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

Back in 2020 Covid-19 was decimating 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 community.

Dear Readers,

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.

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

---

* 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.

Bruce Gregory, of Hub8 and CyNam has emerged as a key catalyst for the county’s cyber community.

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.