Welcome to Thursday’s standalone story.

What we try to outline below is what really won Gloucestershire the £71 million of funding it needs to complete a crucial upgrade to junction 10 of the M5, a project critical to our economic prosperity. And a project that until now has always felt just ever so out of reach.

Why spend so long talking to so many people when we could just have run the press release? Because one’s marketing and the other is journalism. It’s not about republishing press releases. It’s about looking beyond so you know what really took place.

This time, what lies beyond it is something we think speaks incredibly well of Gloucestershire, offers considerable hope and should be promoted, because this is a county that is at risk – at risk of being overlooked for funding, of being deconstructed by devolution, of being overlooked for investment and drowned out in the corridors of power by neighbours like Bristol.

And if it is to ever deliver a successful Golden Valley Development, described as ‘a once in a lifetime opportunity’, it will not do it by just building a motorway junction.

It needs to present itself as a county that can work together, that can unite, that will work hard to get what it needs, and only then – through the sheer weight of that collective might, and probably standing on tiptoes too, will it get the recognition.

Wouldn’t you want to be part of a place like that?

Congratulations to everyone involved. Which, by the sound of it, is just about everyone that matters!

Best regards,

Andrew Merrell (editor).

* The Raikes Journal is a community interest company. Everything you read by us is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne, our sponsors, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.

If you upgrade to become a paid subscriber you’ll be part of this CIC too. You’ll help make us sustainable, be able to see past the paywalls, comment on our stories, and know you’re making possible the county’s only editorially-led platform dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire about its businesses, charities, education and training sectors.

Sign up for just £2.30 a week - or £1.80 a week if two or more people sign up at once. Or go all in and become one of our Founding Partners or Founding Members!

What really won Gloucestershire that £71.5m for a new motorway junction

Beneath the glossy veneer of the press release about Gloucestershire’s winning £71.5m to transform the M5 junction 10, key to success for the £1blln Golden Valley Project, there’s a hugely positive story.

By Andrew Merrell.

A press release promoting the county council was widely recycled this week, promoting the news that the Government had granted it the £71.5 million needed to complete crucial remapping of a motorway junction.

It’s big news. The reshaping of junction 10 is regarded as critical to economic success, not least the much-hyped and still-pending Golden Valley Development, billed as a £1 billion housing and business park development beside GCHQ.

But ask a few questions and you quickly find out something very, very important has just taken place in Gloucestershire to make this happen – a county some think is becoming fragmented when only recently it seemed to stand as one.

Since the days of GFirst LEP, the once powerful business-run group that helped unite and champion Gloucestershire, making the junction accessible both ways has been recognised as a key economic catalyst.

But when the LEP was merged into the county council in April 2024 many felt business had lost its voice, major projects like the motorway junction, the Golden Valley, seemed to be stalling.

Privately, among the county’s business community at least, frustrations were mounting. Devolution appeared on the horizon, and the political bunfight that ensued didn’t fill anyone with any confidence either.

As for the motorway junction, it didn’t help that the estimated cost of £200m, when it was first mooted four years ago, had ballooned to £365m by the end of last year – forcing the county to go cap in hand to central government.

It seems that the very thing that made all these big projects seem possible was slipping away – that ability to put aside individual differences and present a united front. Until now.

Raikes spoke to key players involved in securing the money, political leaders, MPs, well-connected types, countywide, on and off the record, and what it turns out was a crucial element - the business people from across Gloucestershire who helped push this over the line.

We wanted to find out how they made it happen and how significant it really is.

I’m afraid we’ve paywalled this story to help pay for what we do - which is stories like this, delivering Gloucestershire some journalism, connecting the dots, creating community, celebrating the real heroes, and cutting through the marketing that flows fast through the social media channels and elsewhere.

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A double-edged edition today. One story bringing home the stark reality facing the start of the new year for more than 100 staff at a Gloucestershire factory, after news broke it plans to close operations in the county.

And then there is the potentially fantastic news that the Golden Valley Development is facing its final planning hurdle before work can begin.

We’ve decided not to get caught up entirely in the fanfare following in the wake of the Golden Valley media release.

If it wasn’t such a thoroughly exciting project, and if we lived in a time when local media held councils to account, the amount of noise on social media and unchallenged press releases published about what is a project funded by public money would have been balanced out somewhat.

There are frustrations out there among more than a few about the progress of the scheme, and we know conversations have taken place about leadership and costs, but in a landscape where hope of lots of investment is a powerful force for keeping everyone in line, most do not want to go public and jinx it all.

And neither do we!

I hope your first full week of 2026 has gone well. Long may it continue.

As for the first story, my thoughts are with the staff at Invista.

Best regards,

Andrew Merrell (editor).

Fears for 125 jobs as factory announces closure plans

Staff at a Gloucester factory on the site of the county’s historic former airport could be facing redundancy after the owners announced plans to move all work abroad to “strengthen” its position.

By Andrew Merrell.

One hundred and twenty five staff await to hear their fate after the owner of the factory they work for in Gloucester announced it was exploring plans to close the operation.

Brockworth-based Invista, owned by American giant Koch Industries, said if it went ahead with the plans it would move operations to its base in Kingston, Canada, and also be exploring sites in China.

The intention, according to the business, would be “to strengthen its global operating footprint and position the business for long-term competitiveness”.

Brook Vickery, INVISTA president and chief executive officer, said: “These proposals are not a reflection of their performance or commitment, but rather a response to today’s market environment and the need to align our operations with where we see long-term opportunity.

“Our top priority now is ensuring the safe, stable operation of our facilities as we work through the changes necessary to evaluate and, if approved, implement these proposals.”

Read the full story here: Fears for 125 jobs as factory announces closure plans.

* The Raikes Journal is a community interest company. Everything you read by us is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne, our sponsors, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.

If you upgrade to become a paid subscriber you’ll be part of this CIC too. You’ll help make us sustainable, be able to see past the paywalls, comment on our stories, and know you’re making possible the county’s only editorially-led platform dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire about its businesses, charities, education and training sectors.

Sign up for just £2.30 a week - or £1.80 a week if two or more people sign up at once. Or go all in and become one of our Founding Partners or Founding Members!

Briefing notes…

🏭 Members news: High profile advanced engineering firm appoints administrators: Back in 2018 the Gloucestershire-based co-founder of a county engineering firm was escorting Theresa May on a three-day trade visit to China. All seemed rosy with the fast-growing firm, which had also become a darling of the Alternative Investment Market. That founder and the face of the firm, Neil Ricketts, was also part of the successful Gloucestershire’s local enterprise partnership team at GFirst LEP. And then in 2023, Ricketts, then chief executive officer of Versarien plc, resigned. This week the Forest of Dean-headquartered business has appointed administrators.

👨‍💼👩🏿‍💼👩‍💼 New centre for 100 businesses officially opens in Gloucester: It’s enjoyed its fair share of hype in the build up to this moment, but a new business centre which hopes to be home to 100 businesses and host 500 staff is now officially live in Gloucester. Opening in The Forum, the city’s new flagship office, retail and leisure development, the centre has already attracted tenants.

⚡🏗️ 🏘️ Former EDF offices could be demolished to make way for up to 300 homes: Plans are afoot to redevelop EDF’s former site in Gloucester to make way for up to 300 homes and new offices, industrial units and warehouses. The French state-owned energy company, which relocated to Gloucester Business Park in 2021, is looking to turn its former offices at Barnett Way in Barnwood into homes and business use.

The weekend ahead…

Friday.

🏉 Gloucester Rugby play Edinburgh Rugby away from 8pm this evening.

🎸 Cinema. Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere at The Roses, Tewkesbury. An “intimate, behind-the-scenes exploration of the creation of Bruce Springsteen’s stark 1982 masterpiece, Nebraska”. From 7.30pm.

Saturday.

⚽ Cheltenham Town play Championship side Leicester City in the third round of the FA Cup at home. KO is 12.15pm.

⚽ Forest Green Rovers FC play Ebbsfleet United away. KO 3pm.

⚽ Gloucester City FC play Marine away. KO 3pm.

Sunday.

📺 Gloucester History Festival Winter Warmer 2026 online festival continues through this weekend with more than 70 historians, broadcasters and top names. Tickets are £7 per event with a pass costing £32 for all 50 events.

Will 2026 be the year the Golden Valley Development begins?

Conceived almost 10 years ago, hailed as a “once in a lifetime” £1blln project, the team behind the Golden Valley Development is confident that 2026 will be the year spades finally go in the ground.

By Andrew Merrell.

“If you build it they will come,” as the widely misquoted version of the original line from the 1989 film Field of Dreams goes.

In Gloucestershire it’s happened the other way around. Many cyber and tech businesses have come, but they are still waiting for the “it” to be build while they hold up in the Hub8 MX building in central Cheltenham.

That “it” being the Golden Valley Development. But it now looks like one of the key final hurdles to that happening is about to be cleared.

Read more

Welcome to Friday’s edition. As we edge back to some kind of normal service I would like to welcome the numerous individuals who spent August signing up as subscribers to The Raikes Journal.

We’re now chasing down 1,000 subscribers. That might seem small, but Raikes is growing entirely organically and has an incredible rate of readership. More so than any other database I’ve touched to date. And is supported by more than 12,000 social media connections.

When you consider Monday’s edition was read by more people than we sent it too - which is often the case - and that we’re now touching 12,000 views a month for our email edition - that’s not too shabby.

You could say that with six to 10 stories per edition on a Monday and Friday, if you went by views per story (what everyone else does) you can multiple 12,000 by at least six-fold. But we don’t. Although we do think that in 18 months that’s pretty good - and about halfway towards optimal critical mass.

We remain supported by ou…

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It was bound to happen at some point over the course of what is a long-term project, especially one promising so much and grabbing so many headlines, but local political figures have broken ranks over the Golden Valley Development.

Billed as the biggest opportunity for the county, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the “£1 billion” project has had the backing of just about everyone - and with good reason. The potential economic and social benefits are obvious.

The promise of 12,000 new jobs and up to 3,700 new homes, with a business park at its centre focusing on tech is hard to resist. The emphasis on purely cyber shifted some time ago, with the development orginally billed as the town putting a flag into the ground to lay claim to being the UK’s cyber capital.

But frustrations have been bubbling away in some quarters for a while now about progress, with many reluctant to go on record as they know that with major projects confidence can be key.

So they’ve towed the cross-party line. Until now. As you’ll see below.

Should we be worried that local politics is beginning to take centre stage over something which once united everyone behind the local authority?

Raikes understands there are concerns in other quarters too, with everyone remaining onside publically, but in private calling for some sign of progress.

We have a follow-up coming too which looks into the challenges in a little more detail.

Best regards,

Andrew Merrell (editor).

For every person you refer to The Raikes Journal’s email service you get points towards a free membership allowing you to see beyond our paywalls. Please do sign up (free or otherwise), send the referral link to a friend or colleague, and help us grow.

Refer a friend

Charity of the week: Man Up Gloucestershire

On Sunday 17 August a cricket match with a difference will take place in the north of Gloucestershire in aid of Man Up Gloucestershire. The charity offers peer-to-peer support groups for men throughout the county with free drop-in sessions in Churchdown, Cheltenham and Newent. Former Cheltenham Town goalkeeper and Gloucester City manager Tim Harris will be leading his team onto the pitch against the Farmers XI at Dymock Cricket Club. Last year Harris, now a director of football at Worcester City FC, lost his son to suicide. Even if you can’t buy a ticket and attend, there’s a raffle with tickets priced at £10. Prizes include a signed Cheltenham Town shirts, 10-game Worcester City FC ticket, hampers, a range of golfing day vouchers, two tickets to Worcestershire County Cricket Club and more. More here.

* The Raikes Journal is a digital magazine and community interest company whose supporters believe, like us, that journalism about Gloucestershire is worth keeping alive. Everything you read here - original stories about our county - is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire+ College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne; our sponsors, Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.

If you upgrade to paid you’ll be part of this CIC too. We’re dedicated to championing the county, its businesses, charities, education and training providers, and to creating an even stronger community. If you upgrade to paid you’ll be able to see past the paywalls often put on our 2cnd and 3rd email editions of the week, that lock our archive after two weeks and our Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series. You’ll be able to comment on our stories too.

You can sign up for just £2.30 a week - or £1.80 a week if two or more people sign up at once. Or go all in and become one of our Founding Partners or Founding Members!

Subscribe now

Briefing notes…

🍽️ Calls for public debate over Quays bid for huge food and drink venue: Plans that could see what would be one of the county’s biggest restaurants open at Gloucester Quays could be debated at a public meeting. The retail outlet owners want a planning condition clarified that could allow a 691sqm venue to open - which would be bigger than the nearby vacant former TGI Friday’s (480sqm) and The Lord High Constable of England, J D Wetherspoon at Llanthony Warehouse in the Docks, which is around 565 sqm. More here.

🏆 Judges prepare to draw up shortlist of Gloucestershire businesses. In case you’ve missed it, preparations are well underway for the Believe in Gloucester Awards 2025. The event celebrates the very best businesses, organisations and indivuals that make the city a success. Nominations are in for 15 awards, which range from ambassador, business, small business and new business of the year to retailer, food business, event, and charity of the year. Judges are due to meet this month to shortlist the entries with a public vote on the finalists expected to open in September. Headline sponsors making it all possible are once more WSP Solicitors and Gloucester Quays. More here.

🏗️ Villagers turned out in force at a council meeting on Monday night (11 August) to voice their opposition to plans for a new 3,000-home town off the A417 near Redmarley. It was standing room only at Redmarley Village Hall as parish councillors gathered to discuss their response to the latest blueprint for development in the Forest of Dean district. The council is currently consulting on its local plan and among the options is one or more new towns to help meet their shortfall of 13,200 homes needed by 2043. More here.

📈 Strong first six months for one of Gloucestershire’s biggest businesses: County-grown Brockworth-headquartered Mears plc, has reported “a period of strong operational, financial and strategic performance” for its first six months of the year. Lucas Critchley, the housing maintenance specialist’s chief executive officer, was upbeat - despite a fall in revenue of four percent (from £580 million to £559.4m). Pre-tax profits were up by five per cent to £32 million. More here.

📈 Why there is cause for optimism, despite poor regional business growth: There is cause for optimism, despite a softening of business growth in the South West and a fall in staffing levels at firms in the region for the ninth straight month. According to the Nat West, growth was up for the seventh month in a row, although its Growth Tracker survey’s business activity index for the region shows the rate slowed, slipping from 53.9 in June to 51.1. Nat West described the growth as the ‘softest’ since February and only marginal. However, there was optimism from business regarding the 12-month outlook for output. It rose to its highest level in nine months. More here.

🏗️ New housing development revealed: Gloucester City Homes has bought land in Longford, just north of Gloucester, as part of a plan to deliver 17 new energy-efficient social rent homes. The housing association plans to work in partnership with developer Cape Homes and Tewkebury Borough Council on the scheme, which is supported by funding from Homes England’s Affordable Housing Programme. All homes in the scheme will be available for social rent and ‘built to the highest environmental standards’, with 35 per cent meeting enhanced accessibility standards for wheelchair users. More here.

*The Raikes Journal is the only independent news outlet in Gloucestershire approved to use the copy of the BBC local government reporting service. Why? Only only independent, credible journalistically-led platforms that meet the BBC’s high standards win that permission.

Concerns over the management of the Golden Valley Development

When local politics makes its way centre stage in a story about a major development many will begin to shudder. Opposition councillors question the Golden Valley Development plans.

Concerns have been raised over a shortfall in affordable housing linked to Cheltenham’s Golden Valley Development next to GCHQ, with critics claiming “community benefits have been eroded”.

HBD Golden Valley Limited’s outline plans for up to 576 homes and up to 1,353,002 sq ft of employment floorspace were approved by Cheltenham Borough Council last month.

The council’s flagship project is expected to create 12,000 jobs and be home to hospitality, retail businesses and 3,700 new homes.

It is also hoped that the state-of-the-art Golden Valley campus off Fiddlers Green will help secure GCHQ’s presence in the spa town for decades to come.

But opposition councillors are concerned about the proportion of affordable homes in the first phase of the project.

Officers said during the planning committee meeting last month that the development had viability issues.

Read more

Welcome to Friday’s edition of The Raikes Journal.

About the only thing welcome about yesterday’s news of cyber attacked on major retailers M&S, the Co-op and then Harrods was that it distracted the national media from delivering the latest daily installment on President Trump’s second term in office.

It was certainly no less worrying for many.

Speculation was rife. Images of dark forces at work on the web abounded and anxiety crept over anyone whose livelihood depends on their business being secure and safe from harm in an age where digital is everywhere. So that’s just about everyone!

In Cheltenham a special gathering took place at the University of Gloucestershire’s FuturePark yesterday that saw business people and experts in cyber security discuss what had really taken place, how scared anyone really should be and what measures could be taken to prevent any of them becoming the next victim.

Raikes was invited down to listen in, and the report is below.

We would like to th…

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We hope you’re had a great week.

Today’s edition includes some briefing notes and diary dates which we are endeavouring to make a regular feature on Fridays.

Our main story is a look at a snippet of news we picked up about a firm from Cheltenham that has just been taken over by an American growth fund.

Those in the cyber community will know of Ripjar, but perhaps not those outside it. Founded by two former employees of GCHQ the firm’s tech supports leading global companies and governments in detecting criminal behaviour. It’s headquartered in Eagle Tower.

In 2022 is raised £28 million of funding for growth and was tipped for big things.

From one perspective those ‘big things’ are already happening in the form of the takeover.

For others there are more pressing questions around what work the UK and Gloucestershire has to do in order to help other cyber firms truly capitalise on their potential.

With the help of Chris Dunning-Walton from CyNam we try and explore a little of that, and why it is important to look more closely at the Ripjar story if we are to make sure Gloucestershire can continue to capitalise on its potential as ‘the UK’s cyber capital’ and all the promises of the forthcoming Golden Valley is realised.

We also asked the new owner of Ripjar if it plans to keep the firm in Gloucestershire? Can it continue to grow here? Just what are its plans?

And it reminds us that an investor told this journalist just last year that once he would have to be in London to find good prospects in the tech sector. Not any more, he said!

• Remember, Raikes is a reader-supported publication - it is able to deliver journalism and a credible, respected editorially-led platform for Gloucestershire because of those paid-for subscribers and our generous Founding Partners and Founding Members. Which is why today’s edition is paywalled. If you are not one of our growing tribe of paid-up members already, please do consider joining them.

Have a great weekend.

Andrew Merrell (editor).

NB: Raikes publishes probably the best-read business-related email ‘newsletter’, pound for pound, in Gloucestershire.

If you have a story, an issue, a news item, a charity or an interview you want us to write about or investigate, challenge the powers that be on, then please email me: andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

Your briefing notes…

🗳️ On Monday 25 November, Cheltenham Borough Council and partners will “initiate its support for the ‘16 Days of Action’ campaign”, aimed at ending violence against women and girls. This initiative will commence with a community-wide effort to ‘Turn Cheltenham Orange’, encouraging businesses and residents to wear and display orange to show their commitment to this cause. Throughout the 16 days, the council will share various safety measures and resources for victims of domestic abuse via its social media channels.

🪩⛪Cheltenham-based national bar operator Epic Bars has acquired the former Vodka Revolution site - the old Baptist Church on Clarence Parade. It plans to reopen the venue from tonight (Friday 15 November) under the new name The Chapel. The new owner, which also owns Home and Botanic Cheltenham, said the move would create approximately 30 new jobs. Epic Bars and Clubs describes itself as the UK’s fastest growing chain of bars and nightclubs with 23 sites across the UK, including the Trilogy, Labyrinth and Botanic brands.

🧼 Lloyds Bank has agreed to back Cotswold-based Queen’s Award-winning business the Little Soap Company as it looks to expand. Founded by Emma Heathcote-James in 2008 to provide ‘natural pure soaps that are good for the skin’, the company now has a team of 10 staff and sells millions of products a year to every major retailer, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Asda, Boots and Amazon. The funding from Lloyds will help it install new software. It is currently venturing into Taiwan, the Netherlands and Ireland and has its sights set on the United States of America too.

😮‍💨 Outspoken Gloucestershire energy tycoon Dale Vince has launched a new push to sign up landowners to deliver energy independence, public ownership and green electricity to everyone in the county. According to Vince, analysis reveals Gloucestershire could accommodate 100 4MW windmills which would generate enough to meet the electricity needs of every household. The founder of Ecotricity is proposing a public ownership model through local authorities which he says could add an extra £7 million a year to the county council’s coffers.

🚜🐄👩‍🌾 So much post-Budget noise. Plenty for those brainy people in professional services to digest and help us with. The subject of inheritance tax and what it means for the agriculture sector gets closer scrutiny here from one of our long-standing contributors, director of Business West Gloucestershire’s Ian Mean OBE. As he says “far too often , I believe we forget the importance of farmers and associated food businesses to our Gloucestershire economy”. As Mean also points out, 70 per cent of land in Gloucestershire is agricultural. The sector supports 50,000 jobs here. Gloucestershire is also home to innovative agri-tech support centres like Farm 491 and Hartpury College and Hartpury University’s Agri-Tech centre. You can read his thoughts here.

A chancellor of a very different kind!

If the words chancellor bring to mind only Rachel Reeves, and you are breaking out into a cold sweat, then read on for the antidote. There is more than one chancellor grabbing the headlines now. Hartpury University’s graduation ceremony at Gloucester Cathedral saw actor and animal lover Martin Clunes officially instated as the institution’s inaugural chancellor. Fittingly for a university synonymous with equestrian excellence the day also saw an honorary degree awarded to six-time Badminton champion, Olympic team silver medallist and world and double European champion, Lucinda Green. Charlie Whitehouse, a fourth-generation farmer based in the Forest of Dean, was also awarded an honorary degree for his role in the development of Hartpury and contribution to the agricultural industry. Hartpury is in the top 10 per cent of UK universities for graduate employability.

Our to do list for the weekend…

Friday 8 November:

💃🏽👑 Not to be confused with the veteran rock band Queen, Queenz is back with a new show at Tewkesbury’s Roses Theatre - Drag me to The Disco. Described as “where Dancing Queenz and Disco Dreams collide for the part of a lifetime”. Showing tonight from 7.30pm and twice on Saturday 16.

🩰 The Imperial Classical Ballet and Opera House present Swan Lake at Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre tonight and The Nutcracker tomorrow, Saturday 16 November.

Saturday 16 November:

🎸 One-time BritPop favourites Echobelly bring their live show to Gloucester Guildhall at 7.30pm. Tickets are £21. The band has just recorded its latest studio album.

🥳 The Subscription Rooms presents what it calls Stroud’s “biggest party” tonight from 7pm when it stages its Shindig 2024. The Baghdaddies, Filthy Dirty Disco, DJ Robbie Duncan and more...

⚽ Cheltenham Town FC, currently 16th in Football League Division Two, play sixth-placed MK Dons away at 3pm.

Sunday 10 November:

🧑‍🎤 Pop star Will Young will be on stage at Cheltenham Town hall tonight from 7pm as part of his 50-date tour. Expect to be treated to his new single too from his forthcoming ninth studio album, Light It Up.

* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne, our sponsors Hartpury University and Hartpury College, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.

If you upgrade to paid you’ll be part of this community interest company too. In an era when local journalism is all but gone and websites covered in pop-ups and full of advertorials, lists and unedited press releases, we are dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire, to championing the county, in particular its businesses, charities, education and training providers and to helping create an even stronger community. If you upgrade to paid you will be able to see past the paywalls on our second and third email editions of the week, that lock all our archive after two weeks and lock our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire, the series that follows the financial fortunes of our biggest firms by turnover. You will be able to comment on our stories too. You’ll be helping make this CIC sustainable. Please do join us.

If you sign up now you can take advantage of our 30 per cent off offer - and become a member for a year for just £84, which works out at £7 a month or £1.62 a week! Or go all in and become one of our Founding Partners or Founding Members, and overpay!

US fund swoops for Cheltenham cyber firm. What’s going on?

If Gloucestershire needed a business whose journey speaks of the incredible growth potential for cyber and its ability to draw in millions of pounds of funding, Ripjar is that poster boy. Or is it?

By Andrew Merrell.

One the face of it this is a story about a firm founded in Gloucestershire that developed technology in demand by our Government and others, attracted investment, grew quickly and has now been sold.

We are talking about Ripjar, the Eagle Tower-headquartered business which was raising £28 million in funding in 2022, tipped by many for big things and a firm which has just announced new American-based owners, in the shape Long Ridge.

It begs the obvious question of ‘what does it mean for the Gloucestershire business’s county footprint?’, but also ‘what does it say about the potential for the many other cyber-focused firms beavering away in Gloucestershire?’.

Could the county become a hotbed for future deals, or was this a one-off? Should we be excited by the Ripjar story or does it in fact tell us just how much work there is yet to do to help firms achieve their real potential?

Some of those questions are easier to answer than others. Like what it means for its place in the county. But we give it our best shot below.

We think it is a revealing take on just how much some think needs to be done to make sure we can capitlise on the forthcoming Golden Valley development and burgeoning cyber ecosystem, and how determined many are to do just that.

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Dear Readers,

Welcome to your first edition of The Raikes Journal of the week. Those who have followed the social media channels business people keep their eyes on over the last few days will have seen numerous posts about Cheltenham Literature Festival, and some of them about a particular event at the Hub8 MX centre - that new building next to the town’s Minster.

We home in on what happened in that building on Thursday last week for today’s main story. What began as an attempt to report on all that was said at the event by everyone who was there has been stripped back somewhat (there was just too much!), but we hope our story reveals a little of what we think the bigger messages were from the afternoon.

And those messages point to what we big-up as a gathering of probably the most influential group of authors and publishers coming together in one room at the literature festival ever.

Some of those present will probably change your lives, very probably make them safer and more secure, and…

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Welcome to Monday’s edition of The Raikes Journal.

We’re a little late posting this today as we had to pull the first edition after one of our contacts asked us to hold off on our main story for another day. Being obliging sorts, and valuing their input, we agreed.

But that’s given us a chance to deliver what you will find below - a main story about a new building that has quietly opened in the county following a near £10 million investment, and which is already filling with possibly the most exciting new collections of firms we can think of under one roof in Gloucestershire.

We also continue our coverage of the build-up to the Believe in Gloucester Awards, and let you know about an important milestone in that journey this week.

And we also help a very special firm marking a very special birthday. One of our Founding Partners, the firms that make this community interest company possible and able to continue to write about Gloucestershire and to champion it like no other, has…

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“When I went to talk to my sixth form about not going to university and doing an apprenticeship instead they said ‘we can’t help you’,” Rowan Edlington told the Bridging the Cyber Skills Gap conference at Blackfriars in Gloucester.

“I had to do all the preparation for an apprenticeship, for interviews, on my own - while also forced to go through applying for university anyway; an application I later withdrew.”  

It wasn’t that she wasn’t going to get the grades for university, she was predicted top marks, it was that she knew university was not for her, and neither were A-Levels for that matter. 

In short, Edlington knew her own mind, but she was discouraged by those who could have helped her. 

The former A-Level student was part of a five-strong panel, the second of two groups, at the Blackfrairs event staged by CyNam (which represents cyber sector businesses in the county), Gloucestershire College, the University of Gloucestershire and supporting businesses.

All were there to try to ge…

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We hope you have had a great week. Welcome to our end of the week edition of The Raikes Journal.

Today our main story is based on an interview with one of the senior figures at HBD, the business brought in by Cheltenham Borough Council to lead on the Golden Valley Development “at the heart of the UK’s National Cyber Strategy”.

You’ll see the Golden Valley described as a £1 billion project and all about cyber, well apparently that’s not actually true. And if you read the story below you’ll see why, but also why that makes it even more exciting for the county - even more inclusive.

We preface it with a couple of stories relating to something else of major importance bubbling away here in Gloucestershire - the potential for the county to find itself at the centre of the nation’s nuclear power industry. It’s no secret those talks have been underway, but it looks like things are moving faster than we might have thought behind the scenes.

We’ve paywalled the main story below, which…

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We hope your week has gone well. We’ve been beavering away on a couple of cyber-related big-read stories this week, one of which is below. The other we might just publish tomorrow (Friday 14 June).

Those who follow the sector closely will know that a trade mission of exciting cyber businesses from the North of the country came to Cheltenham last week at the invitation of CyNam. We’re forever writing about how we in Gloucestershire are the ‘cyber capital of the UK’, so we thought it would be a good idea to see what they think. ‘Is it true’, was one question?

We think their opinions will surprise you, hopefully put you in a good mood for the weekend, and are certainly a huge insight into how effective CyNam, Hub8, the Golden Valley, Cheltenham Borough Council, HBD and others are in the county - and the collaborative working certainly ties in with the article by our expert columnist, Simon Merrell.

Merrell offers up his thoughts on something that is key to the newly published Gloucestershire Economic Plan working (the business plan for the county for the next 10 years unveiled in May) and that is partnership working. ‘Together we’re stronger’, and all that. But just how do you make them work? That’s the question Merrell gives some thought to, and his answers are applicable to businesses everywhere.

You can find that story linked below, along with news that after 60-plus years working and half a century helping build one of the biggest and most successful businesses Gloucestershire has ever seen, its founder is winding down. Well, just a little bit.

We’ve kept today’s post free to all. We usually paywall the Thursday editions for the benefit of our members. Please do consider joining them (£2.30 per week! Less if you pay for two or more people at once). You’ll be helping make this community interest compay sustainable and able to continue doing what it does, providing real journalism to support the county’s business, charity and education and training sectors and help create community.

We hope you enjoy.

Please do continue to bear us in mind for your stories and ideas. Contact andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk or telephone 07956 926061. 

* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College and Merrell People; our sponsors: Randall & Payne and Hartpury University and Hartpury College; our Founding Members and all our wonderful paying subscribers. If you upgrade to paid too, you’ll be able to see beyond the paywalls we place on many of our second and third email editions of the week and that lock our archive after two weeks. You will be able to view our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series comment on our stories and you’ll be helping to make possible this community interest company dedicated to supporting the county, its businesses, charities and education and training providers — all for just £2.30 per week!! Cheaper if you buy a group subscription (when two or more people subscribe at once) For commercial opportunities visit our About us page or email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

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Will you go to the ball with me?

🤝🏻 This is something of a follow-up to the thread of stories we’ve delivered on Gloucestershire’s new economic plan. Gloucestershire County Council unveiled the plan in May and has begun to invite business people to join a new board for economic growth to help make it all happen. Key to its success, as the document itself spells out, will be partnerships - and more so, making them work. Just how do you create meaningful partnerships, be you an economic growth board or a business? What sort of questions do you need to ask yourself? Luckilly we have Simon Merrell, of Merrell People, on hand to explain how to unlock the answers. Find out more here.

The Raikes Journal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the work of this community interest company, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Your briefing notes…

👏🏼 Renishaw: Sir David McMurtry, one of the founders of one of Gloucestershire’s most successful home-grown companies ever, Renishaw plc, will step down as executive chairman of the business from next month (July). Sir David, now is in his 80s and a man who continues to win wards for his outstanding contribution to engineering, founded Renishaw with John Deer more than 50 years ago.

The Wotton-under-Edge-headquartered operation has remained committed not just to Gloucestershire, but engineering excellence and innovation ever since and created thousands of jobs in Gloucestershire and more around the world. It’s also reportedly earned its co-founder a personal fortune worth £1.25 billion. 

Sir David will remain a non-executive director with senior independent director Sir David Grant assuming the role of interim non-executive chairman while the board searches for a permanent successor. Sir David’s son, Richard McMurtry, will also be appointed as an additional non-executive director. 

📉 Superdry: Julian Dunkerton’s proposed rescue package for Superdry has cleared its latest hurdle with the founder of the fashion brand remaining determined to stave off the Cheltenham headquartered business entering administration. Creditors reportedly voted in favour of the plans, which pins the hopes of a revival on the label’s fortunes on rent reductions across 39 stores, raising equity and a delisting from the stock market. Dunkerton’s plan to take the company private fell through this year. Shareholders will now vote on the delisting of the firm and on the ‘equity raise’ at Friday’s annual general meeting (June 14). If that goes to plan the process moves to the High Court on Monday 17 June to get the plan sanctioned.

🏆 Deadline approaching! This is the deadline is tomorrow (Friday, 13 June) for anyone who wants to nominate a business or individual for the Believe in Gloucester Awards, which return this year for the first time since pre-covid courtesy of the city’s BID (Business Improvement District). Headline sponsors are WSP Solicitors and Gloucester Quays. There are 15 categories, ranging from business of the year, small business of the year and new business of the year to best retailer, best customer service, best bar or pub, community project, event and charity. Find out more here. 

📢 Attention hospitality businesses!!! No one who runs a hospitality business needs telling that Christmas is key to success. What they might need help with, however, is a plan to get the most out of the occassion. According to experts the cost of living crisis continues to have a significant impact on consumer behaviour and is disproportionately affecting independents in the sector. Those businesses need to squeeze as much value as they can from the festive opportunity. In which case this should help… Daniel Jenkins, of Wagada Digital, Aimee, the head of creative from Christmas Makers, and Samantha Walker and Andy Barr of marketing supremos 10 Yetis, are coming together to stage a special seminar to make sure everyone’s plan is as good as can be. Find out more here.

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It has a Silicon Valley vibe and can help launch your business skyward

This Gloucestershire town has the feel of San Francisco’s famous entrepreneurial community and is both inspirational and a launch pad for UK cyber businesses; it has ‘dared to do something truly bold’.

By Andrew Merrell

It is like San Francisco and it’s a launch-pad for cyber businesses into one of the most potentially lucrative sectors in the UK economy - and beyond - and it is right here in Gloucestershire. 

Sometimes you can talk about something for so long – like how Cheltenham is about to become the UK’s ‘cyber central’ courtesy of the Golden Valley Development – that you begin to wonder whether we need a reality check. 

If ever you were going to get such a thing you could do worse than invite a few friends from out of town, perhaps from the North East; friends who also happen to understand just what business, cyber and the digital economy is all about.

Which is exactly what CyNam did, the Cheltenham-based group that represents Gloucestershire’s cluster of cyber-related businesses here in the county - it invited its friends from CyberNorth down for the town’s science festival. 

Raikes was intrigued to hear what they had to say, for all the reasons we outlined above. The feedback was fascinating.

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Welcome to the Thursday edition of The Raikes Journal. It is a members only edition.

As we seek to make what we do sustainable - providing some real journalism to support Gloucestershire business, charity and education and training sectors - we often paywall our Thursday and Friday editions, making them accessible only to our members.

Friday is becoming our round-up of the week, featuring the best stories we’ve written or spotted that we think are relevant, plus another piece of orginal journalism often in the form of a long read of Top 100 article. All usually also locked except to our paying subscribers.

Today we’ve taken a story that went out as a general press release and had a proper look at it. We did that so we can tell you who the company really is, and because we felt strongly that there was a significant message here too for anyone who might have questioned just how effective the teams that made the work of GFirst LEP so special can be now they are under the wing of Gloucestershire County Council.

We also enjoyed the fact that the story gives some glory to one of our Founding Partners, Gloucestershire College. Its efforts with the cyber sector were a factor worthy of credit in the firm’s decision to open its new HQ here in the county.

Please do send us your story ideas to andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk. Or telephone 07956 926061.

* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College and Merrell People; our sponsors: Randall & Payne and Hartpury University and Hartpury College; our Founding Members and all our wonderful paying subscribers. If you upgrade to paid too, you’ll be able to see beyond the paywalls we place on many of our second and third email editions of the week and that lock our archive after two weeks. You will be able to view our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series comment on our stories and you’ll be helping to make possible this community interest company dedicated to supporting the county, its businesses, charities and education and training providers — all for just £2.30 per week!! For commercial opportunities visit our About us page or email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

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Some briefing notes

(As today’s main story below is cyber-focused we thought we’d lay down another couple of quick shorts first on that very same theme).

💻 🖱️ CyNam, the Cheltenham-based Gloucestershire cyber security ‘cluster’ has been awarded funding for the Barclays Eagle Labs Ecosystem Partnership Programme. 

The programme will help CyNam “forge greater collaboration between its cyber security and emerging technology clusters, unlocking the region’s world-leading capability in securing emerging technologies”. 

Those ‘clusters’ include space, AI, AgriTech, quantum, and semiconductors. The programme will enable CyNam to offer fast-track entrepreneurial programmes, one-to-one mentoring, events, workshops, and more. 

You can read the full press release in our PR Wire channel here. 

🖱️ ⌨️ We have followed the rise and rise of Cheltenham-based ReformIT for a while now, and are thrilled to see its name in lights this week.

The firm, founded by Neil Smith, and now a major player in the county’s managed service provider sector serving all sorts of organisations, has become the first local MSP to earn dual accreditations as a Cyber Advisor and a Cyber Essentials Certification Body.

Launched by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the IASME Consortium, the Cyber Advisor scheme aims to help businesses strengthen their defences against cyber threats.

The accreditation allows ReformIT to certify and assist businesses in achieving the sought-after Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus standards. We send it a massive congratulations.

OUR LEAD STORY…

Cyber firm’s decision to locate HQ in Gloucestershire speaks volumes

A cyber firm’s decision to open a new headquarters in Gloucestershire speaks volumes about the county – and it answers some of the questions about just how effective former GFirst LEP teams can be after moving in-house at the county council.

News broke this week that cyber firm Darkforce had signed terms on a new Gloucestershire office to to establish a headquarters for its operations in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and create jobs – making it the latest digital firm to add to the growing number clustering close to GCHQ.  

What stood out in the story for Raikes was that the decision by the New Zealand-born tech firm to choose to locate itself at Cheltenham’s Hub8 office space was heavily influenced by Invest in Gloucestershire, a team that previously run by the influential and independent GFirst LEP.

After 13 years successfully helping drive the county’s economy, news that the Government was closing the local enterprise partnership and that its key services would go in-house at the county council was greeted with scepticism about how effective they could be.

But if Invest in Gloucestershire, one of the LEP’s former programmes set up to drive inwards investment into the county, needed to fire off a convincing ‘business as usual’ message the announcement about Darkscope was not just quick, but a strong start too.

It was able to introduce the firm to the burgeoning digital community through its contacts at cyber networking group, CyNam, and show how the education sector – in particular Gloucestershire College - is also set-up to serve that ecosystem.  

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On Monday we chose to go big on a forthcoming business awards for Gloucestershire, the Cirencester Chamber of Commerce Business Awards.

The Raikes Journal has partnered with the chamber to help flag the event (which we love because it is all about community and all about business) and to let everyone know that the closing date for entries is nigh!

You can find out more - and a link to the chamber’s website with even more information on - right here.

We also highlighted another closing date for another brilliant event - the Gloucester 10k, that gives you the chance to not just challenge yourself against the distance, but to raise funds for the county charities The Hollie Gazzard Trust, Sunflowers Suicide Support and The Chamwell Centre. You can read that story right here.

Speaking of charities, we’ve dispensed with the usual briefing notes/news shorts today as our charity story is a tad longer than usual, but we think it is worth it. If you ever needed inspiration and remindin…

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Happy Valentine’s Day, 

We hope your week is going well - and you are enjoying The Raikes Journal. Thank you once again for the incredible support you have already shown us and our community interest company since we relaunched our digital magazine for Gloucestershire. 

We have a growing number of subscribers on our email list, and would like to say a very special thanks to those who have signed up to become full-paying members of Raikes, as well as those ‘founding members’ who’ve pledged even more in order to help make possible our mission - serving community in Gloucestershire.  

To join them, get access beyond the paywalls we will soon introduce to our second and third email journals of the week, to be able to comment on all our stories, help shape our direction, be able to read all our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire reports in our Reports & Deals channel, as well as knowing your contribution is proving a platform to promote our county’s amazing charities, education and training providers and businesses (as well as help support the future of local journalism!), please think about beoming a paying member too.

Groups of two or more can claim a 20 per cent discount on their annual subscription.

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* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (who we will be revealing over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support of all of you is invaluable! Contact andew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

Today’s main story 

As we continue our cyber-themed week we publish an interview with Phil Whitby, of Obsidian Security. Those in the cyber sector will already know about Obsidian, but for everyone else we explain why it is such an exciting business to have in Gloucestershire.

And, as we keep being told, the county has the most important cluster of cyber firms in the UK outside of London. Obsidian, a business from the United States of America that would could have gone anywhere to start and grow its UK operations, but chose Cheltenham. We ask why?

The article follows Monday’s interview with Sophie McCall (more of which below) and will be capped with another cyber feature on Friday, reflecting on the sector in Gloucestershire through a feature including Hub8 and CyNam. 

Catch up and coming up 

💻 In case you missed Monday’s newsletter we flag it again here. This was the interview with Sophia McCall. Who better to hear from to get a glimpse from inside the uber-discreet Gloucestershire world of cyber, one of those sectors working hard to tackle a significant gender imbalance, than a young woman making her way in that very world. McCall’s observations are fascinating and although her career may only be just beginning, her CV to date is already impressive. You can read it here.

🚪 One of Gloucestershire’s biggest housing associations and builders of affordable homes has said the cost of living and the impact on people in the county has been ‘the’ theme of its last financial year. Nevertheless, Two Rivers Housing remains optimistic, revealing it will continue to chase its target of delivering 100 shared ownership homes a year and that a new partnership with Cotswold Oak and David Wilson Homes will see it provide more than 100 new homes before 2026. Two Rivers Housing is part of Raikes’ rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series, which tracks the fortunes of the county’s biggest firms by turnover. You can read all those stories in our Reports & Deals channel, but only if you are a member! 

❤️ It's hard not to get through today, Valentine's Day, without matters of the heart being mentioned. We liked this LinkedIn post especially... a message full of passion - because it could quite literally save someone's life. Okay, we digress slightly from romatic matters, but we're taking the lead from the post by Tidal Training's Clare Seed, the driving force behind Cheltenham’s incredible Public Hearts Defib Campaign. It is a community effort that’s helped install 72 publically accessible defibrillators. And now, together with the charity Cardiac Screening, it’s offering cardiac screening for residents in the St Paul's area. Here's how you can help.

Upgrade to paid 

To help make our community interest company sustainable and fund this new way of providing quality journalism supporting the county we rely on the generosity of our partners, but also on subscriptions and ‘founding member’ contributions - rather than clickbait. So if you do not already, please consider subscribe using the button below. It costs just £2.30 a week or 33p a day if you pay for 12 months up front (£120), or £12 per month. The benefits include access to two extra newsletters a week. Groups of two or more who subscribe for a year get a 25 per cent discount. 

Our featured charity: Gloucestershire Deaf Association 

👏🏽 Today we introduce you to Gloucestershire Deaf Association, our eyes drawn to the Barnwood-based charity this week for two reasons. Firstly, it has just appointed a new chief executive officer, Danielle Neale, and secondly because later this month it teams up with another much-loved charity, the CCP, for a fundraising firewalk and it needs your support – either by donating to its cause, or by joining in the ‘fun’ and taking on the challenge yourself! The Barnwood-based charity’s vision is a society that actively supports ways to break down communication barriers for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, to allow them to live confidently with their deafness. All the services GDA offers, aim to enable a person to live confidently with their deafness. Find out more about the firewalk (February 23 at 6pm) here. 

Saluting something incredible 

🚣‍♀️ If you can imagine the trials and tribulations of sailing across the Atlantic, then try to picture rowing the distance on a tiny boat with three others! Laura Langton has just completed the journey and described it like this: “I encountered 20ft waves, unbearable sea sickness, frustrating equipment failure, blistering sunshine and paralysing storms.” Langton, an investment manager with JM Finn, grew up in Winchcombe and lived in Cheltenham until last year. Teammate, Beth Motley, works for Cheltenham PR and marketing firm Counter Context. Liz Watson and Katherine Windsor made the team a four. “Throughout it all, we pulled together, looked for the positives and kept making progress, no matter how minimal,” added Langton. Gloucestershire firms Mira Shower, Counter Context, Ontic and Vitruvius Management Services, DDecks, Gravity Drinks, The Stronghold, James Ford Design, JRD Surveyors, Martins Meats and Oak and Stone Developments all sponsored the epic journey in aid of Prostate Cymru, The Charlie Waller Trust, The Outward Bound Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support. You can too, by clicking here.  

The cyber security firm targeting the FTSE 500

By Andrew Merrell

To those ‘in the know’ news that Obsidian Security raised $90 million (£72m) in a series C funding round and has a UK operation fast-growing out of Cheltenham is not ‘new’.

To anyone outside the well-informed sector the start-up’s funding win is possibly unknown, as is the United States of America-headquartered firm’s decision to develop a place in the lucrative UK market from Gloucestershire.

Its target, the UK’s biggest firms – the nation’s FTSE 500 businesses. Its specialism, providing cyber security for those companies that, like much of the rest of us, have embraced apps.

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While apps bring incredible technology making our business lives easier, the ramifications of the rush to embrace what has become known as ‘software as a service’ (SaaS) brings a very real, complex security risk for big business. The challenge for these companies - what they should do about that risk - is flashing day and night like a giant red warning light.

Which is where Obsidian Security comes in, together with its ‘premier security solution designed to drastically reduce the attack surface area of SaaS applications by 80 per cent on average”.

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Good afternoon,

We hope you had a great weekend - and your Monday has gone well. Welcome to the first edition of The Raikes Journal this week. Those who have been following us so far will know we are starting to lay down the footprint for three email editions a week. All of them currently free.

In time we will move to pay-walling the main articles on the last two newsletters of the week as we seek to build a model which can sustain our community interest company, help us establish an editorially-led platform serving Gloucestershire, creating and celebrating community through a renaissance in quality journalism.

If you become a paying member of Raikes you will be able to help guide our direction and make sure we continue to write about what is interesting to you. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy what we do - and that you have a great week!

If you think you have a story for us, or any comment to make, please do get in touch!

Today’s main story

Raikes has promised to download all it can about our county’s cyber sector, and this week it becomes something of a theme. From the headline-grabbing Golden Valley Development to the many companies already doing incredible things here in the county the sector is exciting - and shrouded in more than a little mystery.

Later this week we will revisit an interview we did when Raikes first started, back in 2020 as the county and the nation was in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic. While some sectors suffered and fell our rush to embrace online seems only to underline the significance of cyber, further boosting its fortunes. We spoke to Hub8 and CyNam about what it meant for the county.

But there is much more to the sector than just growth, an umbilical attachment to GCHQ, unwavering discretion, and investment - there is its people for a start, and Raikes plans to turn its spotlight on some of those. In a sector which, like many others, is top-heavy with men (and making great efforts to recruit more women) - where better to start than one of its youngest, brightest, female recruits.

Before we get to that, we flag one of our favourite stories from last week, in case you missed it, and hope you enjoy our usual selection of notes on some of the best and most interesting posts and news we’ve spotted in the last few days, our weekly introduction to one of the county’s charities - and mention a whole host of seminars on offer for businesses from leading law firm Willans.

Catch up and coming up

🪚👑 Last week, National Apprenticeship Week, Raikes took a good look at the incredible win by Tombs Developments’ carpentry apprentice Amy Brown in the National Apprentice Awards - celebrating her triumph and taking a deeper dive into what the story says about where we are with training and recruitment of women in construction, and what factors need to be in place to make the alchemy happen. In Brown’s case there was no little talent, but her story highlights the special work being done by Gloucestershire College to make sure that when the planets do align, the support is there. You can read the article here.

💻 We are sure CyNam doesn’t really need our help to fill this position, but as we’ve already declared something of a cyber-themed week we couldn’t resist flagging this opportunity at the county cyber networking group. CyNam, which is headquartered at the Brewery Quarter’s Hub8 workspace, is after a new general manager. You’ll split your time between its headquarters and its second centre, at the Cheltenham campus of Gloucestershire College. Salary is £50,000 - £55,000 per annum. Find out more here.

🪄 🧙🏽‍♀️And in more cyber-related news! Cheltenham Chamber of Trade is lending its weight to an event by WiTCH (the Women in Tech and Cyber Hub) to celebrate International Women’s Day, on March 8 from 8.30am to 1.30pm at Leonardo Hotel. Speakers will include Holly Foxcroft, a cyber and diversity champion, and Lindsey Young, ceo of Gloucestershire construction firm Clarkson Evans. Illyana Mullins, founder of WiTCH, cyber community lead for techSPARK and director of Tech Forward Ltd, will also chat to a panel of industry names. Tickets are free. You can find out more here, along with news of a networking event later this month.

🎉 And news is out on this too... something of a must-attend for the business community. We are talking about GFirst LEP's annual review, the final event for the local enterprise partnership before it moves under the wing of Gloucestershire County Council. Expect the powerful business group to look back over the achievements of the last 12 years and spell out how it will operate going forward. Due to take place at the University of Gloucestershire’s School of Business and Technology, Oxstalls, on Tuesday March 12 from 4.30pm. Find out more here.

Upgrade to paid

To help make our community interest company sustainable and fund this new way of providing quality journalism supporting the county we rely on the generosity of our partners, but also on paid-for subscriptions and ‘founding member’ contributions - rather than clickbait. So if have not already, please consider joining those ranks. It costs just £2.30 a week or 33p a day if you pay for 12 months up front (£120), or £12 per month. The benefits include access to two extra newsletters a week (we will soon paywall our second and third newsletters), as well as access to our archive (which will paywall after two weeks) and our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series in our Reports & Deals channel. Groups of two or more subscribers get a 25 per cent discount. Contact andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

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Our featured charity. Emily’s Gift

Today we take a few words to introduce you to Emily’s Gift. Like many charities raising money for good causes related to children, in this case one’s battling cancer, the roots of its story were born from indescribable loss and then a deep emotional reaction to try to help anyone else set to travel the same path. Those of you who have seen the inspirational Julie Kent MBE at work will have seen the mother of Emily. Kent launched the appeal under the umbrella of the mighty Pied Piper Charity, to raise £500,000 to fund a psychologist on the Emily Kent Unit at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital for 10 years. Paul Markey, of Markey Group, is one of many determined to help achieve the target. Bernard Kent, Emily’s father, was a long-term employee of the Markey Group. For Paul, this is personal. You can help him help Emily’s Gift here. And you are also invited to Gloucester Brewery’s Warehouse 4 at the Docks for a special party and update on Emily’s Gift on March 10 from 3pm to 5pm.

Opportunity: Equality, diversity and workplace culture

As we move deeper into 2024 many are looking to invest in training to ensure their business can be the very best it can be through the year ahead. Experts at Cheltenham-headquartered Willans LLP solicitors are offering a variety of seminars suitable for a wide range of industries and organisations. From handling grievance and conflict management, running disciplinary procedures, complying with GDPR, equality, diversity & workplace culture, combatting discrimination in the workplace, the Bribery Act (2010), and more. Some of these are one-hour courses, some half-day sessions. You can take your pick. Find out more here.

Changing the face of cyber

By Andrew Merrell

If the cyber sector is looking for a role model to prove there is room for women to not just work but develop rewarding careers and be themselves, then they could always turn the spotlight on Sophia McCall.

Way back before she was on the radar of anyone in Cheltenham the then student was winning the SC Award for Cyber Security Student of the Year 2020 and being interviewed about becoming a ‘successful young women in the industry’.

The recognition followed her captaining Team UK at the European Cyber Security Challenge 2019; her willingness to embrace the human side of her chosen profession, where online meets people, already becoming apparent.

Then in 2021 digital magazine IT Security Guru named her one of its Most Inspiring Women in Cyber, an award which 'aims to shed light on the remarkable women in our industry'.

By then McCall has already graduated with her cyber degree from Bournemouth, and was beginning to forge a modest profile along with her friend, Sarah, through their blog, Security Queens. And she had moved to Cheltenham to work for NCC Group.

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Welcome to Thursday’s Raikes Journal, an email newsletter for the county’s business community, its charities and volunteering services and education and training sectors. You are reading an edition only paid-for members will be able to read in full.

We were so very excited to get the Raikes email journal service officially launched in 2024, providing quality journalism for the county, with a core focus on building community, profile and knowledge around its businesses and business people, third sector and education and training providers. We will be covering other areas of interest too, providing a platform for experts’ views and delivering articles with real insight and credibility. No leading on re-published press releases here (although we welcome and celebrate the very best we find in our PR Wire channel!).

If you are not a paid-for member, we’re afraid you will be able to read all of this journal. Here’s how it works. Anyone can sign up to the journal for free, but we would particularly like to thank those who are paying to subscribe (£2.30 a week - £12 a month or £120 a year) - giving them not just the one free email a week, but access beyond the paywall on two more weekly email journals - the ability to see beyond paywalls on any other stories, to read our complete archive, our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series (that follows the fortunes of the county’s biggest firms by turnover in our Reports & Deals channel) and importantly to comment on our stories and shape our direction of travel. Indeed, they will have a direct email link to our newsdesk.

But everyone who is subscribing is supporting us are helping to make this all possible, and we thank you. If you are not subscribing yet, please do consider it (there are special deals offering 20 per cent off for group subscriptions of two or more people). But most of all, enjoy in the knowledge you are supporting a community interest company dedicated to celebrating Gloucestershire and promoting community!

Before we get to our featured story - please find your end-of-week news briefing, some of the most interesting posts we’ve spotted this week.

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* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (who we will be revealing over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support of all of you is invaluable!

A little context on the main story…

As anyone will know who has even vaguely followed business news in Gloucestershire that cyber is considered not just one of the most exciting and fastest-growing sectors in the county, but a bedrock of its economic future. With GCHQ the catalyst, firms have already been gathering in the county.

The other key draw being the much-trumpeted £1 billion Golden Valley Development. It is a scheme expected to become home to Cyber Central, the UK's capital for digital-related businesses. In today’s top story (see below) we take a look at that in more detail. If you want to read the whole article, you will have to subscribe - but there should still be enough text here for everyone to make it clear how exciting this is for the county.

First, some of the key spots we’ve made this week and our regular introduction to the businesses that make up one of our favourite communities - members of Made in Gloucestershire.

Your Raikes briefing notes

👩🏽‍🌾 Places are up for grabs to help 20 businesses in agricultural sector to develop and grow in Gloucestershire thanks to a new partnership between Hartpury University's Tech Box Park, Barclays Eagle Labs. The collaboration, funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, will give the lucky businesses free access to Tech Box memberships (valued at £2,500). The six-month programme of support will aim to boost ‘high-potential businesses’ across the region and develop Hartpury’s thriving agri-tech community. Regular events are organised by the Tech Box Park alongside the adjacent Agri-Tech Centre to help members connect and share ideas. The first event of 2024 is scheduled for 31 January, 8.30am - 10.30am.

🚗 You can’t miss its gleaming glass headquarters as you arrive in Cheltenham along the Golden Valley bypass, but you may have missed its uplifting results. We took a look at The Cotswold Motor Group as part of our focus on Gloucestershire’s Top 100 firms by turnover and thought the figures were well worth shouting about. Who wouldn’t be pleased with adding £30 million-plus to their turnover in a tough market?

💪🏽 Two Gloucestershire charities close to the hearts of young people and families and individuals with complex needs have come together to forge a new alliance. The incredible Young Gloucestershire, which helps support young people to achieve their goals, and Infobuzz, which offers offers therapeutic and practical support for families and young people with complex needs in a crisis, have joined forced. One message stood out for us: “We know the need still outweighs the resource we have available”.

🎓 Twenty years-plus has passed since Holly Gazzard was murdered by her jealous boyfriend in Gloucester and the story still resonates like it was yesterday. Until we change so many things the fear is it will keep repeating - for other women especially. Somehow her father, Nick Gazzard, and his family found strength to forge the Holly Gazzard Trust to help make that change. Its efforts continue and his effort was honoured by the University of Gloucestershire in a special ceremony at Cheltenham Racecourse.

Made in Gloucestershire: Introducing Wholly Gelato

Today we set forth on our quest to introduce you to the growing army of food and drink producers collecting under the Made in Gloucestershire banner, started by those clever people at GFirst LEP to promote the county's very best from the sector. If you think the county is rich with such producers then you are right. Today it is the turn of Wholly Gelato, a family-run food business rooted in the county. Its gelato operation began in 2018 and today is award-winning and produces more than 200 flavours/variations of our artisan, Italian-style gelato. You can find them at the shop on thier Elmore farm or Gloucester Food Dock.

Things to do

👩‍💼👩🏿‍💼👩🏼‍💼👩🏾‍💼 This will be the first Women in Business lunch of 2024 and is due to be staged at the Manor by the Lake, Cheltenham, on Thursday 25 January starting with teas and coffees at 11.45am. As usual, there will be an opportunity for networking, a talk from an inspirational businesswoman and a two-course lunch. New faces are always very welcome. The event’s ‘inspirational speaker’ will be Julie Kent MBE, who will be talking about ‘finding a positive from an enormous negative’. Due to take place from 11.45 to 2pm.

🏆🎉 Cirencester Chamber of Trade is due to launch its 2024 business awards on Thursday 25 January from 6pm to 8pm at the Royal Agricultural University. The chamber will be joined by some of its event’s sponsors as well as previous winners. If you want to get to know who’s who in the Cotswolds and make connections, this is as good a place as any. Categories, deadlines and details about the awards presentation evening itself will all be revealed.

🚜 We mentioned Hartputy University and Hartpury College's Tech Box Park business accelerator community above. This is your chance to take a closer look with a relaxed morning's networking with innovative SME's. If you’re an agri-tech business or looking to the land-based sector as a new market, then this event is for you. You’ll meet Hartpury's Digital Innovation Farm team to better understand how you can be supported with your product development and validation, testing and trialling, find out more about our membership and sponsorship packages and tour the Digital Innovation Farm. Due to take place on Wednesday 31 January 2024 from 8.30am to 10.30am.

* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (who we will be revealing over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support of all of you is invaluable!

£1 billion development will generate £300 million in business rates

By Andrew Merrell

When they voted in favour of a £95 million 'development funding envelope' to underpin a commitment to a 'once in a lifetime development' in the county, Gloucestershire councillors revealed a little more of the revenue it would generate for the county.

Cheltenham Borough Council's full cabinet approved the funding on Thursday 28 September 2023 for the Golden Valley Development, a scheme to bring 3,700 new homes and two million square feet of cyber-focused business park to the west of the town.

It is a project predicted to create 12,000 new jobs.

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We hope you have had a good week and are enjoying The Raikes Journal. We cannot thank you enough for the incredible support you have already shown us and our community interest company since we relaunched our digital magazine for Gloucestershire.

Today we round off our cyber-themed week by revisiting an indepth article we ran when Raikes first launched back in 2020 - in which we spoke to two of the then movers and shakers from the county’s digital community, who both remain important players today.

It’s a long read, so be prepared! But we think it makes for interesting reading, and underlines just what a journey the county is on.

We know that thousands of readers viewed our posts this week and that the stories featured on our two editions, on Sophie McCall and Phil Whitby, reached an audience I have never found before for a story I have published in Gloucestershire – and that covers 25 years of doing so. Analytics tell us the spread of readers has been equal, from the very smallest organisations to several thousand from companies of 1000-plus staff to 10,000-plus. That means many, many readers from outside of Gloucestershire looking in – and hopefully liking what they see.

To help us continue on our mission, to grow and develop a sustainable, community-focused platform supporting Gloucestershire please do encourage others to sign up too – for free or ideally as paid-for subscribers.

At the end of this month Friday newsletters will no longer be free in their entirety as we introduce a paywall on our featured stories.

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Groups of two or more can claim a 20 per cent discount on their annual subscription.

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* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (who we will be revealing over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support of all of you is invaluable!

Our featured charity: Friends of Cheltenham Samaritans

🍻 This is one sure-fire way you can support a charity and have a good night out (or maybe even two, if your constitution can handle it!). Starting tonight! We are talking about the 45^th Cheltenham Craft Beer Festival, which takes place tonight (Friday February 16) and Saturday afternoon too. The event is staged by the charity Friends of the Cheltenham Samaritans, which raises funds to support the town’s branch of the Samaritans. The Cheltenham branch costs an estimated £30,000-plus to run annually and the Friends raise just over a third of those running costs through efforts like the beer festival. Due to take place from 4.30pm until 10pm today and 1pm to 6pm on Saturday at St Philip and St James (otherwise known as Pip & Jims), Grafton Road Cheltenham GL50 2DD. Find out more here.

Pandemic only strengthened a sector set to lead Gloucestershire’s economy

Back in 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic was decimating the rest of the UK economy, but cyber in Gloucestershire appeared to be thriving. Just why was that? Raikes spoke to two key players helping build an incredible county community - and finds out where they are now.

Back when Raikes started out in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic was choking UK plc, something different seemed to be going on in the cyber sector in Gloucestershire - a collection of firms hailed as the ‘UK's most crucial technology cluster’.

Raikes wanted to know just what that was (even if we were still not 100 per cent sure what 'cyber' even meant!), and who better to speak to than Hub8 and CyNam – two organisations who were then and are now at the heart of the county’s cyber scene?

We revisit the article here, updating as we go in what we think makes for an interesting journey (it is quite a read, but we think well worth it. You may want to get yourself a cup of tea to see you through!).

What it tells us is that when Covid was bringing many industries to their knees, cyber was making great strides, driven by the catalytic presence of a certain major Government asset at the end of the Golden Valley and by dynamic private enterprise.

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