About The BOX
The Box is an exciting new project, the product of the Barrow Social Enterprise Network, a partnership set up to develop the social enterprise sector of Barrow-in-Furness. The Box not only offers discretionary grants, but also offers business and financial planning, bespoke training, mentoring, support and advice. This is available to community groups looking at ways of becoming sustainable, and trying to move away from grant funding, but also to individuals looking to become social entrepreneurs within their communities in the borough. Should you choose this route, you'll be assisted all the way from initial contact through to receiving a grant – if that's what you need.
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Mike came to Barrow-in-Furness in 1983, when, as a serving police officer, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. During his time with the police, he worked at Barrow, Ulverston and Dalton, as a uniformed sergeant and then moved on to become a crime prevention officer. Eventually he became community services manager for South Cumbria and was instrumental in setting up the current Community Orientated Problem Solving team (COPS), and it was whilst involved with this he became heavily involved in working with the different communities in Barrow, Dalton and Ulverston.
On retiring from the police he took a job with Copeland Borough Council at Egremont, as the programme manager for the Market Towns Initiative, where he worked with the local regeneration partnership and alongside the communities in Egremont and the surrounding district.
In 2004 he moved back to Barrow and worked for Age Concern as their campaigns and advice services manager.
In July 2006 Mike was appointed as the project co-ordinator for the Barrow Social Enterprise Network and their project, The Box, and is based at the offices of Furness Enterprise Ltd., Waterside House, Waterside Business Park.
When asked about his aspirations he said, “I've spent a lot of my working life working with community groups, and I've also spent a lot of time submitting funding applications to grant making bodies. I know how frustrating it can be when, after spending a long time on a particular application, it's turned down. Hopefully, the Barrow Social Enterprise Network and, in particular, The Box, will help to address this problem for groups working in the community. I would like to see groups going down the route of social enterprise, in whatever form, and becoming sustainable by trading in goods or services. I suppose my ultimate aim will be to see enterprises being awarded public sector contracts, to deliver public services within their area.