£10m investment in Gloucestershire is shaping a “modern industrial identity” for the UK

Welcome to Gloucestershire indeed! Last week this news was reported as just the opening of a new building, but one aerospace firm’s decision to invest in the county is much, much more than that.

Dear reader,

Welcome to Thursday’s story. Regular readers will know that our full editions are Monday and Friday, with the former always open to all and the latter often paywalled to help pay for what we do.

Which leaves Thursday reserved for a single big read (sometimes paywalled, sometimes not). Or rather that’s usually what we do.

But it seems remiss to publish without acknowledging just what today is, and as we pondered what to do about marking Victory in Europe Day we spotted a timely post from one of our Founding Partners, QuoLux.

It both marks the significance of today and does what QuoLux does best, gives the many leaders of county businesses and organisationsthat we know that read Raikes some intriguing food for thought.

We couldn’t resist pointing you towards that too.

Enjoy.

Best regards,

Andrew Merrell (editor).

PS: You can find out about how Gloucester is marking the day here, and if you’re busy today - or want to join in the party when it continues on Saturday in King’s Square, Gloucester, and raise money for the Pied piper Appeal, you can read about that here.

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Leadership Lessons: Reflecting on 80 Years Since VE Day

As we commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day this year, we at QuoLux find ourselves reflecting on the profound leadership lessons that emerge from this pivotal moment in history. Victory in Europe Day marked not just the end of a devastating conflict, but the triumph of collaborative leadership, strategic vision and unwavering resilience, qualities that remain fundamental to business leadership today.

Read the full article and all of QuoLux’s previous blogs here.

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* 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!

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£10m investment in Gloucestershire is shaping a “modern industrial identity” for the UK

Welcome to Gloucestershire indeed! Last week this news was reported as just the opening of a new building, but one aerospace firm’s decision to invest in the county is much, much more than that.

By Andrew Merrell.

“What we are seeing now is the emergence of a modern industrial identity. One that places value not only on output, but on quality, longevity and shared benefit,” said John Pearce.

Pearce is chief executive officer of Made in Britain, which exists to promote, champion, underline the value of and lobby for the best of the nation’s manufacturing.

Raikes had asked him what one aerospace firm’s decision to invest £10 million in Gloucestershire really said about the county and its place in the UK.

And we spoke to the West of England Aerospace Forum too, a powerful industry body that exists to make sure the powers that be understand the value of its sector to UK plc.

And with our head still spinning from the praise for both the aerospace firm and how its decision to invest in Gloucestershire reflected on the county, its skills base and place in the sector, we also turned to ADS, the trade association for the aerospace, defence, security and space industries.

We wanted to know just how valuable aerospace engineering is for us here in the South West and the UK - an industry with a history embedded with stories from little old Gloucestershire.

Pearce had more to say first…