The utility firm recently employed 75 young people under the initiative, which helps 16-24 year olds on Universal Credit secure fixed term contracts. This allows them to gain work experience and embark on a potential career. Yorkshire Water guarantees that every person who successfully completes its Kickstart programme – which takes six months – will be given a job interview for a role within the business. The roles range from working in the customer experience team, the land and property department, or being part of the flooding resilience team.

Yorkshire Water is running its Kickstart scheme in partnership with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and trade unions. The latter will assist the water company by providing monthly sessions to help with challenges faced in a return to work situation or first-time employment, monthly career workshops and CV support. 

Gillian Mason, head of organisational development at Yorkshire Water, said: “It was fantastic to welcome Mims Davies to our Esholt site and talk to her about our commitments to the Kickstart scheme, our academy and our apprenticeship programme.  We’re really looking forward to welcoming 75 Kickstarters to the business over the next year.  We are committed to giving them as much training and support as we can, starting with a guaranteed interview for a role in the company for everyone who successfully completes the six-month scheme.”

DURING Diabetes Week which runs until Sunday, the University of Bradford is raising awareness of the disorder. The Bradford district has the highest rate of diabetes in the UK, with more than one in ten of people in the district diagnosed as diabetic – 11 per cent – and many more pre-diabetic or undiagnosed.

The second exhibition, Sonic: Adventures in Audio, will uncover the museum’s fast-growing collection of sound-related objects, including iconic synthesizers and items used in the famous BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Sonic will also see the debut of a rolling programme of interactive installations by sound artists and experts.

The first installations open on 23 July with Drum and Bass: Time and Space by Edward Wilson-Stephens, a PhD researcher with the museum and the University of Leeds, and Gramophony, by composer and performer Jobina Tinnemans.

The National Science and Media Museum and Pictureville Cinema are now open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday, from 10am to 4pm, and every day during school holidays.

Visitors must pre-book a ticket to visit via the museum website. For more information, visit https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/visit.

BID manager Jonny Noble said: “A key part of our role is to help the city centre thrive and that means doing all we can to ensure retailers, leisure operators, hospitality providers and service businesses and the like are given every chance to get back on their feet after the blows they have suffered as aa result of the pandemic. Our aim is to encourage people to come back to the city centre and rediscover what a fabulous place it is but we also recognise that this has been an unprecedented set of circumstances and many small businesses in particular will be overfaced by the rules and regulations and will need some guidance as to where to find the support they need. We hope by providing this free, easily-accessible platform we can give them some encouragement and Nikki will be seeking to interview specialists who will help reassure them that better times are ahead.”

The podcasts will be published on YouTube and details and links will be available on the Bradford BID website, bradfordbid.co.uk.

Mrs Chadburn said: “These podcasts will be all about different aspects of business support, to help levy-payers with their recovery phase as they get back to business. Each episode will cover a different aspect of support, including such things as HR and recruitment advice, employment law, training and marketing, for example, with a range of interviewees giving guidance based on their sphere of expertise. We’re very keen for levy-paying members to tell us what help they need and I would urge them to let me know – via the Bradford BID website – what areas they would like us to cover and any questions they want us to try to answer during these sessions.  We’ll be talking during the podcast about some of the projects we’ve devised and are working on to help them, such as the LoyalFree app which provides a host of interactive city centre trials which encourage visitors to spend more time here and residents to rediscover some of the places they may have forgotten or have not been to for a long time, as well as providing an outlet for special offers and discounts that businesses might want to give to help bring in trade.” 

She said the first episode – already available – features details of some exciting new initiatives coming up, including a series of business networking meetings with guest speakers and a new task force to tackle some city centre issues. “We’ve also organized some free training courses for businesses and their staff and one of the podcasts will feature someone from the Virtual College explaining how useful these are and how people can take advantage of them,” said Mrs Chadburn.

Details of the podcasts and when they will be available will be published on the BID website and social media accounts as well as in the BID’s regular newsletter for levy-payers.

“It’s vital that businesses are ready for when the restrictions are eased because they can’t afford to lose a minute in enticing customers back and making up for the huge losses they have suffered since the start of the pandemic,” said BID chairman Ian Ward. “We’re not encouraging people to behave rashly – we know that the restrictions are being lifted in stages and we will all have to do everything in our power to help keep people safe, even when most adults have had their vaccinations. But we have to be ready to grasp the opportunity to rebuild our livelihoods and that means businesses have to start thinking of ways to win their customers back from the online shopping habits that many will have developed and to find ways to pull in new business.”

Mr Ward said the high street has “clearly suffered badly” from the impact of the pandemic but it still has a bright future if it adapts and changes to meet people’s needs. “People are itching for the kind of social interactivity that you get from shopping,” he said. “Constantly having to send back clothes that don’t fit and products that aren’t quite what you expected can get pretty wearing after a while! The high street grew up in the first place because it was the ideal place to see and feel products and try on garments, while getting one-to-one advice and guidance from shop assistants. It’s the most convenient and straightforward way to shop and we need to get back to that unbeatable experience.”

Steve Lowe, commercial director of the T&A, said: “We’re really pleased to be working with the BID on this campaign. It’s all about helping and encouraging businesses to get ready to welcome customers again. The high street has changed and it will have to adapt to a new way of operating so businesses can’t really expect to just open their doors and everything will go back to normal. They will have to be creative and devise new ways to get customers to return and to find new ones to help replace some of their lost revenue and we will be working closely with the BID to get the message across about what’s on offer.”

BID manager Jonny Noble added: “Now is the time for all city centre businesses to get their ducks in a row while they still have a little time to think about how they’re going to win people back.” He said it could be through simple offers and discounts, changing the way their store is laid out and how their goods are presented or through more extensive changes to their whole approach to improve the whole experience for consumers. “It’s not just shops, of course,” said Mr Noble. “We have some brilliant leisure and hospitality businesses and, although they will have to re-open more gradually, there is much they can do to alter and upgrade their offerings. For instance, we are lobbying the Council on their behalf to help make it easier for them to provide an outdoor service from April 12, when Step Two of the Government’s road map kicks in.”

He said whatever the business is and whatever it comes up with, the BID wants to hear about it so it can do everything it can to help promote those improvements, enticements and customer incentives.

Mr Noble added: “Bradford city centre has some fabulous businesses but they can be inclined to hide their lights under a bushel and not do enough to tell people what they have to offer. The BID and the T&A want to help change that. The city centre has some fantastically loyal customers and they deserve to see a different and better city centre evolving. We aim to lead that change on behalf of our 600 levy-payers and this is where that starts.”

Businesses are urged to contact the BID as soon as possible at enquiries@bradfordbid.co.uk to let them know their plans so work can begin on preparing marketing and promotional efforts. For more information, see the BID website: bradfordbid.co.uk.

T&A sales director Steve Lowe said: “Why not share a video with us and we’ll put them all together in a special dedicated where we can showcase the fantastic businesses we have in Bradford and around us. In less than 60 seconds tell us about you, your business, what you offer, a message to your customers and to potential new ones.” Each video will sit as part of a Connecting Local Business campaign in the T&A, on the Bradford Means Business website and their YouTube channel – all for free.

Steve said: “Over the next few weeks we are all sitting waiting for businesses to be kick-started back into action, so why not take a few minutes to record what you and your business has to offer, whether you are closed and looking forward to welcoming customers back, open behind closed doors or trading as normal, you all have a story to tell and a reason we should use your goods and services when it is safe to do so. Once you’ve sent us your video, visit our Bradford Means Business Facebook page, click to attend our ‘Love LOCAL business’ Facebook Event and along with every other business who sends us a video we will create a community of fellow local businesses all sharing their videos too.”

The Facebook event will take place in the week commencing February 22 – supported by editorial coverage in the T&A, Bradford Means Business and our weekly newspapers alongside an online marketing campaign – so together let’s shout about you and your business and get your customers excited too. All you need to do is create your own 60-second video, ideally film it in your shop, pub or restaurant to highlight what you offer; you could be open, closed, open behind closed doors; you could be a tradesman that shares the story of what you do and the work you have done; and click our event page on Facebook and click to attend https://fb.me/e/251t3R3wZ.

Steve said: “In return, we will put your video on our Bradford Means Business website and YouTube channel; we will create a dedicated page on the T&A website for those wanting to have your video seen there too; we will create an editorial and advertising campaign to tell the 600k plus readers/visitors of the T&A/Craven Herald/Ilkley Gazette and Keighley News to see your video and we will run a Facebook event week commencing February 22 so the Facebook world to find your video too.”