a 'Rural Gigabit Future' workshop for the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) in April.
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Business Stories
Way2Go Adventures is a family owned outdoor activity provider in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley, run by mother and son team, Dianne Worrall and Wayne Morgan. Dianne has accessed a range of business support and training offered by Fastershire, FasterBusiness programme.
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Events
In this FREE training session, Faster Business advisors, Anna Wilde and Ben Kinnaird, will help you understand how to plan, design and build a website in WordPress, Wix, Weebly and Squarespace.
A website is an essential tool for any business but more and more it’s also important to keep up with your competitors and meet your customers’ expectations.
Fastershire presented a 'Rural Gigabit Future' workshop for the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) in April.
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Guests at Lucksall Caravan and Camping Park in Herefordshire can now benefit from a new superfast broadband connection and park wide WiFi access thanks to a grant from Fastershire.
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Age UK in Ross-on-Wye have teamed up with Herefordshire Council’s Fastershire project to help to get more people online in south Herefordshire.
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Herefordshire has been selected by the Government’s Digital Catapult initiative to devise and pilot a brand new technical solution to improve the lives of elderly people in the county.
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Four community cabinets areas went gone live last week, in Gloucestershire, the Aston Magna community cabinet (lot 3d) and Brookthorpe cabinet (3e)are live and providing ultrafast services and in lot 4 Herefordshire, the Acton Green cabinet and Pencombe cabinet are also live.
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Hundreds of homes and businesses across Hereford can now access superfast broadband for the first time thanks to Fastershire.
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Hats off to a fantastic local resource
‘The Faster Women social media workshops are a brilliant resource for anyone like me who is busy running and marketing their own business and needs some guidance as to what to do next. Facebook is one of my main business tools and the workshops showed me how to make the most of what I’m currently doing as well as showing me that I’m more proficient than I had thought! I also found the workshops to be a great networking opportunity with other local businesses.’
Moor Fascinators is a bespoke millinery service based in Ross-on-Wye owned by Julie Evans. After starting a two year millinery course in 2010 Julie began to take orders for hats from friends and soon found that there was a market for her pieces. Having decided to take the plunge and set up her own business, within two years ‘The Hat Shop’ had opened and since then it has gone from strength to strength.
The Hat Shop is now home to over 4500 items ranging from hats and fascinators to scarves and bags. Formal pieces are available to hire or buy and Julie also creates a small number of couture hats and fascinators each year. From weddings to christenings to a day at the races, there is something to suit everyone, and Julie’s personal service makes a visit to the shop even more special.
If the cap fits...
Running a shop that stocks so many items, whilst providing a welcoming and personal service and attending exhibitions and fairs, has left little time for Moor Fascinators to debut a website, but Julie knew that it was important to have some kind of online presence. Having set up a Facebook page for the business she found that this extra shop window was a fantastic resource for showcasing and generating interest in her pieces, however as someone who ‘doesn’t do computers’ she was in need of some reassurance and guidance that she was on the right track!
Julie has now attended the two Fastershire Faster Women workshops on getting to grips with social media, and has found them extremely useful, she said ‘I heard about the project from a friend who also attended the social media workshops; being a bit of a novice when it comes to using Facebook and not really having had any experience of Twitter and LinkedIn I found the advice given really useful. There was a good mix of expertise of the other ladies attending the workshops and it was great to see that I was on the right track to using Facebook effectively and in the right way for my business. I would definitely recommend the workshops to others, they covered everything I needed, right from the basics and up, and I’m hoping to attend more in the future.’
Location: North Warehouse, The Docks, Gloucester, GL1 2EP
Date: Friday 17th February 2017
Time: 12:00-14:00
North Warehouse, The Docks, Gloucester, GL1 2EP
Fastershire in partnership with Connecting Shropshire and Superfast Telford and part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), have designed the Marches and Gloucestershire Broadband Grant.
Here's a list of business broadband providers who offer packages for businesses connected by Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) or Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), with links to their web sites, so you can find out if they're up and running where you live.
Click here to view FTTP providers >
Fibre to the premises (FTTP) is one of the world's most cutting edge types of fibre broadband with blistering speeds of up to 330Mbps and 1000Mpbs.
If you get enabled with FTTP, you can order it through one of the following Service Providers.
We'll update this page as more ISPs start to offer FTTP.
Here's a list of business broadband providers who offer packages for businesses connected by Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) or Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), with links to their web sites, so you can find out if they're up and running where you live.
Click here to view FTTP providers >
The Faster Business Review is a free session between you and one of the Faster Business Advisors. The review is completely tailored to your business and can cover any topic, including, social media, online marketing, websites, e-commerce, data/online security, software and hardware or you can seek expert advice on any particular area you feel would most benefit your business.
Whether your business is a start-up and a small or medium sized business looking to grow, the Faster Business Review can help.
To request a business review please complete the registration form at the bottom of the page and one of our business advisors will contact you to arrange your free face to face review.
Meet with a Faster Business Advisor
Faster Business Action Plan
Faster Business Voucher & Exclusive Offers
With your action plan you will receive £100 worth of Fastershire Vouchers to help you deliver one of the actions. To claim your Faster Business voucher, please click here. These vouchers can be redeemed to pay for software subscriptions, online marketing or even a professional's time. As a Faster Business you will also have access to a range of exclusive offers from local businesses.
Cost: Free
Location: Your premises (or as arranged)
Discussion topics: Troubleshooting, social media, connectivity, software, hardware but you can drill down into any particular area you feel would most benefit your business.
Duration: The discussion can last anything between a couple of hours and half a day.
Below is a list of videos from our YouTube channel.
Thanks to funding from the Government Equalities Office we have now run two Faster Women projects to support Herefordshire and Gloucestershire women to develop the digital and internet skills required to setup and develop their businesses. The second project ended in April 2016. We are now offering occasional workshops throughout the year.
Please register your interest through the link below if you would like to be notified when Faster Women workshop dates are confirmed.
If you are part of a local business network organisation that would be interested in providing workshops and training to your members and others please email faster-women@fastershire.com
Faster broadband provides an opportunity for businesses and potential entrepreneurs to take advantage of faster speeds to expand current or set-up new businesses, including home-based businesses, however the Women’s Business Council has found that for women in particular increasing digital confidence and internet know-how is key to this. Thanks to funding from the Government Equalities Office, Fastershire provided Faster Women networking opportunities, workshops and training for women to take advantage of how the internet can boost new and existing businesses.
Upcoming Workshops
Click here for our Fastershire events page, which includes details of any Faster Women workshops...
Faster Women Stories
"I've learnt new ways of doing things and how to use my time much more effectively so I can focus more on working with my clients than running the day-to-day elements of my business."
Are you a successful business woman working in Herefordshire or Gloucestershire who would like to share how you’ve used the internet to effectively develop a business? Do you make the most of the benefits that using the internet can bring whether it’s marketing through social media, online selling, maintaining a website, cloud computing, running a business from home?
If you’d like to help shape future projects by sharing your own knowledge and experience of successfully using digital technology please get in touch.
The Fastershire broadband project and the Herefordshire Rural Hub have come together to create our Faster Farmers project, offering free support to agricultural and land-based businesses in the two counties.
Faster Farmers offers free training and advice to help farmers exploit new digital technology and methods of working to expand and grow their business. Please visit the events section for details of Faster Farmers workshops, and workshops available to all businesses.
Farming businesses can also request a free Faster Business review - for tailored one-to-one advice on your business's use of IT and the internet, covering topics such as social media, online marketing, websites, hardware, software and more. Please fill in the form here to request a review visit.
For any other information about Faster Farmers, please contact us.
The Fastershire broadband project and the Hereford Business Improvement District (HBID) have teamed up to create the Faster City project.
The Faster City project has developed a WiFi city centre scheme in Hereford that delivers three elements:
Hereford boasts the largest retail offer in the county with many of Herefordshire’s key retail and tourism businesses located in a highly concentrated area.
The Faster City project will enhance the shopping experience for consumers and help city centre retailers to understand and exploit the changing market trends
The scheme will also pave the way for other innovations including smart infrastructure including an upgraded CCTV circuit and interactive signage.
Faster City launches free WiFi network in Hereford City Centre.
To read the full story, please click here.
96,516 Fast homes 
99
exchange areas 
7,000 km of 
621
cabinets Faster broadband is being rolled out across Herefordshire and Gloucestershire between now but it is not possible to flick a switch to make every area go live on the same day and some areas will go live before this. Register your interest today and we will keep you in the loop about developments in your fibre broadband status.
Faster Women
Faster Farms
Faster City
