The Regional Centre

for Tourism Business Support Team

 

  

 

 

Left to right - Suzanne Dockery, Anne Cumberlidge, Lesley Davies, Howard Loxley, Ros Hammant, Karl Newman, Victoria West and Penny Hadland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Office Team 

 

Penny Hadland

 

Penny currently manages two tourism business support projects in the West Midlands region that come under the banner ‘Quality at Heart’.  She joined Business Link West Mercia (formerly Shropshire Business Link) in December 2002 to set up and manage the newly created Regional Centre for Tourism Business Support and, in 2005, both set up and now also manages the ‘Quality at Heart’ tourism regional recognition model. 

Penny has worked in the tourism sector since 1992, originally as Development Officer with Black Country Tourism.  After 4 years she moved on to work for The (then) Heart of England Tourist Board to either manage or directly deliver around 7 ERDF or ESF funded projects.  Two of the projects she directly delivered focussed on undertaking assessments of how venues such as museums, art galleries and performing arts venues interacted with visitors.  Following the three-day, on-site assessments grant funding was then available to undertake action recommended in the reports.  
In April 2000, Penny became one of two Regional Directors at the tourist board and was therefore very involved in minimising the impacts on tourism businesses of the various crises of 2001. 

Penny was born and brought up in Stratford on Avon and now lives in The Black Country.  Her interests include amateur dramatics and most things to do with the theatre generally, gardening, and shopping. 

 

 

Suzanne Dockery & Victoria West

Tourism Project Co-ordinators

Suzanne graduated from the University of Wolverhampton in 2005 and achieved a 2:1 BA (Hons) in Tourism Management and Geography, her personal interests were in sustainable tourism and marketing. Whilst at university Suzanne completed a years Industrial Work Placement at the 4 star Imperial Hotel in Blackpool, within a Trainee Management programme .

Since leaving university, Suzanne has been working as a Student Support Worker at the City of Wolverhampton College supporting students in the Travel and Tourism Department. It has been Suzanne’s ambition to work within the Tourism Industry for many years and has now joined the Regional Centre for Tourism Business Support as Project Co-ordinator.

 

 

 

 

 

Tourism Business Advisors (TBA's)

 

Anne Cumberlidge

 

Anne is a very proud Coventry kid! Having moved away and doing most of her education in business and tourism in the Manchester area, she can’t quite believe that she is now helping business in the area she was brought up in.

Anne achieved an HND in Business, Finance, Travel and Tourism in 1995 and then spent a year training to be a Blue Badge Tour Guide of Manchester and the North West and started guided during Euro 96.

After moving back to the south, Anne managed three highly successful and award winning Tourist Information Centres Southern Tourism Board. In 2000 Anne bought and managed a 9 roomed Guest House, this experience has been extremely valuable when advising businesses.

Anne has been a Business Advisor for the Regional Centre for Tourism Business Support from the beginning of the project in 2003.  During that time she has helped all types of businesses accommodation providers, retail shops, pubs, hotels, restaurants, museums, attractions, tour guides and even a vineyard. 

 During the last 20 years of working in the Tourism & Hospitality Sector Anne has developed a great understanding of the many issues facing businesses today. Anne is committed to helping businesses to achieve their full potential, encouraging them to improve customer care, quality standards, develop new ideas, set realistic goals and to work together to improve the visitor experience.

Lesley Davies

 

Lesley has extensive experience in tourism in both public and private sectors including research, strategy and product development, project management, funding applications and strategic marketing.   She has a comprehensive knowledge of national, regional and local tourism organisations involved in tourism development , their strategic roles and relationships, and the support they can offer to tourism and leisure businesses.

Before joining the Regional Centre for Tourism Business Support,  Lesley was a self-employed consultant for five years working on a  number of projects in the West Midlands,  including management of the Heart of England  Foot and Mouth Disease Tourism Recovery Programme, the setting up of a national Food & Drink in Tourism project , and development and management of destination marketing campaigns.

Prior to this she was the Principal Tourism Officer and Tourism Policy Adviser at Shropshire County Council  for 10 years responsible for development and marketing of sustainable tourism in Shropshire.  The work involved close liaison with private sector operators and tourism associations through which Lesley gained valuable understanding of the issues and priorities for tourism businesses.  During this time Lesley secured funding from UK Government, European and Lottery sources for countywide marketing campaigns and a number of innovative development projects, including the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre at Craven Arms. 
 
Her background also includes 6 years working for the Thomson Holidays Group developing and monitoring performance of overseas package holiday hotels,  and 5 years as an Emergency Planning Officer – which has proved to be a useful preparation for tourism!

 

Howard Loxley

 

Howard has many years experience in the tourism industry in both the public and private sectors, including over 17 years management experience in Hotels and Hospitality operations of all sizes ranging from 4 Star City Centre to small Country House Hotels.

Before joining the Regional Centre, Howard spent 8 years with Heart of England Tourism (the Regional Tourist Board) initially as an accommodation assessor, and latterly as Head of Quality Assurance & Membership dealing primarily with the development and administration of the Tourist Board National Quality Assurance Schemes. It was at Heart of England Tourism where, by working in partnership with the boating industry he developed and rolled out Quality Standards for Hire Boats and Hotel Boats, which are now used nationally by Visit Britain. He has also recently been closely involved in the development stages of the Quality at Heart initiative.

Given his background it goes without saying that Howard is passionate about improving the Quality of both the tourism product and service in the region, but he is also a great advocate of developing Accessibility for businesses and indeed destinations in the region.

Howard spends most of his spare time with his family or watching sport and in particular his beloved Aston Villa.

 

Ros Hammant

 

Much of Ros’s early career was spent in retail management with Harrrods and Fenwicks but a little at a time this evolved into advisory and training roles culminating in Ros running her own training company for 10 years prior to joining the Regional Centre.

As a result an understanding of the highs and lows of running your own business comes naturally to Ros.

One of her responsibilities during this time was a contract with Business Link to deliver the Business Start up Programme. As part of this remit Ros developed a very successful variation on the start-up theme specifically tailored to B&B business start-ups.

Definitely a “people” person, Ros’s relevant skills and qualifications include being a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and an NVQ assessor. Ros is qualified to undertake occupational and psychometric testing and is an accredited instructor of Basic Food Hygiene.

 

 

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