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Darren with Apprentice Finalist Katie Hopkins and Jo Richardson from CRP
In his role as Chair of the Community Reach Partnership (CRP), Darren participated in a community version of "The Apprentice", called "You've Been Fired-Up" which is based on the Alan Sugar
business apprentice programme. The two intensive days (and a very long evening) took place in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire and was run by Action for Market Towns and supported by the East of England
Development Agency. Darren was accompanied by Jo Richardson, another founding member of CRP. The entire exercise was centred around supporting community groups who are considering "Asset
Development" applications, which provide a significant capital sum to community groups to start ventures which produce a surplus which is then re-invested in their local communities. Several ideas
are being considered by CRP and the group is always interested in other suggestions and ideas.
Harwich Connexions, the community co-operative in Harwich, led by Les Double, has already delivered some excellent benefits and continues to be a leading community organisation within the Region
and nationally.
Darren and Jo competed in separate teams and both won individual tasks and neither of them were fired!
Speaking after the event Darren said "this was an excellent pilot event, which I hope is reproduced around the country. It is a very exciting and innovative way of bringing together people who are
passionate about their communities and helping them to learn new skills and think creatively about the major hurdles that need to be overcome to deliver truly inspirational community projects. It
was also great to have Katie Hopkins, a former finalist of The Apprentice, to take the Alan Sugar role - she is certainly a very focused and knowledgeable person with a no nonsense approach but
also with a great sense of humour, which made the event intense but great fun for everyone."
You can find out more about Action for Market Towns here :
http://www.towns.org.uk/index.php
To see the current projects that the Community Reach Partnership is working on go to :
http://www.communityreach.org.uk/index.htm
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Darren does "The Apprentice"
