Azook Grows With Santander National Award Win

Azook CIC has today been announced as a winner in Santander’s Social Enterprise Development Awards (SEDA) winning £15,000 to help fund a new archive-inspired range of products and a digitisation service centre.

Julian Alexander, Santander Regional Director, said: “At Santander we are committed to investing in and supporting communities in the South West and the Social Enterprise Development Awards were set up to help enterprises looking to expand. Azook carried out a comprehensive audit of the potential for their new enterprise and ran a pilot to test the appeal of the products. They had an overwhelming response which confirmed the high level of interest that exists in Cornish heritage not just in this area but across Britain and beyond. We’re very pleased to be able to fund the development of the new products and services which in turn will generate income for them to support their community activities.”

Claire White, Azook Director said: “Our work indicates that cultural heritage products and services bring communities together. The Santander award will help us to grow and we have ambitious plans for our enterprise – we’re aiming to run 40 community roadshows, train over 60 volunteers in digital skills and support teachers and pupils across the South West.“

Azook CIC was one of seven social enterprises to win an award in this year’s SEDA which saw a total of £240,000 distributed to organisations across the South West, part of a nationwide £2 million prize fund. Alongside the prize money, winning social enterprises will receive access to support from Santander including mentoring programmes, funding for internships and university business courses and training. Winning organisations will also receive valuable input from Quartet Community Foundation which will work with them to assess the social impact of their business and the prize on local communities.

Cornish heritage brought into the 21st century thanks to Heritage Lottery Fund investment

Azook Community Interest Company have today been awarded a grant of £225,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for their new project, 'Re:collect'.

Re:collect will bring together some of Cornwall's finest audio-visual collections and put them online for the first time. The project will create over £750,000 worth of heritage community and education activities designed to directly benefit Cornish communities.

Azook Director, Tim Robins, explained how the idea came about when the company was seeking archive film to support their work with schools. 'We were finding amazing archive collections and sharing all the film, audio and photographs that we could with Cornish schools. Realising that collection holders were keen to share the material with the wider public we came up with the idea of an online archive for audio-visual heritage'.

Richard Bellamy, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund South West, said:

“Much of our local heritage, especially people’s memories and stories, are at great risk of being lost and forgotten as time goes by. Projects like Re:collect are the perfect solution. Bringing together and digitising this collection of Cornish history will mean that there is a lasting record of the people and events that made the area what it is today. The array of community events and activities will ensure that everyone will have the chance to get involved and play a part in protecting their past for the future.”

Supporters of the project are delighted, particularly collection holders who are keen to share their archives with the public. Broadcaster Ted Gundry spoke of his pleasure at the news. “Cornish heritage is second to none and our audio-visual collections are very important, with them we can hear the voices of real people and see the faces of characters who lived in our communities. I am delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has recognised the value of carrying out this work before it is too late and I look forward to sharing my collection with Cornish communities at home and overseas”.

Azook Director, Claire White acknowledged that lots of people had helped to secure the funding. “The support of Azook volunteers, collection holders and other funders has been phenomenal. Cornwall Heritage Trust, FEAST, Cornwall Council and Cornwall Community Foundation, VisitCornwall and the Cornwall Development Company ERDF Convergence Business Investment for Growth Programme have all made generous financial contributions in order to lever this investment”.

Azook is seeking a commercial partner to help launch the project later this year. Claire White explained, “This three-year project provides real opportunities for a business that is passionate about Cornish cultural heritage to make a difference and benefit our communities”. If your business is interested in supporting this initiative, please contact Claire White on 0845 0509 429 or enquiries@azook.org.uk.

Azook Named Innovative Business of the Year

The Plymouth University Vice-Chancellor’s Enterprise Awards have named Azook Community Interest Company 'Innovative Business of the Year 2012'.

One of over 250 companies nominated for the awards, the Azook team are delighted to have been recognised for their work. Director Claire White said, "When we started we knew that we had to create sustainable products rather than simply engaging projects. It is really rewarding to see communities benefiting from the products and services that we provide." She also paid tribute to the work of the unpaid volunteers and board members who have enabled Azook to carry out a wide range of community activities. 

Bernard Curren, manager of the university's innovation centres, said: "Azook is an example of what can be achieved when people are driven to make an idea succeed, it has been a privilege to work with Claire and the team through the difficulties of developing a viable commercial model which is now achieving real success. They were our first ever social enterprise client, and are truly inspirational in the way they have taken what was a public sector project and turned it into a commercial entity focused on their social ambitions making a tangible change in communities."

The University's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wendy Purcell, said: "These awards are always very special, even more so this year as we celebrate our 150th anniversary as a higher education provider in the city."

The Azook team are looking forward to building on their success and will continue to find new and innovative ways to connect communities with their cultural heritage. 

To find out more about the awards visit www1.plymouth.ac.uk/vcawards

Volunteer Wins Regional Award

Azook volunteer and legendary broadcaster Ted Gundry has been recognised winner of the McCarthy & Stone Regional Retirement Awards. Regional head judge and operations director for McCarthy & Stone in the South West, Derek Field described the award, "As Britain's leader in retirement living, McCarthy & Stone really wanted to celebrate the often overlooked achievements of those aged over 60, many of whom contribute so much to both their local communities and our wider society as a whole".

Azook are delighted that Ted has received recognition for all his hard work. Ted has generously given of his time and expertise; hosting the Holman and Days of Clay archive film shows, recording community memories at memory shops and and editing audio recordings. He has also been busy sharing aspects of his own collection with schoolchildren across Cornwall through the Sense of Place Online Library and with the wider public through www.cornishmemory.com. The Azook office is always full of laughter when Ted is in the building and other volunteers learn a lot from working with him.

Having retired in 1999 after working 25 years for the BBC and despite spending so much time supporting the work of Azook, Ted still finds time to work with many other organisations. He is a very active Governor of Helston Community College, chairing the Personnel and Resources Committee and editing the College magazine. Ted is also President of the Helston St. John Ambulance Brigade, President of the Porthleven Gig Club, County Treasurer of the Cornish Pilot Gig Association and Chairman of the “Provider” project- a scheme to refurbish the last big fishing boat built in Porthleven.

Azook Launches New Volunteer and Training Scheme.

After the success of the first Community Grants Programme volunteer training scheme, we are very pleased to announce that we have been awarded further ESF funding to run a new programme from January – May 2012. 

The programme is offering new volunteers from a variety of backgrounds the opportunity to get involved with Azook activities including events, administration, research, sound editing film editing and more. 

If you are interested in finding out more, or know someone who might like to get involved please contact  heather@azook.org.uk