Faster News
Vicarious Productions, a film and television production facility based in Edvin Loach, is one of 400 premises in hard-to-reach communities who have gone from being among the worst connected areas in the UK to having access to some of the fastest internet in the country.
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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
Fastershire and Gigaclear are hosting a community meeting to explain the rollout of ultrafast fibre broadband in network build area known as, Ellwood.
Businesses at the Northwick Business Centre near Moreton-in-the-Marsh will soon benefit from faster broadband thanks to a grant from Fastershire.
Gloucestershire County Council’s broadband delivery project, Fastershire, created the Marches and Gloucestershire Broadband Grant to provide a bespoke solution for some of the hardest to reach businesses.
Part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the grant provides up to 100% of the capital installation cost, up to £25,000 for any eligible small to medium sized business that still require access to faster broadband.
Jacquetta Whyatt-Watts, Strutt & Parker, site managing agents said, “Improved broadband access will have a significant impact for Northwick Business Centre and the businesses on the site.”
The Trustees are dedicated to improving the existing infrastructure to ensure that the site benefits from high speed broadband. With Fastershire’s support we worked to put together a collective application and sought a combined solution which is available and affordable to all tenants and businesses based on the site.”
Marcus Efstratiou, freelance senior copywriter, said, “Our wonderful rural business park is unique in many ways – but the broadband situation has always been dire. That’s why I’m so grateful that we’ve managed to secure funding from Fastershire for fast broadband here.
As a freelance consultant, a strong web connection is essential for my day-to-day operations – and I’m excited about not having to rely on satellite broadband any more, which breaks every time it rains!”
The grant online portal helps to match grant approved businesses with potential suppliers who can install a high speed connection. Glide Business, part of Glide group, specialises in providing connectivity solutions for businesses and were the selected supplier.
Simon Ward, Strategic Account Manager at Glide, said “We were delighted to be selected as the network provider for Northwick Business Centre.
We give companies on business parks and industrial estates the competitive advantage by delivering our own ultrafast, reliable and assured broadband. Too many businesses are held back by slow, unreliable internet, and that’s why at Glide Business we deploy our own physical infrastructure.
As part of our work under Fastershire’s business grant, we are supplying our fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) Business Broadband solution to all the business units on the business park, helping to support growth both for the businesses themselves and the area.”
Councillor Lynden Stowe, Gloucestershire County Council Cabinet Member for Economy, Skills and Growth, said, “Gloucestershire County Council, through the Fastershire project is committed to providing businesses with the broadband access they need in order to grow and become more competitive.
Northwick Business Centre is an example of Fastershire’s innovative approach to enable some of the county’s hardest to reach premises, by providing funding for bespoke solutions.”
Over the next two years, the project will increase superfast coverage to 98% of the county, with BT delivering for Fastershire in Cheltenham and Gloucester and Gigaclear providing a new full fibre network in rural areas. For the hardest to reach properties in the final 2%, Fastershire is using a mix of solutions, including possible contract extensions or grants to local businesses.
To find out if your property can already access faster broadband or where your property sits in the Fastershire rollout, please use the address checker above.
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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Louise Roberts runs Alimenti Food Sciences and offers technical consultancy to small food and drink businesses. Louise has attended a range of FasterBusiness training sessions and had a one-to-one Business Review with FasterBusiness advisor, Jack McCaughtrie.
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Claire Howlett runs Wicton Farm, an organic dairy farm in the heart of the Herefordshire countryside, with her brother following the retirement of their parents three years ago. Claire returned to Herefordshire to run the family farm after previously working in Tanzania, Senegal and Cambodia for an international volunteering organisation.
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Dawn McMullan-Cooper is a specialist speech and language therapist and regional makaton sign language tutor for Gloucestershire. Dawn shares her journey with social media & Faster Business since starting her business in 2015.
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Linda Pitcher is an artist who creates commissioned pet portraits; each individually presented in Linda’s handcrafted frames. Linda and her family moved to Herefordshire in 2015 and soon after, prompted by family health problems, she decided to make a change.
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Tina Hurley owns Aloe 2 Good Life and is an independent distributor of Forever Living, selling a range of health and nutrition products. She also trains and supports people who want to run their own home-based business.
Read Full StoryThe Faster Business Review is a free consultancy session with one of our specialist Faster Business Advisors and is available to any business in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
This session 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 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.
Please note: Business Reviews will be delivered via video or telephone call during the Coronavirus COVID-19 period
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.
Location: Regus Building, North Warehouse, The Docks, Gloucester, GL1 2EP
Date: Friday 20th July 2018
Time: 12:00-14:00
Regus Building, 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.
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.
Free business support for farming, agricultural and land-based businesses in the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
The Fastershire broadband project and the Herefordshire Rural Hub have come together to create our Faster Farmers project, offering:
Faster Farmers WorkshopsFaster 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.
Tailored One-to-One AdviceFor tailored one-to-one advice about your business's use of IT and the internet, covering topics such as new software, hardware, social media, online marketing, websites and more, Farming businesses can also request a free Faster Business Review.
Request a FasterBusiness Review
Contact for Faster Farmers
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 Faster 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'll let you know when you can order.
Faster Women
Faster Farms
Faster City
