A Bishop’s Castle-based organisation is celebrating 25 years of making a difference to the rural economy in Shropshire with plans to expand its services in the community. 

Enterprise South West Shropshire, based in Enterprise House in the centre of the town, provides a huge range of facilities for the rural community, including running the town’s SpArC Theatre Programme and the library plus being home to 12 local businesses and managing a range of small offices, meeting and training room plus IT drop-in centre.

Now the not-for-profit social enterprise, which was set up in 1996, aims to offer further support for local businesses, local events and interest groups this year by adding to its administrative services, with the aim of freeing up time for them to focus on business critical activities.

Manager Rob McKay said the organisation has seen huge changes in its 25-year history and has taken on more work in the community, including running the town’s artificial sports pitch and Village Outreach, a facility which hires out everything needed for an event or garden party for businesses, private or community events.

The town’s registrar is also on site plus plans are in place to set up a community repair shop.

Mr McKay took over the manager role in November from Mike Ashwell, who started in the role in 1996. The regeneration project was set up after the town’s two largest employers, FarmGas and Walters of Ludlow, departed.

Mr McKay said: “We are thrilled to be celebrating 25 years helping the rural community of Bishop's Castle and it’s a privilege to be able to be involved in such a special local organisation.

“When ESWS was set up 25 years ago, it was never expected to last this long.

“Thanks to the support of Shropshire Council and a dedicated staff team it has become a real part of the community and there are lots of projects in Bishop's Castle which would not have happened without the help and support of ESWS.

“The Enterprise House site is critical to employment in the town, and we rent space to a number of small businesses.

“There are at least 100 local businesses using ESWS on a regular basis from artists to farmers to the local garage to the brewery. We are used for administrative purposes such as publishing or printing and to those businesses, our services can be vital. Our services are also used by countless local interest groups and individuals”

Mr McKay said ESWS will expand to help local businesses grow with more services such as data input, bookkeeping and HR Management.

He said: “We want to be the best we can be for the community. Initially we helped with regeneration but that has changed over the years and moved into supporting prosperity, business opportunities and community.

“We know that most businesses in the region are small, and we want to expand our services this year so that we can support them to recover as the economy opens up and help them with the non-core tasks of the business so that they can free up their time to focus on growing new business.”

This year has also seen a new chair of the voluntary Board of Directors, Tim Russell, who has taken over from Peter Phillips after a 25-year involvement.

“We have grown from our original role of managing the distribution of grants for developing local businesses and are now, 25 years later, at a most exciting chapter of becoming the Business Hub and the Cultural Hub for South West Shropshire,” Mr Russell said.

Mr Phillips, who has just retired as chairman and was a board member from the beginning, said: “As you look across the area, you can see many things that are the result of ESWS’ activity.

“ESWS is a very wide-ranging support network for people. A number of regeneration projects were set up in the 1990s but ESWS is the only one that still exists.”

Mike Ashwell, who managed ESWS for 25 years, said the secret to ESWS’ success was its loyal and dedicated staff.

He said: “We also have a great deal of respect and support from our public-sector partners. My belief, as manager, was that we should provide services to the very rural SW corner of Shropshire that would not otherwise be available. We would also partner with local groups and support them to achieve their goals.

“For the 25 years that the company has existed we have always been a positive and enabling partner to countless local initiatives across the South West.”

ESWS plans to hold an event towards the end of the year to officially celebrate its 25 years in the community.