Faster News
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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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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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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As many more of us now need to work or run a business from home at this difficult time, and we’re working to make sure you’ve got the broadband connection you need.
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Fastershire and Worcester-based broadband network supplier, Airband, have reached the 1000 premises milestone under their rollout of fibre broadband in Herefordshire.
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Over 90% of Herefordshire homes and businesses can access superfast broadband and speeds of 30mpbs or above according to new figures released by ThinkBroadband, the UK’s largest independent broadband information website.
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Businesses at the Churcham Business Park can now benefit from faster broadband thanks to a grant from Fastershire. Part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the grant provides up to 100% of the capital installation cost, up to £25,000.
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The Fastershire project has been recognised as achieving the best public sector impact at the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) awards, ahead of other shortlisted nominees the Welsh Government and Connecting Cambridgeshire.
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Louise Roberts set up Alimenti Food Sciences in 2016 and offers technical consultancy to small food and drink businesses focusing on food safety, supplier management, audits and coaching / training.
Louise has attended a range of FasterBusiness training sessions and had a one-to-one Business Review with FasterBusiness advisor, Jack McCaughtrie.
“Originally I trained as a microbiologist, but I left the laboratory for the factory floor. Through my career I built up a great deal of experience; working in technical management and quality assurance, as a lead for the food buying team, liaising with food and drink suppliers, retailers, manufacturers and clients such as the MoD. I have also contributed towards technical handbooks writing about using rapid hygiene monitoring techniques for manufacturers and other food businesses.
It was in my last corporate role I worked alongside small food and drink producers, coaching them through the approval process. I really enjoyed the collaboration and saw an opportunity to launch this as my own business, using my knowledge and passion for the food industry.
“It is my understanding that “Alimenti” is Italian for feed or nourish and my objective is to support small food & drink business to grow.”
“I met a member of the Fastershire team at the Hereford Means Business Expo in May 2017 and I began attending the monthly workshops shortly afterwards.”
“The monthly training workshops have been incredible, as a relatively new business it’s been great to have a regular source of free training and networking to tap into. I’ve attended a range of sessions, including SEO, online marketing, blogging and social media and they’ve been really useful in developing the business.
The networking lunches at the beginning of each workshop have also allowed me to meet other small local businesses as well as new suppliers and potential clients.
The FasterBusiness Review has been especially useful, having free tailored one-to-one time with expert has really expanded my IT skillset. I met with FasterBusiness advisor, Jack McCaughtrie and at that time I needed some help getting started. Jack showed me how to set up Office 365 and enable clients to access a virtual portal, Sharepoint, and an email marketing service, embedding code into my website to allow visitors to sign up for my newsletter.”
“As my social media expertise has developed, and in part due to the support from FasterBusiness, I was inspired to start my own Twitter Hour. I launched #UKFoodHour in September 2017 and it takes place every Tuesday from 2-3pm. It’s intended to celebrate all that is great about the UK food industry. We have some of the best animal welfare and food safety standards in the world alongside the quality of the food that we produce. It is intended to be a networking opportunity for everyone involved in the food industry, from farm to fork.”
You can find out more about Louise’s business at www.alimenti.co.uk and join #UKFoodHour every Tuesday from 2-3pm.
For more information about the training and support provided by
FasterBusiness, please click here.
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.
Location: Hereford Library, Broad Street, Hereford HR4 9AU
Date: Monday 5th June 2017
Time: 10:30-12:30
FREE Beginners' Guide to the Internet (Final session of a 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 will keep you in the loop about developments in your fibre broadband status.
Faster Women
Faster Farms
Faster City
