The Potato Cup

The Potato Cup has arrived in the office this week and is sat on the credenza beside Debbie's desk. Debbie has already made it very clear to the team that she will be profoundly disappointed if we fail to win the Thurrock Potato Growing Challenge and so every day we are making a point of spending some quality time with our chitts to ensure their emotional well-being.

It's been a great week for the Thurrock Learning Shop - we had the official opening on Monday and celebrated with many of the team involved in the establishment of the facility. Incredible to believe that since we opened in mid-December we have welcomed 1300 local people through the door. As well as offering an information and guidance service we have hosted events including a carbon foot-printing workshop, a Well-Being Day and the Thurrock Network Group. Best of all, the plumbers setting-up the system next door in the new Enterprise Centre fixed our radiators this morning.

Maris Peer

Another step closer towards the Good Life today as Sharon from The Waste Team delivered the recycled sacks for the Potato Growing Challenge. I picked-up the seed potatoes and delivered them to the fellow teams competing for the Potato Growing Challenge cup. We'll be growing Maris Peers and, according to food-writer Sarah Jane Evans...

"the aromas of the cooked potato are of freshly cut grass, a meadow freshness with a hint of citrus, finishing with notes of sweet butter."

....which truly will be a feat in istelf having experienced the unique and robust smell of the chicken manure that we will be growing them in here at the TLS.

The Thurrock Potato Growing Challenge

It's on! The first of the teams competing in the Thurrock Potato Growing Challenge have signed up and a vigorous competitive spirit is set to descend over Thurrock in the coming months. Sponsored by The Waste Team at Thurrock Council and Knowledge Thurrock Innovation Associates (KTIA) the competition will span the growing season with prizes being awarded for Best Yield and the Esther Rantzen Award for the potato that most resembles a celebrity. The organisations taking part thus far are Ikea, Thurrock Re-Use Project (TRUP), Park Inn Thurrock, Rio Aggregates, The Waste Team from Thurrock Council and KTIA, a Thurrock Council business support initiative.

Much talk has been made of the use of various fertilizers; The Waste Team championing the use of their home-grown Worm Tea; Ikea planning to get their plants hooked on caffeine from the used coffee grinds from their canteen; traditionalists TRUP favouring a family recipe. At Team KTIA, we are investigating a few options including moon-phase planting and the use of chicken manure.....I'll keep you posted

Social Media Workshop

With global organisations such as Harley-Davidson, Marks & Spencer and Virgin investing more of their marketing budget in online advertising it is clear that marketing trends are changing. Businesses across the globe have found that complimenting traditional marketing campaigns with new opportunities such as social media platforms have led to increased cost-effectiveness, access to new markets and reductions in carbon equivalent emissions.

Knowledge Thurrock Innovation Associates (KTIA) in conjunction with Arrow Light Haulage are pleased to offer a free workshop for local businesses entitled “Harness Social Media to Increase Your Sales”. Taking place on the 4th March from 0900 until 1130hrs in Grays, the session is ideal for small enterprise owners and managers who are interested in learning more about online social media platforms and their benefits and how to design a strategy to develop a successful, enhanced and cost-effective online presence.

For more information, please call Richard on 07500 802 311 or email r.a.snell@uel.ac.uk

Social Enterprise Round Table

The Thurrock Learning Shop hosted the first Social Enterprise Round Table event last Friday attended by a variety of Thurrock organisations, Social Entrepreneurs and Director of Social Enterprise South East, Andy Brady.

Presentations about challenges facing social entrepreneurs in 2010 and the subsidised support available from the Knowledge Thurrock Innovation Associates project preceded an open forum and opportunity for networking. In keeping with the theme, Cafe 4 U (the social enterprise cafe located at the Thameside Theatre) catered the event.

Following the event, Tina Murphy talks about what the Social Enterprise Round Table event meant to her.

Spreading the Green Goodness

At the TLS we are all about spreading the love of things Green, especially when they save us money. For this reason the Knowledge Thurrock Innovation Associate project is hosting a "Save Money by Carbon Foot-Printing" workshop on Thursday 11th Feb. Aimed at local business owners and managers, the workshop will show companies how they can save money and the environment by understanding the inter-relationship between carbon equivalent emissions reduction, resource efficiency measures and investment. Email Richard at r.a.snell@uel.ac.uk if you would like more details about this free event.

The Green Thing

I've been trying to think of a heading for a series of posts I'm going to write about the "greening" of the Thurrock Learning Shop but my mischievous mind keeps sniggering at the colour. You see, I studied in Spain for awhile and over there green translates to blue. So if for example you watch a blue movie, the Spanish would say a green movie; to tell a blue joke would translate to a green joke and the phrase "dirty old man" is "viejo verde" or "old green". Suffice to say, when you meet your madrileno flatmate's mother for the first time, don't be asking her if she has green fingers - it doesn't translate well.

So back to the Green Thing and today I've picked up the recycling bin for the Thurrock Learning Shop so we can start to collect the used paper without causing a fire hazard. I was hoping to get a second-hand bin from our friends at 2ndGeneration in Thurrock but it seems that bins don't get recycled often. Getting the bin is the start of the journey towards carbon reduction that we've documented in the Thurrock Learning Shop's Green Commitment. Hopefully there will be some fun things too like growing our own herbs on the window-sill and a potato-bucket in the car park so if anybody has any knowledge of moon-phase planting, a spare watering can or some spare seed potatos that they would like to donate, please email me at r.a.snell@uel.ac.uk