Cooking up a storm at the Hampshire Fare launch

A Glass of local bubbly, fantastic tasty nibbles and the wonderful setting of the Leckford Estate Farm Shop – what’s not to like?

An invitation to the launch of this year’s Hampshire Fare Food Festival was the hottest ticket this week – with the chance to find out more about some of the county’s top food and drink producers.

Celebrity chef Angela Hartnett (pictured below, clutching a copy of the Business South magazine) was the guest of honour. She and Luke Holder are the culinary brains behind Hartnett Holder and Co – the wonderful restaurant at Lime Wood Hotel in  the New Forest.

She told guests at the food festival launch that she loves working in Hampshire and she can feel the tension melt away as she drives down the M3 towards the New Forest.

There’s no doubting that Hampshire is a great place for food lovers. At the launch you could sample everything from posh bubble and squeak to buffalo burgers. I munched my way through some yummy cheese, sticky parkin and liquorice ice cream washed down with dry apple juice – and each element was delicious.

The Leckford Estate Farm Shop is nearly a year old and is one of those sublime places you wish you could visit more regularly.

My colleague Leigh-Sara (pictured above) and I were bowled over by the variety of food and drink for sale and really impressed by the cafe (especially the fabulous coffee).

Business South is really keen to support our region’s food and drink producers and each January we host a Local Produce show.

(We’ve got an early bird offer for exhibitors and you can read more about it here http://www.businesssouth.org/site/south/uploads/Business-Solent/SiteImages/Events/LocalProduceShow2015 Exhibitors Invitation FINAL.pdf)

As ever there are some wonderful events taking place during the Food Festival - for more details go to http://www.hampshirefare.co.uk/

Happy munching ...

Something for Businesses to Ponder...

It's Student Volunteering Week from next Monday (Feb 24). All across the country students will be doing good deeds for others -  in fact, Monday is officially Good Deed Day.

In our own back yard students in Portsmouth will be helping to clean up the storm-battered beach, while Winchester’s finest will be taking part in a volunteering hustle in aid of Naomi House and Jacks Place.

Over in Bournemouth students will be down on the community farm in their wellies, getting their hands dirty for a great cause.

And in Southampton students will be taking part in a series of events across the city.

My partner’s son recently graduated and I was struck at the time by the Vice Chancellor’s speech where he highlighted the enormous amount of volunteering students get up to while they are at university.

They had helped to raise many thousands of pounds for charity and given their time and brain power to help community projects get off the ground or keep going.

This has to be good for the students because it shows them there is a world beyond the lecture theatre and it undoubtedly benefits the towns and cities where they give their time for good causes.

Increasingly you hear it said that graduates joining businesses are concerned that their employer is contributing to their community and giving something back. (I understand some use this as a criteria when deciding which companies to apply to for work).

According to the experts, those born between 1980 and 2000 or Generation Y as they are more commonly known, are less interested in financial gain than their parents, and more concerned with job fulfilment.

More than just a means of paying the rent, Generation Y see work as a route to exploring their passions, hobbies and philosophies.

The traditional model of being able to do more social and charitable good when you are older and more financially secure is undoubtedly changing. Young people want to increase their pay scale and achieve social good at the same time.

As we inch forward out of the economic gloom of recent years, businesses will once again be looking at how they can make a difference (and resurrect those corporate social responsibility policies that have been sidelined due to budgetary constraints).

Employers should take volunteering into account when they decide which candidates to appoint – and then harness that generosity of spirit to enable their businesses to give something back to the local communities that support them.

It is a virtuous circle – and a resource that companies should be happy to support.

To find out more about Student Volunteering Week go to http://www.studentvolunteeringweek.org.uk/

Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines ...

In recent times I barely seem to have drawn breath before another deadline comes hurtling towards me at full pelt.

Coming from a newspaper background I’m used to writing copy on demand all day long (and I’m long enough in the tooth to remember writing for late night final editions, with the news editor hovering near my desk hungry for the latest political tit-bit from my notebook).

Conducting interviews for the next edition of the Southampton magazine is certainly keeping me busy – and it’s been fascinating so far...

This edition will showcase Southampton and give the latest news and views on key developments such as the Cultural Quarter and Waterfront development. It is focusing on the visitor economy and will highlight opportunities in the cultural / leisure / retail / restaurant / tourism realm.

I’ve been lucky enough to speak to not one but two of our leading hoteliers in the region. Robin Hutson of Hotel du Vin fame and more recently the driving force behind the success of the luxurious Lime Wood Hotel and the Pig hotels. He spoke to me about creating the Pig in the Wall in Southampton and his future plans for the Pig brand.

It was also a pleasure to interview Nicholas Roach, the chairman of the Nicholas James Group about his plans to build a striking new five star hotel at Ocean Village. His group already runs the successful Christchurch Harbour Hotel and the new Southampton development looks set to raise the bar for hospitality in the city. 

Artist's impression of the new five star hotel at Ocean Village

Fascinating to learn he started out working as an accountant at PWC based in Ocean Village and his office overlooked the spot where the new hotel (which looks like an art deco cruise liner) will eventually be sited.

Mr Roach is a keen advocate for Southampton, having been to university in the city and he is looking forward to seeing his beautiful new hotel take shape over the coming months.

The whip is being cracked and I need to get on with writing more content – so no more time to blog at the moment.

Mind you, even though I say it myself, this latest edition of the Southampton magazine looks set to be a really good read ... I’ll let you know when it hits the streets.

Penny’s Power-ful Message

If ever there was an example of passion and belief giving you a voice, Penny Power is proof positive.

The dynamic business woman who was honoured with an OBE in the New Year’s List was the founder of Ecademy – the UK’s first social network for business and she told the seminar audience at the South Coast Business Works how creating her own business gave her the confidence to speak on a national stage.

Now she has the ear of government Penny is looking to encourage greater collaboration – and wave the flag for the younger generation who are born digital.

“The collaboration of stakeholders at a local level is critical for us to solve the economy.

“The digital future is about you and your mindset, the digital technology is forcing us to be more open and to seek partners who care about what they care about and solve things together,” she told delegates.

Her argument seemed eminently sensible and it was refreshing to have a female keynote speaker with such an inclusive attitude.

More power to you Penny ...

Penny Power OBE - British author and speaker

A Growing Passion

The moment I heard about the wonderful aims of the Community Roots project being pioneered by the innovative Ideal Collection and Southampton Voluntary Services, I was hooked.

As an allotment devotee myself, I can bore for England on the benefits of growing our own.

As well as the food on your plate, an allotment is great for your mental and physical health (they don’t call it the green gym for nothing) – and it can provide a greater appreciation of where your food comes from.

In essence there is nothing more satisfying then seeing a seed you planted grow into a whopping great big parsnip or the bliss you feel tucking into a plate of freshly steamed asparagus, smothered in melted butter and harvested straight from your own plot.

So when the call came through to join Matthew Boyle and the Ideal Collection Team at the White Star Tavern to hear more about what their growing project could become, I didn’t take too much persuading.

And I wasn’t disappointed ... It was an extremely convivial evening.

Great food, a trip down memory lane thanks to former Southampton City Council leader, Councillor Royston Smith (I can’t tell you how many hours of my life were spent listening to Royston and his political chums gathered in the council chamber when I was the Echo’s political hack) – and a chance to find out more about the project. What’s not to like?

Community Roots is a therapeutic horticultural scheme that helps disadvantaged, marginalised and vulnerable people to change their lives.

Working together to grow fresh produce on a plot in a secluded city centre allotment, those taking part will learn new skills and be able to access training, education and employment through an innovative programme of supported volunteering, training and work opportunities.

Matthew Boyle explained the Ideal Foundation wanted to get involved because they see the scheme can help reduce  feelings of isolation by nurturing friendships and improving confidence and communication skills.

The vision is for people tending the plot to learn about growing and preparing food - and future off-shoots could see vulnerable people blossom to the point where they can work in the catering industry.

I for one think it is a fab idea – and I will be helping to promote it with my Business Southampton hat on and I hope other businesses will also give their support to this wonderful project.

Forget Barcelona ... Southampton Can Be The Next San Francisco

For years the vision for Southampton has always been to bring a little Mediterranean magic to the south coast by mirroring the re-invention of Barcelona.

With more than  a little imagination the QE2 mile could become our very own Las Ramblas – the iconic boulevard peppered with performance art and quirky happenings leading to a glittering waterfront with bohemian bars and al fresco dining.

We could only hope city planners would have the foresight to give the go-ahead to a home grown Gaudi to produce an iconic, crazy building or two to really put the place on the world map.

With Barcelona rapidly becoming a distant memory, Capita’s Property Director Richard McCarthy had another city vision for Southampton to aspire to.

At our recent Breakfast Briefing where the council’s CEO Dawn Baxendale and political leader Councillor Simon Letts spoke with unbridled passion about the city, Richard (who studied in Southampton in the 70s and was a top civil servant helping to introduce Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) before joining Capita) proposed aspiring to become the next San Francisco.

He made a plea for Southampton to embrace a few more buildings with scale and to be more daring with density. He had recently returned from the Californian city and while he admitted it had its fair share of social problems, he was impressed by a visit to the highest building in San Francisco.

(Having spent a few days in San Francisco myself, I can concur with the point he raised about social issues. It is the only place I have visited where the concierge in our hotel presented us with a map showing no-go areas where we shouldn’t stray).

Having thought about it, there are parallels between Southampton and San Francisco. There is the potential for Southampton to have a wonderful waterfront along the lines of Fisherman’s Wharf (but without the sea lions).

And it would only require a few coats of red paint to transform the Itchen Bridge ...

Questions, Questions ... Question Time

 

Waiting to go into the recording of the recent Question Time in Portsmouth, the generation gap was made all too clear to me.

The bright-eyed students who were queuing behind me were talking animatedly about the guest panel for the show including Tory grandee Nigel Lawson.

While I think of him as the former Chancellor of the Exchequer responsible for the’ Lawson Boom’ of the late 1980s ... to the bright young things behind me he was the man who created the domestic goddess – he was Nigella’s dad.