inc. launches YouTube channel Exciting news for inc. our social incubator. We’ve launched our first YouTube channel where we’ll feature videos from entrepreneurs talking about their experiences of building a successful business, tips on how to make it and what it means to change the world. We’d love your support, so please take a look, and hit the subscribe button. Our social incubator inc. is part of the Aster Foundation. It works with those who want to tackle the root cause of poverty in creative and innovative ways. The businesses on the cohort will align to one of our priority areas: mental wellness and social connectivity, financial inclusion, employment, as well as sustainability and the green agenda. During the 10-month programme, our inc. entrepreneurs deliver impact pilots across our local communities.
New energy-efficient affordable homes for Buckland Newton residents A number of Buckland Newtonresidents are enjoying 2024 from the comfort of their new affordable home thanks to Wimborne based housing association, East Boro Housing Trust (EBHT), part of the Aster Group. Located in Brookfields Meadow, the four new affordable homes comprising two, two-bedroom and two, three-bedroom semi-detached houses, provide much needed new accommodation in the village. Fitted with air source heat pumps to generate heating and hot water, the residents will also benefit from better energy efficiency while lowering their carbon footprint.
Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week For National Apprenticeship Week 2024, Aster Group has been celebrating and recognising the opportunity apprenticeships and the Apprenticeship Levy have across its business. From creating roles for new recruits, enabling colleagues to change career direction and funding a range of qualifications, the impact of apprenticeships and the Levy is hailed as a huge success across the Group. Since the Levy’s introduction in 2017, Aster has already supported over 300 colleagues either by employing new apprentices into the business or upskilling its current team via the Levy funding. Commenting on the impact apprenticeships and the Levy have across Aster, Jess Scull, Apprenticeship Partner said: “Having been privileged to support our apprenticeship schemes for a number of years, we now have leaders and future leaders who either joined us or developed their skills and qualifications through our apprenticeship schemes. This demonstrates this investment provides career opportunities and can help tackle the skills gaps across the housing sector.” Aster’s 2023 cohort of apprentices includes Devizes-based Georgia Walker and Trowbridge-based Holly Peacock who both started their careers with the Group in the company’s contact centre. A complete shift in career direction sees Georgia now training as an apprentice gas engineer and Holly is on a surveying apprentice career path.
Volunteers makeover Parish Hall A team of volunteers has helped with a makeover of the Parish Hall in Woodborough. Four members of Aster’s trade team including a carpenter, electrician, decorator, kitchen fitter and plumber volunteered their time and spent a week modernising the hall. They refreshed the paint in the main hall and installed new units and counter tops in the kitchen. The Parish Hall will now be reopened, with local groups and classes able to benefit from the new facilities. Plans to modernise the Parish Hall first began when its Committee reached out to the social housing provider, asking if they could spare any old worktops or units. But Aster went one step further and installed a range of brand-new equipment at the hall for free. Peter Maclaine from the Parish Hall Committee said: “We are all so pleased at the result, and it is far better than we had hoped for. We are now confident that the community will want to use a facility that has been transformed from a rather tired set up into one that we can be proud of. This has absolutely reinvigorated the room and we are all so grateful.”
