We’ve had some great coverage of Switch on to Swindon (SOTS) in the last week or two to mark the one year anniversary of launching the campaign.

In keeping with the principles of the campaign it has been great to see so many of our ambassadors speaking positively on behalf of the campaign and, most importantly, on behalf of Swindon.

In amongst all of this there was also some good national coverage including a piece name-checking Swindon as one of the top UK destinations for people moving out of London.

The diversity and relative affordability of housing makes Swindon attractive and the article recognises that Swindon is one of the UK’s fastest-growing cities according to a recent PwC report, based on job creation, number of start-ups, health, skills and commute time.

Further proof, if we needed it, that Swindon as a product is really good and we need to re-double our efforts on making sure we promote the place effectively and build on our strengths.

One of those strengths is our emerging digital industries sector. So the SOTS team was delighted to attend the Swindon and Wiltshire Enterprise Partnership (SWLEP) organised event this week to hear about how the partnership plans to support this sector.

As well as hearing from local leaders from digital businesses there was also the opportunity to find out about the European Regional Development Fund available for research, development and innovation project, aimed to improve digital capability of businesses.

Potential applicants were able to find out about how to make it as strong proposal and if anybody else is interested please do contact europeanfunding@swlep.co.uk

A quick nod to Excalibur Communications who hosted the event. One of our first SOTS ambassadors, the company continues to grow while maintaining a really strong sense of connection Swindon.

Seventeen staff from Excalibur spent last Tuesday night sleeping out in the firm’s car park to raise funds for Threshold Housing Link and Wiltshire Air Ambulance. This is just one of many things the company does for and in the community which leads me neatly on to my next topic.

SOTS is delighted to be supporting Involve Swindon’s annual conference on Wednesday 28th February at the National Self Build Centre. Over the last 12 years Involve Swindon has been very successful in helping employees volunteer, making a huge difference to the local community in the process.

A significant portion of the employee volunteering that Swindon has enabled has been with employees from the larger companies in the Swindon area.

The focus for this year’s annual conference is how to get smaller to medium sized businesses in Swindon to promote and get involved in employee volunteering. A great line up of speakers will demonstrate the benefits to individuals, employers of all sizes and the community.

So please do attend if you can by registering at here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/involve-swindon-annual-business-conference-switch-on-to-volunteering-registration-36718447866

Finally, good luck to all of our ambassadors who are up for awards at the South West Awards Business & Community.

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on Thursday being held at the Double Tree by Hilton and we have a really good showing of Swindon businesses shortlisted so fingers crossed.