Food for inspiration from two outstanding Cumbrian businesswomen marks huge success of H&H Group’s International Women’s Day Working lunch
Almost fifty professional women and business owners joined H&H Group for lunch at the Fleece at Ruleholme on Tuesday 14th March, supporting International Women’s Day and celebrating the success women bring to business across Cumbria.
The aim of the event was to highlight the crucial role women play in the region’s economy, to share thoughts and ideas, and to meet with likeminded women. H&H Group Personnel Manager and Company Secretary, Margaret Irving, opened the lunch by sharing her thoughts on a new collective noun for a number of ‘talented’ business women and settled on a ‘perfume’ of inspiring and talented ladies.
She went on to invite the two guest speakers, Diane Hannah the Co-founder and Director of The Herdy Company and Gill Haigh, Managing Director at Cumbria Tourism, to share their own inspiring stories of their business enterprise and success.
Diane Hannah described how, together with her husband, Spencer, they set up the Herdy Company with the brand icon based on a photograph of a Herdwick ewe watching them as they walked the fells. They had set up their own design company working for some prestigious household names, but it was only after a visit to Finland that they realised there was an opportunity to market modern and funky sheep themed giftware, kitchenware, clothing and mugs back in the UK.
The Herdy Company they created has grown rapidly over the past fifteen years, winning awards and meeting royals on their way to establishing four stores in the Lake District, supplying over 250 UK outlets and trading with the US and Japan.
‘Giving Back’ is also an important ethos for Diane and her team, who sponsor rural community projects and initiatives as well as supporting the upland farmers who care for the Herdwick sheep. To date they have donated over £250,000 principally to environmental causes in the region.
Gill Haigh started her talk by sharing how she and her family used to come to the Lake District on holidays when she was only six years old and how she had been in love with the area ever since. Starting her career as a journalist, Gill now heads a company which has the largest membership in Cumbria and is the official voice for a tourism and hospitality industry worth over £3.1bn to the local economy.
Gill and her team work with many other local and national companies to forge strong relationships and to promote new initiatives to help restore the Lake District economy to its pre-Covid status. Other work includes lobbying public companies to develop the infrastructure the visitor economy needs, and working with schools and colleges to encourage the younger generation to seek exciting and rewarding careers in the local tourism and hospitality sector.
Gill Haigh commented: “The H&H Group’s lunch was a wonderful event with a fantastic group of people and a noticeably warm and friendly atmosphere. I was honoured to have the opportunity to be a speaker but I think that any one of the ladies in the room would have been just as interesting to hear from!”
Nina Oxley, H&H Group organiser said: “ There was such a great buzz over lunch and a wonderful atmosphere with ladies of different ages and sectors chatting, laughing and sharing stories and business tips. It was really quite special, and we would like to sincerely thank our guest speakers for their valuable time, inspiring us all and for helping to make our event a success.”
