The British Council at CCC

The British Council has an International Climate Champions initiative encompassing some 50 countries worldwide. The initiative involves identifying and training climate champions who carry out projects and, in many cases, work to influence national and international policy.

The Council needed to organise a highly focused weekend event for up to 18 UK champions, which would combine training in such skills as project management and communication skills with the opportunity to forge strong personal links between the Champions. The venue needed to meet a number of key requirements:

To have a committed policy on the environment and the ability to help create events with minimal impact on the environment.
To provide a comfortable, productive training and social environment uninterrupted as far as possible by other users of the venue.
To provide scope for ‘breathing space’ between formal sessions and the opportunity for formal breakout sessions in a cost-effective way

The Cotswold Conference Centre showed clear evidence of its environmental policies, and its facilities include magnetic wall boards, reducing the need for paper. The event was contained within its Smallbrook Suite, which includes main training and breakout rooms and relaxation areas within a dedicated location. Dining, bar and leisure facilities were all within a few minutes' walk.

“Specialist venues have the potential to show a much more focused and all-round commitment to the environment,” said Mary Stansfeld, the British Council's Project Manager for International Climate Champions: “They also tend to be more flexible: with a hotel based event, you can use the room you pay for but you rarely find breathing spaces which aren't occupied by other users; even though there were other events taking place at the venue, our event was almost fully self contained.”

The Council was also delighted with the commitment of the Cotswold Conference Centre staff. “Such support, and their specialist understanding of how to make our event work as smoothly as possible, are service features that you don’t always find in multi-purpose venues, ” added Ms Stansfeld.

Congratulations Lesley

Congratulations to Lesley, our Head Receptionist, who recently married her partner Gary and became Mrs. Lesley Stretch. After the ceremony at Studley Castle, which included a private firework display, the couple flew out the next day and are currently enjoying their honeymoon in the Maldives. The CCC team wish Lesley and Gary a lifetime of happiness together.

New disabled access to Reception, Dining, Bar and Smallbrook Training Facility

Despite being built on a hillside, we try and make moving around the site easy for everyone. We have recently improved access to Smallbrook which houses main Reception, Dining Room, Lounge Bar and the Smallbrook training suite. New disabled car parking spaces have been added on the same level as the building access, sign posted from the road. There is also a bell (which rings in Reception) fitted close to the parking spaces to summon help if needed.

The most boring title in the 2010 programme

Our sister company FEALC, who share our stunning facilities, have recently launched their exciting new programme of 2010 weekend leisure courses. Having finished slotting these courses into our weekend diary the coveted acclamation of ‘most boring title’ goes to ‘A History of Wallpaper from the 16th Century to Today!’ Admittedly not the most exciting title but it does demonstrate the broad range of subjects and interests covered by the 2010 programme. To request a copy of their new brochure call the Farncombe Team on 01386 854100.

And coming soon: Four new training rooms

We are very excited to announce that we are likely to have a new training block next year. With 4 training/meeting rooms, syndicate space and coffee lounge the Coach House will mean that we will be able to offer our customers even more flexibility. As usual at CCC the new training rooms will all have lots of natural daylight and will have AV equipment installed ready to use. We’ll let you know when refurbishment of the building begins and in the meantime if you want a sneaky preview look of the building just let us know.

Wi-Fi access now in all bedrooms

In response to listening to the delegates & trainers that visit our venue we are pleased to announce that we now have free Wi-Fi access in all of the bedroom blocks on site. We are also upgrading the existing free Wi-Fi access in public areas and training rooms to allow for quicker connection.

Homemade biscuits

As you know at CCC all delegate packages include unlimited tea, coffees and biscuits. Always keen to cut down on unnecessary food miles and packaging, our Catering team recently took the decision to start producing home-made biscuits. Break times are now even more popular with delegates who get a choice of a selection of freshly cooked biscuits. And being completely independent means that, with sufficient notice, we can even make your favourite biscuit for break time…just ask!

Medical week at CCC

Last week was a busy week at CCC and a rather medical themed week too. We’ve been very pleased to welcome back Priory Group (provider of acute mental health care and more) and Positive About Autism (a new training company providing learning opportunities on autism) who were both here for the second time. Both events seemed to flourish in the dedicated learning environment we have here.