Connect Dacorum

24/03/2026

🎉 Teen Entrepreneurs Raise Nearly £29,000 for Local Charities! 🎉

What an incredible night at the University of Hertfordshire as we celebrated the 13th year of the Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge, organised by Community Action Dacorum!

Seventeen teams of Year 12 students turned £100 into almost £29,000 for local charities — showcasing creativity, teamwork, and serious entrepreneurial spirit.

🏆 Huge congratulations to our Dragons Apprentice Champions: Team Genesis from John F Kennedy School raising funds for Sunnyside Rural Trust and impressing the judges with their professionalism and passion.

We also celebrated outstanding achievements across the board, including: ✨ Highest Profit – Team Tring ✨ Most Innovative Idea – Play4OLLIE ✨ Best Marketing Campaign – Flow for Good ✨ Best Partnership with their charity – Dens Diamonds ✨ Best Busness Plan - Genesis ✨Presentation – Adeyfield Dragons ✨ Best Display - Radio Active …and many more inspiring winners!

Deputy Lieutenant of Hertfordshire Dr John Howie presented the awards and praised the students’ determination, teamwork, and resilience — qualities that shone throughout the challenge.

A massive thank you to our amazing Dragons, mentors, schools, and charities who make this programme such a powerful force for good in our community.

💬 Read all about it here - https://lnkd.in/eNe93Grt

Interested in getting involved next year? Email [email protected] to join the 2026/27 Challenge.

Thanks to our Dragons this year: Raj Athwal-Browne Julie Rennison Helen Patterson Christy Evans (previously Woodgate) Shelley Dell Lawrence Geere Martin Bailey Anna Peck Sarah Beale Nadia van Woerkom Lydia Berman Helen Duffy Jonathan Brock - MBA Ivor Stratford Sharon Slade Sarah Whale Kate Cohen

03/03/2026

Following our first 2 successful events of 2026, our next networking event "Making Connections" is on Thursday 19th Match from 8.30am to 10.30am at West Herts College (Hemel Campus). Our guest speaker is Erica Hodges from Hertfordshire Futures.

Book now to secure your place - www.goodhub.com/go/connectmarch26networking?fbclid=IwVERDUAQTzWhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEe13uKEgicPQxWs79xQGvAwExGxZn-IdbHgXqHqwk-Y9mmZaA_bkAMqe6TdII_aem_BHPsCi9EsL2kqBWEtme4Ow

Look forward to seeing you there.

11/12/2025

Delighted to present our newest Silver Member, Lumina Technologies Ltd with their certificate this morning. Lumina have been members of Connect since 2015 and we look forward to another fantastic year of community engagement and seeing them at our events. Richard is also on the Connect Steering Committee and helps us with valuable advice. Thanks for your support Richard McBarnet Lucinda Coad

If your company needs reliable IT & cyber security support you can count on, contact Lumina on 01442 500890. www.luminatech.co.uk

10/07/2025

Our free networking event in September will be at the Job Centre in Hemel where you can find out about their services for local employers. The Employer Advisers, Julie and Vik, can discuss the best ways to fill any roles you may have now or in the future.

Date: Tuesday 9th September 2025
Venue: The Job Centre, 1 Waterhouse St, Hemel Hempstead HP1 1EX,
Time: 8.30am to 10.30am

PROMOTE your business / charity
MEET your community
MAKE connections

The event is free to attend, but please book your place and bookings are limited. Click on the QR code to book

26/06/2025

Connect Dacorum is again organising the Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge for 2025/26 and we are looking for Dragons to mentor the teams. The challenge has been running for 12 years and has raised a whopping £155,130 for local charities, and have seen 865 students take part. Not only have these students learnt business related skills but also very important soft skills such as communication, working in a team, perseverance, etc.

So what is the challenge? - Year 12 students from local secondary schools will be entering teams of up to 10 pupils as the Apprentices. The teams are challenged to turn £100 into £1000 or more for a local charity by means of business-related ideas. The team is matched with a business mentor (the Dragon) and also a charity. The challenge starts on the 22nd September 2025 and culminates in a finals evening at the end of March 2026.

We've had some absolutely amazing Dragons over the years and are again looking for business mentors (the Dragons) to take part this year. The Dragon’s involvement most importantly, is your time. You will need to attend a minimum of five meetings and help the teams develop their ideas, form themselves into a working team with defined roles and write a business plan. However, the most successful teams met regularly from October to February to keep motivation and organisation going, although some of this can be done via emails and WhatsApp. If you think you could spare the resource and time for the challenge, do register your interest.

So why should you take part? Participation in the Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge offers a win-win opportunity for all parties involved, creating the opportunity for excellent partnerships between local community groups and charities, businesses and young people, creating a stronger community over the long term. It provides a structured means to promote and encourage engagement between charity/community groups, local businesses and schools. It helps raise the profile of your organisation and the third sector in the area and it is a great development tool for an employee’s continual professional development.

Rachel Redondo 📲 and Amanda Hershman FREC 📞👉☎️ were dragons from their business Twenty-Two and said of the challenge "This year's Dragons' Apprentice Challenge has played an instrumental part in allowing us to forge new relationships as a local business with our chosen school and incredible charity partner - The Blue Tangerine Federation. Our team of students were forthcoming in taking advantage of every learning opportunity and even went on to raise £7,095.87 which beat the all-time record for the Most Money Earned award, something which we will be forever proud of. We only hope that we are lucky enough to take part in next year's Dragons' Apprentice Challenge again!"

If you would like to take part or have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.

13/06/2025

We are again organising the Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge for 2025/26 and we are looking for Dragons to mentor the teams. The challenge has been running for 12 years and has raised a whopping £155,130 for local charities, and have seen 865 students take part. Not only have these students learnt business related skills but also very important soft skills such as communication, working in a team, perseverance, etc.

So what is the challenge? - Year 12 students from local secondary schools will be entering teams of up to 10 pupils as the Apprentices. The teams are challenged to turn £100 into £1000 or more for a local charity by means of business-related ideas. The team is matched with a business mentor (the Dragon) and also a charity. The challenge starts on the 22nd September 2025 and culminates in a finals evening at the end of March 2026.

We've had some absolutely amazing Dragons over the years and are again looking for business mentors (the Dragons) to take part this year. The Dragon’s involvement most importantly, is your time. You will need to attend a minimum of five meetings and help the teams develop their ideas, form themselves into a working team with defined roles and write a business plan. However, the most successful teams met regularly from October to February to keep motivation and organisation going, although some of this can be done via emails and WhatsApp. If you think you could spare the resource and time for the challenge, do register your interest.

So why should you take part? Participation in the Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge offers a win-win opportunity for all parties involved, creating the opportunity for excellent partnerships between local community groups and charities, businesses and young people, creating a stronger community over the long term. It provides a structured means to promote and encourage engagement between charity/community groups, local businesses and schools. It helps raise the profile of your organisation and the third sector in the area and it is a great development tool for an employee’s continual professional development.

Rachel Redondo 📲 and Amanda Hershman FREC 📞👉☎️ were dragons from their business Twenty-Two and said of the challenge "This year's Dragons' Apprentice Challenge has played an instrumental part in allowing us to forge new relationships as a local business with our chosen school and incredible charity partner - The Blue Tangerine Federation. Our team of students were forthcoming in taking advantage of every learning opportunity and even went on to raise £7,095.87 which beat the all-time record for the Most Money Earned award, something which we will be forever proud of. We only hope that we are lucky enough to take part in next year's Dragons' Apprentice Challenge again!"

If you would like to take part or have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.

16/05/2025

We are looking for volunteers to help out with some CV writing and interview skills. Can you spare some time?

We are looking for facilitators for an Employability Day at The Hemel Hempstead Day on Monday 30th June.
Please see leaflet attached. You will be working with small groups of year 10 students and be guided with our information pack.
Time 8.30am to 1.30pm
[email protected]

01/04/2025

What an amazing year the Dragons Apprentice Challenge was this year. The most number of teams, ALL raised over their target of £1,000 with one team even raising £7,000.

Nearly £31,000 raised for local charities. Great night watching all the teams present.

13/03/2025

Delighted to announce that Ethica Care has become Connect Dacorum's newest member. Cheryl Marr, it's great to have you and your team on board and welcome to the group. Look forward to seeing you at one of our future events.

About Ethica Care - We are an independent local homecare organisation with highly skilled experienced care workers who work with you to help you live happily at home. With a passion for care and dedication to people, our qualified and experienced teams ensure your unique needs are met so you can live life to the full.

Ethica Care are very much looking forward to coming along to our networking events and getting involved in community activities.

Local Homecare Organisation

03/03/2025

Welcome to Hesam Resalaty from for becoming Connect Dacorum's newest member. Great to have you on board and welcome to the group. Look forward to seeing you at one of our future events.

About Right at Home Hemel Hempstead - We offer exceptional quality, tailored care and support across Hemel Hempstead, Decorum, Chiltern's, Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire.

Our dedicated team/service has been awarded as “Top 20 Home Care Providers East of England 2024”. We are also proud of our 10/10 customers review rating on homecare.co.uk.

We always strive to make a real difference to people’s lives, whether that is to provide a tailor-made package to meet the needs of the clients who may be recovering from a hospital stay or to fulltime live-in care, or just a bit of help and support around the home enabling them to Independently live in their own homes for longer and safer.

At Right at Home Hemel Hempstead, we also pay close attention to the wellbeing of family members to ensure they can continue to help and support their loved ones.

All our wonderful caregivers are specifically recruited and have in-depth training in the skills required to provide friendly, safe, and compassionate service, and always strive to go that Extra Mile.

Some of the services we currently offer are as follows:
Companionship, Personal Care, Live-in Care, Dementia, Palliative Care, Physical Disability, Respite cover, Domestic Services, Food Preparation & Serving, Medication Assistance, Mental Health Condition, Shopping Service / Errands, Hospital Discharge

Leading home care review website with over 12,500 home care providers offering care at home, live in care and nursing care in the UK.