{"id":10102,"date":"2021-10-25T09:45:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T08:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cornerstonedm.co.uk\/?post_type=cs_blogs&p=10102"},"modified":"2023-05-03T16:48:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T15:48:49","slug":"cornerstone-joins-rio-ferdinand-foundation","status":"publish","type":"cs_blogs","link":"https:\/\/cornerstonedm.co.uk\/blog\/cornerstone-joins-rio-ferdinand-foundation\/","title":{"rendered":"Cornerstone joins Rio Ferdinand Foundation and partners to inspire Oldham\u2019s next generation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As an Oldham agency<\/a> born and bred, we were delighted to recently partner with The Rio Ferdinand Foundation (RFF) Oldham Enterprise Trust (OET) and Oldham Opportunity Area at an event designed to boost the aspirations and career prospects of young people from high schools across the borough.<\/p>\n

Building on its existing work in Oldham, RFF and OET organised the Enterprise Day with event partner Oldham College, which provide the venue and catering for free.<\/p>\n

It brought together local businesses and business leaders as part of a new initiative to help inspire, educate and connect young people through entrepreneurialism and enterprise skills.<\/p>\n

Around 80 students from eight local schools including Waterhead Academy, The Blue Coat School, The Radclyffe School, North Chadderton School and Coop Academy Failsworth attended the careers event which featured interactive sessions, skills workshops and inspirational speakers from the Oldham community.<\/p>\n

Keen to inspire, invest in and increase opportunities for the young people on our doorstep we were thrilled to be invited to take part, particularly considering the motivational and humble origins of our agency.<\/p>\n

Fresh out of Huddersfield University with a degree in marketing, founder, managing director and Oldhamer David Wadsworth didn\u2019t let his inexperience get in the way of his burning desire to launch his own agency.<\/p>\n

In 2007 he laid those first foundations of Cornerstone \u2013 and all from his parent\u2019s attic in Clarksfield, Oldham!<\/p>\n

Fourteen years and several moves later we now occupy an impressive in-house designed and built office space in Acorn Street, Lees, employing a 22-strong team across strategic marketing, public relations<\/a>, digital marketing<\/a>, design, web development<\/a> and print production and now have an annual turnover of over \u00a31m.<\/p>\n

Alongside highlighting David\u2019s story of entrepreneurialism and determination to succeed, our \u2018communication\u2019 themed activity workshop at the enterprise event was delivered by PR<\/a> manager Gill Potts and our 18-year-old digital marketing<\/a> apprentice Madeline Thorp.<\/p>\n\n

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Madeline engaged students with her first-hand experience of gaining an apprenticeship and offered insightful advice on work experience, job applications and interviews.<\/p>\n

\u201cGill and I\u00a0delivered a workshop on behalf of Cornerstone DM that revolved around the\u00a0theme of communication,\u201d said Madeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to the students about how to communicate to potential employers through CVs and interviews,\u00a0and how\u00a0there are other routes into the workplace aside from university.<\/p>\n

\u201cInspiring\u00a0more\u00a0young\u00a0people\u00a0into work\u00a0is something very important to me\u00a0as an apprentice,\u00a0and it was a pleasure\u00a0to be able to\u00a0talk to\u00a0young people like myself about\u00a0a more unconventional pathway\u00a0into the workplace\u00a0and\u00a0how to actually secure an apprenticeship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0students\u00a0really\u00a0engaged with our workshop\u00a0and activities, which was\u00a0great\u00a0to see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

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David added: \u201cIt was fantastic to be invited to work with the Rio Ferdinand Foundation to help inspire, encourage and guide our borough\u2019s future workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding insights, mentorship and guidance from industry experts has been critical to my own success with Cornerstone, so it\u2019s a great pleasure to be able to take part and support our community\u2019s leaders and managers of tomorrow in achieving their path to success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe event was extremely well organised and well received by attendees, and it\u2019s excellent to see this work taking place in our town.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victoria Lowe, RFF programme manager North West said: “The event was a huge success, our businesses and young entrepreneurs really inspired the young people who took part in their talks and enterprising activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe young people learnt about communication, teamwork, resilience and problem-solving, as well as top tips and career guidance from our professionals, like Cornerstone.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone got stuck into the different workshops and young people created films to share their own enterprising ideas for Oldham.<\/p>\n

\u201cRFF would like to say a huge thank you to our partners Oldham Enterprise Trust, Youth Enterprise Network Oldham, Oldham College and our businesses for all of their support in this collaboration.”<\/p>\n

The career opportunity programme is offering weekly sessions throughout this year with opportunities for local businesses, education practitioners and members of the community to get involved. If you want to support young people to tackle inequality and drive social change in your area visit the website\u00a0Support our work \u2014 Rio Ferdinand Foundation\u00a0or contact the Programme Manager, Victoria Lowe, on 0161 743 3779.<\/a><\/p>\n\n

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(Photo credit: Les Howarth, Real Time Images)<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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\n By Gillian, PR Manager<\/strong><\/small><\/span>\n

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\n Gill has been a journalist for way longer than she cares \u2013 or dares to remember. Formerly a news reporter, feature writer and beauty columnist working for newspapers across Greater Manchester, the switch flicked, the light came on and she headed straight for PR. Gill works across a number of sectors including health, pharma, leisure […]\n <\/p>\n <\/small>\n Find out more about us<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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\n Get in touch for more information\n <\/h2>Get in touch<\/a>Request a brochure<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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Tuning our PR antennae into 2025\u2019s industry trends \u2013 including the perennial fundamentals<\/h3>\n\n #insight #opinion #news <\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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European Accessibility Act<\/h3>\n\n #insight <\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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Gill \u2013 PR Manager and Tikki bar queen<\/h3>\n\n <\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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Transforming leisure customer journeys with our marketing expertise and Gladstone’s game-changing API<\/h3>\n\n #insight <\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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Meet The Team: Steve<\/h3>\n\n <\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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The Ultimate 12 Step Guide to Growing an eCommerce Business Online<\/h3>\n\n #insight <\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":10130,"template":"","class_list":["post-10102","cs_blogs","type-cs_blogs","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonedm.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cs_blogs\/10102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonedm.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cs_blogs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonedm.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cs_blogs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonedm.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonedm.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cs_blogs\/10102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonedm.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonedm.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}