BRENTWOOD BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP

Brentwood Art Unearthed is a new arts and cultural event launching on 31 August

The 2018 Brentwood Art Trail took place from the 31st August to 13th September. Rebranded as the Brentwood Art Unearthed Art Trail, the event offered a unique showcase for amateur and professional artists in the area whom benefitted from raising their profile and sales of their work.

Brentwood Business Partnership Chair Mike Hawkins enthuses: “We are delighted to be the ones that launch a brand new platform across the borough for our artists. I know the town is overflowing with creative talent. The area’s commerce would greatly benefit from this amazing resource being given the opportunity to rise more to the forefront and the fact that visitors are able to engage with what we are doing can only benefit the Partnership and the wider, local economy.”

A special evening launch took place at Brentwood School on 31st August, in which artists and galleries were given the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work. This was shortly followed by a well-received public art exhibition at the Baytree Shopping Centre on the weekend of 1 -2 September.

The event supports Brentwood Borough Council’s vision for the area as it focuses on investing in growth that maintains its unique village character and improves the quality of life for residents through economic, visual and lifestyle benefits.

The Brentwood Business Partnership would like to thank the organisers and partners that delivered this year’s successful Art Trail to Brentwood, and we look forward to next year’s event.

Brentwood Loves Great Ormand Street Hospital - 30 June 2018
Charity Fun Day at the Baytree Shopping Centre in partnership with BBP

The Brentwood Business Partnership was formed early this year as a re-birth of the old Brentwood Renaissance Group – which had been around for 10 years and, although having done much good work, needed to be refreshed.

The Brentwood Business Partnership (or BBP for short) is a partnership between Brentwood Council and the local business community, particularly high street retailers and its aim is to champion economic growth across the Borough.

There are a number of ways of achieving this but one is to increase what is called ‘footfall’ – i.e. shoppers (residents and visitors) coming to our high streets to shop here rather than in Lakeside or other local destinations. If we can achieve that, it will bring greater prosperity tro all of us.

An important way of attracting visitors is to have special events such as street parties. On 30th June BBP will be sponsoring a fun day at the Baytree Centre in Brentwood. It is being run by a combination of BBP, the Baytree Centre and local businesses. It will be on between 11 am and 4pm.

Apart from offering a great day out for everyone, especially families, it is a major fund-raising event - in support of Great Ormond Street Hospital - GOSH (the second year it has been held but the first with BBP sponsorship).

Attactions will include:
• Free Kids’ activities including Arts & Crafts Workshops, Cookie Decorating, Face-painting, Balloons and Storytime with Chicken & Frog
• Free refreshments provided by Starbucks* (while stocks last)
• Family photos taken in the stunning flower wall photo booth
• Huge Hamper Giveaway – just buy a raffle ticket on the day and you could win prizes from Sports Direct, WHSmith, Starbucks, Heart of Gold and many more
• Sponsored Bike Ride from Brentwood to Great Ormond Street on the ‘Better Gym’ exercise bikes (give a minute of your time and a small donation, and they’ll make it there and back!)

Plus there will be guest appearances from TOWIE stars, as well as an amazing performance from The BIG Sing Brentwood. The organisers are very grateful to everyone donating their time to help support this event.

Mike Hawkins, Chairman of the Brentwood Business Partnership, commented: ‘The Brentwood Business Partnership are very excited to be sponsoring this event, as it’s a great opportunity to bring together local businesses, residents and retailers, all working to raise money for a great cause and bring people into the town centre’

Also, Dan Foley, Centre Manager of The Baytree Shopping Centre said: ‘We set out to make this year’s event even bigger and better than last year, and thanks to the fantastic response from Brentwood Business Partnership, our Baytree Centre retailers as well as local businesses, in and around the high street, we’re expecting to entertain over 12,000 people on the day. We’ll have collection buckets across stores, and with our Sponsored Cycle and raffle ticket sales, we’re hoping to make a significant donation to GOSH.’

Other events BBP is sponsoring later in the year include The Brentwood Arts Trail, Shenfield’s Summer, Halloween and Christmas street parties.

It is all part of the drive to make Brentwood Borough a more attractive destination for shopping and to do business.

On Wednesday 7th February the Council-sponsored business partnership group formerly known as The Renaissance Group re-launched itself as the Brentwood Business Partnership (BBP).

Hosted at the Brentwood Centre the event was attended by the Mayor, the Council’s Chief Executive, a number of Councillors and business owners/leaders from Brentwood and Shenfield, to hear the results of the partnership’s extensive strategic review.

Our photograph shows, from left, BBP Chair Mike Hawkins, Brentwood Deputy Leader John Kerslake, Council BBP Lead Officer Elaine Richardson, Mayor Cllr William Russell and the Council’s CEO Phil Ruck.

Though the former Renaissance Group had been around for a number of years and had done much good work to promote the economic interests of the borough, it was time to take stock and revitalise the group’s mandate - even its name. It is a unique partnership between the Council and the businesses community, combining to champion economic growth across the borough. Though funded by the Council, it is independent when it comes to the initiatives it can take – for example sponsoring community events to attract visitors and residents to shop locally, such as street fayres, and offering help and advice to small businesses to help them succeed.

Conveying a message from the Council Leader, Cllr Louise McKinlay, who was unable to attend the event, CEO Phil Ruck said “Brentwood Council welcomes the relaunch of the Brentwood Business Partnership. It has been in existence as the Brentwood Renaissance Group and has done some excellent work over the years. But the time was right to review its remit and aims – even its name, which was not well recognised.

Brentwood Business Partnership better reflects the group’s purpose The Brentwood Business Partnership is a unique group, with representation from local retailers, the business community and the Council. Its overall aim is to support the Council in championing economic growth in Brentwood, bringing the group’s wide range of business skills and expertise together to ensure that Brentwood remains first choice for business, residents and visitors.

The Council will continue to be a strong supporter of the Partnership and we wish it well in its partnership approach to harnessing the talent which Brentwood has in abundance to ensure a strong economic future for our borough”

Upper Shenfield

Brentwood Borough Council funding to the Brentwood Business Partnership (BBP) involves the following process for project bid funding:

• Bids must demonstrate how funding will meet Brentwood Borough Council’s priorities within the Vision for Brentwood, such as a thriving local economy.
  
  
• Bids must contain a high level breakdown of how the funding will be spent to meet these priorities. Normally approved bids will receive funding at the current rate of 75%, with the bid applicant putting the balancing 25%. BBP would encourage applicants to include sponsorship funding or gifts in kind from a party/ies other than Brentwood Borough Council.
  
  
• As part of any bid application the BBP will expect the appointment of an event/project leader to oversee the project. Project progress updates will be asked for at the BBP regular meetings and a project evaluation submitting on completion.
  
  
• Event/project advertising and publicity must give recognition to the funding support given by the BBP and the logo where possible, supported with project/event photographs which are to be submitted to the media co-ordinator of the BBP.