Twelve years ago, Community Housing Cymru set up an Award scheme to recognise housing innovation in memory of a special person - Pat Chown. Pat gave a big part of her life to helping others and spent much of her working life in helping to meet people's housing needs in Wales.
Gwynedd-based horticulture, catering and joinery social enterprise tells us what makes the business a success, and about its plans to grow the organisation further.
A week in the life of a Welsh social entrepreneur
Date: 14.05.2011
Ever wondered what happens in the lives of other social entrepreneurs? Amanda Peters, chair of Vintage Vision in South East Wales, lets us into a week in her life...
Amanda Peters works full time as policy and partnership manager for Monmouthshire County Council. She is also chair of Vintage Vision, a social enterprise retail company which she co-founded 18 months ago.
The enterprise offers women in Abergavenny and Blaenavon training, experience and opportunities, and at the same time addresses sustainability issues by discouraging a throw-away approach to clothes.
Read her diary below:
Monday 25 April, 2011
Today is a rare thing… a proper day off! It’s a bank holiday Monday which means I am not in work at my busy day job. We’ve also decided not to open either of the Vintage Vision shops today (in Abergavenny and Blaenavon), as we don’t think there will be many people about.
Even though I took a week off from the day job and worked on VV stuff all last week, I feel guilty about not opening and worry about the sales we might lose because our rent is very high. I end up tackling some VV paperwork while sitting in the sunshine in the garden.
I have recently discovered Twitter, which is proving to be a real asset in networking both locally and nationally. One of my new found Twitter friends has some sensible advice - “go with your instincts, take the decision, then forget about it’. This reassures me of my decision and I feel more relaxed.
Tuesday 26 April, 2011
Normal VV service resumes today! Our super reliable Tuesday volunteers Maggie and Cathy will have been at the Aber shop to open up at 9.30 this morning, and will hopefully have a productive and profitable day selling lovely vintage clothes to all those Easter visitors!
We have a core of volunteers who all have different roles, from working in the shop to focusing on grant applications, helping with events, doing marketing etc.
Volunteer variety
There are about 30 volunteers at the moment including Marion who is over 60 and retired from her job in the health service. She has a really good eye for vintage, she says it’s because she’s worn most of it! She was bored silly being at home and since she started volunteering with us she’s become social media savvy.
Then there’s Stef, who’s 18 and still at school. She works Saturdays and does a bit of PR for us as well as researching clothes and helping arrange events, etc. She is using the experience to get her Millennium Volunteer certificate to boost her CV.
To show the range of people, we’ve also got Clare who is 40-ish and has recently been made redundant. She is volunteering in the shop to keep busy and make new friends. Clare is also looking at setting up her own small business and is using the retail experience she’s getting at VV to get experience in this.
It seems strange to think that 18 months ago three of us held our first meeting in the pub in Abergavenny to talk about this germ of an idea around a social enterprise for women. It’s hard work but is all going really well in Aber, and things are starting to take off in Blaenavon too.
I spend most of today in the Blaenavon shop meeting the locals and can already sense that there’s huge scope to offer something like Vintage Vision for women in the area.
Wednesday 27 April
We’ve been approached by the local Traders’ Association to take part in a local heritage event in July, and, today, as always, our volunteers are bubbling over with ideas for workshops and activities for the event.
Three potential volunteers visit the shop today in Blaenavon today and are all thrilled at the space and the opportunities it provides. We also get a visit from a local project worker from the Workers Educational Alliance (WEA) project. She is excited by the shop and the potential for us to work together.
It’s a busy day and things get even more hectic when the local paper turns up to take some photos and do an article on the new shop. That local coverage is going to be vital and I am thrilled that Jessica, from the Free Press, has been so helpful. Twitter can take the credit for this connection too.
We are lucky that we had two volunteers from the beginning, who were interested in doing our website and social media stuff. Our website stats are brilliant, and it’s been instrumental in attracting people to us.
Thursday 28 April
This morning I have an early visit to another social enterprise that I am on the board of, to meet with some of the staff. Homemakers Community Recycling is based in Abergavenny and has been hugely supportive of us.
It’s a much larger organisation, but it’s also a great example of how to manage growth in a social enterprise, and to become truly sustainable. At Vintage Vision we are about to try for grant funding for our first paid post. This will be a huge step. The main purpose of the new person would be to ensure we can increase our profitability and find some other income streams.
As trustees we recently had a joint financial training session with Homemakers, organised by a local social enterprise development project. It was incredibly helpful.
These kinds of events are so important, not just in terms of good governance but to develop a shared understanding of how we want to work and grow. We have become a really good team over the last 18 months, but as we move into new areas we have agreed that we need to review our structure.
We have invited two new trustees to join us, and have a planning session arranged for next week.
Back in the Blaenavon shop, I speak to our accountant, who is providing a briefing for us on becoming a company, limited by guarantee.
Friday 29 April
Back in Abergavenny this morning, but am not in the shop, so I stay at home alternatively watching the royal wedding and doing emails.
Naturally ‘the dress’ is of interest, especially since it’s channelling classic Grace Kelly - a vintage icon! Ever conscious of the need to increase sales, and knowing that our two young Millennium volunteers have dressed the Abergavenny window with bunting, union jacks and three superb vintage wedding dresses (see above pic), I print off a photo of Grace Kelly and the new Duchess of Cambridge, both in their respective wedding dresses, and call into the shop after lunch to put them in the window, together with a notice encouraging people to ‘wear vintage for your wedding’.
It attracts huge interest for the rest of the day, and while it doesn’t turn into sales, it’s all part of raising awareness about us and what we do.
Twitter: @Vintage_Vision
If you'd like to feature in 'A 'week in the life of a Welsh social entrepreneur', please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
