In brief: Yummy Yorkshire; Councils; Vital Network Solutions; Eversheds; I Am Your group

AN artisan Yorkshire ice cream maker has invested more than £20,000 refurbishing a French charcuterie van from the 1960s as a mobile ice cream trailer.

Yummy Yorkshire Ice Cream, based on the outskirts of Huddersfield, worked with Derbyshire manufacturer Evo Composites, which specialises in the build of ice cream vans and vehicle conversion to authentically renovate the former French butcher’s trailer.

The van, which is nearly half a century old, will be taken on the road to food festivals, galas and private functions around the region. It has been modernised for Yummy Yorkshire’s needs, but its original retro features have been retained where possible.

The Yummy Yorkshire ice cream trailer is due to appear at the Taste of Yorkshire Food Festival in Ripon on June 8.
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TWO Yorkshire councils have been selected as the “best councils to do business with” and have been honoured by Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis and the Prime Minister’s enterprise adviser Lord Young.

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Sheffield City Council were among the ten winners selected for for their innovative procurement practices for small businesses by a panel which included industry experts and local and central government representatives.

Mr Lewis, said: “Small businesses are the heartbeat of the British economy, central to creating jobs, stimulating economic growth and innovation. But all too often we hear they are being excluded from procurement opportunities through overly bureaucratic processes. 

“That’s why I’m delighted to announce council winners who have done their utmost to support small and medium-sized businesses in their procurement so they can come forward with more confidence in bidding for local government business.”
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IT business, Vital Network Solutions, has been awarded managed service provider partnership status from one of the world\’s leading IT security vendors.

The IT business, based in Knaresborough, has a turnover of more than £1m and is now a Professional and Managed Security Services Partner of WatchGuard, which is a supplier of network security solutions and appliances such as firewalls.

Joining a small list of less than 20 such partners in the UK, Vital’s clients will now benefit from access to WatchGuard\’s award-winning suite of security solutions.
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A LAWYER from Eversheds Leeds office has spoken of her pride in scooping the award for Female Role Model of the Year at the recent Professionals Fashion Show Ball, organised by Leeds based Eventium.

Heidi Short is a principal associate in the financial services dispute resolution product group.

She said: “It makes me very proud to think that people I admire and work with consider me to be a role model to themselves and/or others. I hope I can inspire those around me (men as well as women) to work hard, do a great job and exceed client expectations, but also have fun, enjoy work and establish a work life balance that suits them. “

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EAST Yorkshire’s I Am Your group has teamed up with government run scheme, the Growth Accelerator, in order to enhance its existing SME business support.

The Growth Accelerator is a £200m business support service designed to help businesses grow and achieve their potential. This private sector and government partnership brings proven business experts together with companies to identify and overcome barriers to growth.

Managing director of I Am Your, Tony Bowler, said: “This is a great opportunity for us to be able to help businesses in this area. We already provide help to new and established businesses but the Growth Accelerator takes things a step further with specialist support and access to grant funding which can be a valuable life line for many businesses”.