Village Hotel Club has unveiled its new, star-studded line-up of ambassadors - Sir Mo Farah, Baroness Karren Brady CBE and Great British Bake-Off winner Candice Brown.
At an event celebrating its new Village Green campaign, each ambassador is announcing a brand-new programme of activities that they’ve co-created with the hotel group to help the communities they operate in thrive, specifically through a series of fitness, business and food and drink initiatives.
The new ‘Village Green’ campaign reinforces the Group’s proposition of being more than ‘just a hotel’, and instead a unique hotel offering that truly embeds itself in and amongst the local community. To celebrate this, and the opening of its 30th hotel in Bristol, Village Hotel Club is uniting its ambassadors for the first time, providing people with a behind-the-scenes look at a ‘Day in the Life of a Village Hotel Club’.
The star-studded event will showcase how Village Green has something for everyone, whether it is fitness classes inspired by Mo’s own training, tips and tricks from top business leaders or giving hospitality students a flavour of what it’s really like behind closed doors of a hotel kitchen.
Unveiling the Ambassadors…
Sir Mo Farah – Community Fitness Ambassador
As Britain’s most ever track athlete, Sir Mo Farah will take on the role of Fitness Ambassador, based on the shared belief with Village that good physical fitness and emotional wellbeing are at the root of healthy communities.
As part of this, Sir Mo is calling for greater access to fitness facilities for local communities, especially in hard-to-reach areas, with Village Gym staff pledging time and expertise to help children from the local community. To launch this, todaySir Mo met with a number of local schoolkids from Little Stoke Primary School, surprising them by joining in with their fitness class and giving them fun tips for staying fit and healthy.
Alongside this, and to inspire and motivate all ages to take care of their health, Sir Mo launched the new Motion fitness class at the event for Village Gym members, inspired by elements of his own training programme.
Sir Mo will also launch a huge fitness challenge later this year, to be announced in the coming months.
Baroness Karren Brady CBE – Local Business Ambassador
Formidable business woman Baroness Karren Brady CBE is joining forces with Village Hotel Club to help nurture and grow local businesses across the country, with the launch of “VWorks” – Village’s work space that supports and promotes the needs of local businesses by offering places for local people to work, connect and network.
Yesterday, Karren kicked off the Group’s new series of business seminars to be hosted by influential business leaders, with an inspiring talk at Bristol, live streamed to the other 29 Village Hotels, where she spoke about both her journey to the top of the business world, and how she’s stayed there.
She also launched the VWorks Awards, coming soon in the Autumn, alongside a pitch-style competition which will celebrate local businesses and inject much needed funds and investment into winners.
Candice Brown – Food & Drink Ambassador
Great British Bake-Off winner Candice Brown is joining forces with Village Hotel Club to launch Village Hotel Club’s new ‘Hospitality Heroes’ initiative. This is a new commitment by the hotel group that will see each Village Hotel offer skills, employment and mentoring to local communities in catering and hospitality skills.
This will kick off in Bristol for the first time, where Candice will open the kitchen of the hotel to local hospitality college students from South Gloucester College, enabling them to put their studied theory into practice. With lucky guests yesterday honoured as the first taste-testers, Candice will also launch ‘Candice’s Afternoon Tea’ this Summer – a bespoke menu curated by Candice, that will be available every Saturday across Village Hotel Clubs in the UK.
What is the Village Green initiative?
Village Hotel Club isn’t just any hotel. With state-of-the-art gym facilities with thousands of local members, VWorks – Village’s flexible work space - and our vibrant Village Hotel Pub & Grill, this distinctive hotel concept seeks to be more than just a place where people come to stay but a hub for the local community too.
This commitment to the local community is reflected in the chain’s ‘Village Green’ initiative, which sees its hotels commit over 30,000 hours per year to volunteering in the local community. In addition to this, each gym team also dedicates one day per month to supporting local sporting groups or events as part of its wider pledge to encourage health and wellness in the community.
Now with the new Village Green ambassadors onboard, the initiative is set to reach even more people and help communities around the UK.
Gary Davis, Executive Chairman at Village Hotels comments:
"We are thrilled to have Sir Mo, Baroness Karren Brady CBE and GBBO winner Candice on board here at Village Hotel Club. With their wealth of experience, they were the perfect people to champion our community hubs. We remain passionate about serving the communities we operate in and hope that our new Village Green programmes, co-created with our new ambassadors, will help upskill and inspire people - putting us at the heart of local life right across the country.”
Mo Farah, Village’s new Community Fitness Ambassador, said:
“Obviously fitness is a huge part of my life, and as a dad of four, it’s important to me that I pass on this mentality to my kids, so we all reap the benefits of being as active as possible. That’s why I am working with Village Hotel Club and Village Gym as its Community Fitness Ambassador to motivate communities around the UK – from kids to mums and dads and everyone in-between - to get fit and active. Ultimately I want to see even more gyms and fitness centres open up to the community and think about how they can pass on their expertise in the same way that Village is doing.”
Candice Brown, Village’s Food and Drink Ambassador, said:
“I have always been involved in the world of hospitality, from growing up in pubs to watching my grandmother baking and cooking. I realise now how lucky I am to have been immersed in this world from a young age, and the impact that has had on my career, from winning Bake Off in 2016 to now owning and running my own pub. That’s why I am working with Village Hotel Club as its Food and Drink Ambassador and launching “Hospitality Heroes” – a new mentoring scheme which will see myself and Village chefs work with catering students around the UK to develop their skills. This partnership will give me the chance to work with young people all over the UK and hopefully instil some of the same passion that I have for this industry.”
Paul Roberts, CEO of Village Hotel Club, said:
“I’ve long championed entrepreneurs and SMEs, making it a priority through my career to ensure that the concerns of small business owners are listened to at the highest levels and that they receive all the support they need to prosper. Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy, and in these uncertain times, we need to champion their success more than ever before. Village Hotel’s shared working spaces or VWorks clubs, are often in smaller or out of town locations, outside the bigger business centres and cities, where businesses may not always receive the support that they need. Together we will work with these local businesses all over the UK, offering opportunities to connect, network and inspire to ensure ongoing prosperity.”
To find out more, visit: www.village-hotels.co.uk