Charles Manners

Experience

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  Grenadier Guards

  Jan 1977 - Jan 1980

  Short Service Commission
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  Whitbread PLC

  Jan 1980 - Jan 2000

  Various Positions

  Charles career before 2000 was with Whitbread PLC, working in a variety of senior operations, development and commercial roles all with a marketing focus in the hotels and restaurants divisions

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  The Russell Partnership

  Jan 2001 - Jan 2009

  Partner
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  Quad Solutions

  Jan 2010 - Mar 2011

  Director

  Interim Director of Commercial Services at Staffordshire University

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  Ludlow Farm Shop

  Jan 2011 - now

  Non Executive Director

  Launched in 2007 Ludlow Farm Shop has strived to offer the best fresh, local, seasonal and handmade food. The Centre is set in the Earl of Plymouth’s Oakly Park Estate in Bromfield on the outskirts of Ludlow. All of our beef, lamb, and rare breed Gloucester Old Spot pork comes from the Estate along with a selection of fruit and vegetables from Lady Windsor’s Walled Garden. We understand the seasonality of British produce, the variety that is on offer throughout the year and we are committed to sourcing 80% of our produce and products from just four counties in Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Powys.The Ludlow Kitchen was opened in 2013 and provides an all day cafe to showcase the LFC's food in great surroundings.In 2014 the Clive Arms, a hotel with a good restaurant on the site was purchased and is now integrated into the LFC. The Clive Arms Hotel was refurbished in 2019 and offers 17 boutique bedrooms and a great restaurant & bar. Show less

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  Turpin Smale Catering Consultants

  Jan 2011 - now

  Director

  Catering & Conference Consultants - specialist and independent. The three Directors - Ian Doughty,Chris Brown, Charles Manners carry out all assignments. Sectors covered include: Visitor attractions and museums, conference and function venues, coffeeshops and restaurants, employee foodservice, clubs, cathedrals, palaces, festivals and shows, councils, universities, hospitals, garden centres and farm shops. Assignments include: Operational and strategic reviews, new build advice, getting from 'good' to 'great', cafe tours, catering tenders, benchmarking, strategic planning and advice on all matters concerning catering and conferencing. Improving sales, profitability and the customer experience. Show less

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  Hope Enterprises and Hope Centre

  Mar 2016 - now

  Non-Executive Director & Trustee

  Hope Enterprises is a social enterprise set up by Northampton’s Hope Centre, formerly Northampton Soup Kitchen, with more than 30 years’ experience working with the town’s homeless.Workshops enable our homeless clients to develop necessary skills to build their self-esteem as well as generate much needed funds to support our charitable work.Our service delivery has been about a ‘hand up’ not a ‘hand out’ provision and we challeng our clients to move away from a life living on margins of society. We encourage them to empower their lives, so that they can engage in main stream society as active members, and not as ‘hangers on’. Show less