A group of female entrepreneurs in Staffordshire will be trekking with llama’s and tasting Buzzard Valley wines in a yurt for their next meeting taking place on June 21st 2010.
Women from Lichfield and the surrounding areas are invited to get involved with their thriving local branch of Women in Rural Enterprise (WiRE), who provide an interesting monthly meeting to unite the areas rural entrepreneurs. The dynamic branch of Women in Rural Enterprise (WiRE) attracts over 25 women to their networking meetings each month, and promises attendees a unique and friendly experience.
"I like WiRE because it is unpretentious and always friendly. I organise the programme with Joyce, promote and market it and we both lead the networking on the evening. In my role as a rural business adviser I can often signpost people to appropriate help and support" states Julie White, who is a volunteer network leader alongside Joyce Bullock.
"The Lichfield WiRE network is always positive and good fun, it encourages and nurtures entrepreneurship. We weave in activities that we hope will help members to get to know each other and lead to business. We believe that people do business with people they like and people they trust" adds Julie, who is a partner in Staffordshire based Growing Rural Enterprise Ltd.
WiRE is part of a national organisation based at Harper Adams University which started in 1996 to provide a supportive network for rural women running businesses. Lichfield is now one of over 70 WiRE networks across the country. The organisation recently held its 10th annual conference which was opened by the Governments Rural Advocate, Dr. Stuart Burgess who stated "Anyone who has worked with WiRE would understand the great work they do to ensure rural businesses run by women gain the respect and support they deserve and need".
Yvonne Viggers who runs Buzzard Valley Vineyard attends the Lichfield WiRE group, and this year, attended the WiRE national conference for the first time. "I found the WiRE conference very inspirational, the workshops helped me to think about business and my own attitude to life" states Yvonne.
"Two fantastic ladies run the Lichfield network. The meetings are always held in different places, which is good because you get different ideas of how business is run in different areas and there are always new people to meet" adds Yvonne.
The group are always delighted to welcome new members. "No two meetings are the same and we always make new members very welcome", states Julie. The next meeting is taking place on the 21st June 2010.
