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We are delighted and honoured to have Professor George Holmes DL as our Ambassador. George has worked tirelessly to connect the ‘Town with the Gown’ to create an environment, space and place for people of Bolton. He wants people to understand that University is more than just creating, preserving and disseminating knowledge. “Let’s think the unthinkable. We are about connecting with communities, integrating with society to shape and change  and grow together.” George became the youngest University Head in the UK when he was appointed to the post of Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Bolton in 2005,  He has been at the University now for over twelve years. He holds a Doctorate in the field of Education, a Masters in Business Administration and a BSc in Economics. Pro...

The Inspire family welcomed Alison Magee-Barker-the North's answer to the Hotel Inspector. Multi Award winning hospitality consultant & trainer Alison Magee-Barker, brings the magic of business success with clarity, focus, vision & drive. Alison works with businesses large or small spanning the North of England bringing her wealth of knowledge and over 30 years experience in the hospitality industry to make game changer results by enhancing revenue, profit, operating standards, efficiency, exposure or creating a solid foundation in your business. Alison has just launched the 6 star step to business success programme which produces at least an additional £100K results plus online mini courses along with innovating new exciting opportunities to help her clients to continue to grow and deve...

[et_pb_section admin_label="section"] [et_pb_row admin_label="row"] [et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text"]Chief Executive, Sue Grindrod Consultancy Chief Executive experience with a track record of achieving rapid step changes in organisational capability and employee engagement to deliver improved business performance. Currently Chair and Director of Liverpool Waterfront Business Partnership CIC and my role is to oversee the business plan and long term strategy that will establish Liverpool Waterfront as one of the leading waterfronts in the world. Sue is also the Deputy Chair and Director, Liverpool Chamber of Commerce board and the Deputy Chair of Liverpool Visitor Economy Network (LVEN) and represent waterfront on the Liverpool’s World Heritage Site Steerin...

Jon Gardner, Regional Director, SureStore Jon has been working in the storage industry for 7 years and is Regional Director for all SureStore facilities in the north of England. When SureStore opened the doors of their very first facility in 2018, Bolton was chosen as the perfect town to debut their new and exciting approach to secure, safe storage, offices, retail spaces and warehousing. Having enjoyed a hugely successful debut and been so warmly welcomed by the business community of Bolton, the stage was set for the opening of SureStore facilities in Northwich, Cannock, Bury, Lichfield and most recently Stafford. Facilities in Burton, Wigan and Trafford will be open for business before the end of 2020. Taking an active role in the local community and forging relationships with business...

Many congratulations to one of our #Inspirejudges #NickBuckley for receiving his MBE for services to the community, particularly for homeless people. Nick Buckley is the CEO of #MancunianWay Charity. Mancunian Way is the award winning charity born out of the ashes of the riots in the summer of 2011, from a mother called ‘austerity’ and a father called ‘budget cuts’. It rose to fill the gaps left in service by the council and police in terms of reducing anti social behaviour and preventing young people from making the same mistakes as the small minority that went before. The charity has also developed into street based outreach specialists working across Greater Manchester in the neighbourhoods of greatest need, at the times of greatest need.

[et_pb_section admin_label="section"] [et_pb_row admin_label="row"] [et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text"]We are absolutely delighted and honoured to announce that the #SheInspires campaign Patron is Baroness Trish Morris of Bolton. A true embodiment of #SheInspiresethos, her  long list of accomplishments is matched only by her true humility. Baroness Morris, the first Chancellorof the University of Boltonis President of the National Benevolent Institutionand a trustee of The Disability Partnership and The Transformation Trust. She is a school governorand trustee of Bolton Schooland  co-chair of Women in Public Policy and on the executive committee of the Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools. Baroness Morris was a member of the Advisory Committee t...

Thirty years ago, Jackie Hyde was happy working as an insurance underwriter with a large corporate. Then she started a family, and realised she needed a role which would give her more freedom to juggle motherhood and a career. She applied for and won a post as an account handler at Bolton-based Stanmore Insurance Brokers, and never looked back. Having been made a director, she then became a shareholder, and today she owns 66% of the business. All this despite many trials down the years, including caring for a son with Asperger’s, beating breast cancer, and dealing successfully with several business crises. “Insurance broking at senior level in still a very male-dominated sector,” she says. “I am generally the only women in the room at conferences and broker meetings and my passion has bee...

Freda Bedi was an Englishwoman who made her life in India and went to jail for supporting India’s freedom struggle against a colonial power which happened to her mother country. As a student at Oxford in the 1930s, Freda broke social convention by marrying a handsome Sikh fellow student B.P.L.Bedi. It was another year before she first set foot on Indian soil and by then she and her husband were prominent leftist and nationalists. After Partition, they moved to Kashmir and worked closely with Sheikh Abdullah. In the 1950s, Freda encountered Buddhism and when in 1959 thousands of Tibetans followed the Dalai Lama on the perilous trek across the Himalayas into exile, she persuaded Jawaharlal Nehru to send her to Assam to improve the conditions in the camps there. She went on to become a Tibeta...