The ingenuity of small businesses never ceases to amaze me. And when faced with a particular challenge, those with a social mission can always be relied on to come up with something that shows what the word innovation really stands for.

How many times does the word innovation get used, and in all honesty how many times is that word used for something that is far from innovative? However, there are occasions when innovative really can be used to describe how someone has overcome a challenge to produce something that has real impact.

I was attending an Ella Forum meeting at the Charles Burrell Centre in Thetford today. I don’t visit Thetford often, only because I have never had a real need to, however, I believe I will be visiting more often after today. The centre was set up in 2013 as a Community Benefit Society, I suggest you visit their website to learn more, but what I can tell you is in that time they have managed to house over forty organisations made up of a mixture of local charities and businesses.

“The centre was buzzing with activity

and the staff were constantly smiling”

The centre was buzzing with activity and the staff were constantly smiling. Old classrooms were now business premises, education rooms, art studios, newspaper offices and training rooms along with many other creative organisations. If that wasn’t enough to get the entrepreneurial juices flowing, I then discovered that an old boy’s toilet was now an amazing space for a local hat and clothes producer (urinals and toilets removed), and the swimming pool housed a printing company! The deep end was producing vinyl prints and the slope of the pool connected the assembly area.

“The old playground now accommodated

the cars for Hertz”

The old playground now accommodated the cars for Hertz, the area off that allowed for a social enterprise to help those with challenges using horticulture, and every now and then the air was filled with laughter from children from one of the two nurseries’. It really was a joy to behold. And to top it all off, lunch was a superb array of tapas served in the restaurant run by some lovely Portuguese people with huge smiles and incredible culinary skills.

So, my suggestion is next time you think of the word innovation, take a trip to the Charles Burrell Centre and see how it really works. And while you are there do yourself a huge favour and try the tapas.