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 areas, Cirencester Central, North, North-East, West.
Read More 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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Hereford is set to become one of the UK's fastest cities under new plans announced. Zzoomm, the 100% Full Fibre broadband network operator, has announced that it plans to serve over 28,000 homes and businesses in Hereford.
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Fastershire and Gigaclear are set to begin the rollout of a new ultrafast broadband network in Ledbury. The rollout is part subsidised by Fastershire, however, the majority of the new network in Ledbury is a result of a significant commercial investment by Gigaclear.
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Hundreds more homes in Herefordshire will have access to ultrafast fibre broadband by September this year as internet service provider Airband ramps up delivery speeds.
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The rollout of ultrafast broadband in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire has passed the 34,000 homes and businesses mark, and plans have been expanded to reach more rural properties.
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The grant has been created by the Herefordshire Council’s Fastershire Broadband Project, and is available to any not-for-profit groups or organisations, including charities, community groups and Parish/town councils.
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Dawn McMullan-Cooper is a specialist speech and language therapist and regional makaton sign language tutor for Gloucestershire.
After working as a therapist for many years in the NHS and then in Canada, Dawn began her own independent practice, Peter Piper Picked Speech and Language Therapy, in January 2015.
Dawn now works mostly with children under 10 years old in nurseries, homes and schools across Gloucestershire and the surrounding areas to improve their confidence and communication skills.
Becoming a Faster Woman
"I had been using Facebook for some time to promote my business and I had a LinkedIn profile but I must admit that I didn't really understand LinkedIn, and I wasn't using Twitter at all."
Dawn attended three social media training sessions from Faster Women in 2016, Social Media Strategy, Twitter for Business and LinkedIn for Business.
"The sessions were incredibly useful not only because they explained how these social media platforms work, but because they focused on how they could support my business. The presenters encouraged us to ask certain questions, who are our main customers? Where do our customers come from? What type of social media platforms do they use? What are the benefits of using that platform?"
"I realised that most of my clients find me through the professional channels such as the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and that I was actually spending too much time on Facebook when I compared how many customers it generated."
"The training taught me that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all have something to offer my business, but I needed to be clear about how I approached them"
Picking the perfect approach
"As a result of attending these sessions I have developed a social media strategy and posting plan that works for my business. This has allowed me to use my time more efficiently and delivers a genuine return on my efforts."
"Even though Facebook isn't where my individual clients come from, I find Facebook is particularly useful for advertising my Sign Language groups to local people. I've also run a paid advertising campaign on Facebook aimed at increasing awareness of my business and that has reach over 11,000 people, this is something I wouldn't have had the nerve to do before attending these courses."
"I now have a Twitter account and although I don't tweet every day I have a posting plan and clear objectives about what I want to achieve with each post and what audience I am communicating to."
"I've found that Twitter is a great platform continuing my professional development, I've created 'groups' and that allows me to keep an eye on industry developments and find out about new articles and papers."
"Overall I now feel a lot more secure in what I'm doing on social media. I have a clear set of objectives and I track enquiries so I can evaluate what works and that gives me a great deal of confidence and allows me to refine what I was doing."
You can find out more about Dawn's business at www.peterpiperpicked.co.uk.
The 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: Hereford Library, Broad Street, Hereford HR4 9AU
Date: Monday 24th April 2017
Time: 10:30-12:30
FREE Beginners' Guide to the Internet (five week course)
Learn how to send email, search for information, stay safe on the internet, shop online, use social media safely and more, with the help of a friendly and helpful tutor.
We will have computers there for you to ‘have a go’ and discover the wonders of the internet.
Contact: 01432 383600 - herefordlibrary@herefordshire.gov.uk
Hereford Library, Broad Street, Hereford HR4 9AU
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
