Be Inspired And Unlock Your Creative Flair At The National Franchise Exhibition

The growth in franchising in the UK has increased by 46% over the past 10 years according to the BFA / Natwest survey. Like many others, if you are looking to take control of your working life and want to find out more about what a franchise is and how it could work for you, come along to the National Franchise Exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham. Opening times are Friday 19th February 10am – 5pm and Saturday 20th  February 10am – 4pm.

The Creation Station at the National Franchise Exhibition

Click for directions and to download your complimentary ticket.

The UK’s leading children’s arts & crafts activity franchise, The Creation Station is running the kidszone. You are welcome to bring the children and be inspired together.

There’s lots of hands on fun to get those ideas flowing. Check out the ‘Make a Monster’ modelling competition at the kidszone. The two minute challenge involves drawing or modelling your own monster and is open to children and adults alike!

Upload your creations to The Creation Station facebook page with #creationstation 

Children’s designs can be uploaded to The Creation Station ltd #MonsterMeHotel2 for a chance to win a ‘Hotel Tranyslvania 2’ book signed by one of the prestigious Sony animation team.

Grown up designs can be uploaded to The Creation Station ltd Facebook with #creationstation for a chance to win a £25.00 Creation Station craft hamper.

The Creation Station franchise provides hands on, educational children’s arts & crafts classes, parties and events. With the squeeze on creativity in schools, demand continues to increase for their award winning creative experiences. 97 people already run their own Creation Station franchise across the UK and in Southern Ireland. To find out if your area is available and to request an information pack click here.

Come along and chat with The Creation Station crew on stand LC50 to find out more about gaining the flexibility, success and freedom you are looking for you and for a bit of creative inspiration.
For more information about The Creation Station visit www.thecreationstation.co.uk or contact Amber on: 01395 239700 or email hello@thecreationstation.co.uk.

Winners Of The Best Creation Station Franchise Awards Announced At The 14th Annual Inspiring Imaginations Conference.

The Creation Station Franchisees

Franchise owners from across the UK gathered at The Arden Hotel for the 14th annual Creation Station national franchise conference. The day provided all franchise owners the opportunity to network, and discover new developments, innovations and product launches from Creative Hub head quarters, at Inspiration House, Woodbury, Devon.

“Our franchise conference is by far the best day of our year” smiles Fran Long, The Creation Station dedicated franchise support manager. “Our network has a really strong family and community feel, so when we get together it’s a hugely positive and supportive day.”

Ruth Churchill Dower Our Inspirational Guest Speaker

The conference included the inspirational guest speaker, Ruth Churchill Dower Director of Earlyarts. Ruth delivered an engaging session on the science and benefits of creativity. There were also ‘Pearls Of Wisdom’ sessions delivered by franchise owners to share their top tips with the network.

Every year franchise owners who have contributed to their community or made significant developments in their business are recognized at The Creation Station Best Franchise Awards.

“Our franchise owners make such positive contributions to their local community and really help children and families to be creative and have fun together” said Sarah Cressall, Founder and Managing Director. ”I am really proud of the differences our network are making, so judging the awards is really tough. Each year our franchise owners are becoming more and more successful and the calibre is really high.”

Franchisees Celebrating The 14th Annual Conference

The following awards were presented;

 

• The prestigious title of the “Best Franchisee of the Year 2016” was awarded to Penny Gilbert from Oxford for delivering the core values with such passion to her local community.
• The prestigious title of “Best New Franchisee of the Year 2016” was awarded to Jann Thorpe from Manchester for a phenomenal first year.
• The prestigious title of “The People’s Choice Award” chosen by the network was awarded to Kevin Kerridge from North West Leicester for the second year.
• Additional awards were given out for outstanding actions, these included;“Best Member of Staff” was awarded to Melanie Anstee, who works for Louise Richardson in Fareham.
• “Best Retailer” was awarded to Rebecca Dickinson from Faversham.
• “Best Can Do Attitude” was won by Claire Darnley from Halesowen.
• “Best  Photo” was won by Kevin Kerridge from Leicester.

 

Jann Thorpe Wins “Best New Franchisee” Award

 

Claire Darnley Wins “Best Can Do Attitude” Award

 

Penny Gilbert “Best Franchisee Of The Year” Award

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional awards included the prestigious gold pin award for inspiring over 6000 children in one year, awarded to;

Ruth Morris Wins ” Inspiring 6000 Children” Award

• Ruth Morris from Aberdeen.

The prestigious silver awarded for inspiring over 3000 child in a year was awarded to;

• Claire Darnley from Halesowen and Nicki Smith from Bath.

The bronze award for inspiring 1000 children ina year was awarded to;

• Abbie Melia from Wakefield South, Alice Simpson from Devon, Anna Dickson from Cornwall, Anna Quinn from Bradford , Carol Jackson from Reading, Deepa Robinson from Bracknell, Emma White from Weybridge, Faye Williams from Cardiff West, Fiona Burn from Portsmouth, Gemma Gough, Jann Thorpe, Julia Scoble, Kevin Kerridge, Kirsty Hickson, Lisa Hagg from Bournemouth, Liz Cairns from South Ayrshire, Louise Richardson from Fareham, Melanie Dawson from Surrey, Sara le Roux from Penistone, Sarah Ekins from Spalding, Suzie Smith from Grantham, Penny Gilbert from Oxford, Nicole Norman from Stevanage and Rachel Simpson from Nottingham.

Behind the scenes photographs from the event can be seen on The Creation Station Facebook. 

5 Year Service Award Winners

We look forward to continuing to nurture creativity and inspire children and families across the UK and in Southern Ireland.

For more information on your local Creation Station visit www.thecreationstation.co.uk

For more information on running your own successful Creation Station franchise request a free information pack. For more information contact Maggie Seager on 01395 349462 or email maggie@thecreationstation.co.uk.

 

Finalists announced for The Creation Station Franchisee of the Year 2016

Franchise owners from across the UK are gathering in Birmingham on Saturday 6th February for the ‘Release The Creation Station Magic’ 14th annual conference in Birmingham.

The day will deliver many magical moments including an inspirational talk from a surprise guest speaker and advice on how every franchise owner can develop and grow their inspiring business. Highlights of the day include the interactive shared best practice called ‘Pearls of Wisdom’, the launch of some new and exciting initiatives and the Best Franchise Awards.

Sarah Cressall founder and Managing Director said “The number of entrants for the Best Franchise Awards has been greater than ever. We have a positive and inspiring network who are proactively helping parents and organisations to inspire children imaginations and nurture creativity.”

There are a range of award categories: Franchisee of the Year 2016, Best New Franchisee 2016 and The People’s Choice Award, Best Member of Staff, Best Can Do Attitude and Best Retailer.

 

The following Creation Station franchise owners have been shortlisted for Franchisee of the Year: Sue Hammond from Bristol, Kirsty Hickson operating in Driffield, Jenny Farmer from Newton Abbot, Nicki Smith who runs the Creation Station in Bath, Melanie Dawson from Wimbledon, Penny Gilbert from Oxford, Claire Darnley operating in Halesowen and Ruth Morris from Aberdeen.

The following Creation Station franchise owners have been shortlisted for the Best New Franchisee; Alex Chaundy from Eastbourne, Jann Thorpe who inspires imaginations in Macclesfield, Rebecca Dickinson from Faversham, Kirstie Ireland who runs the Creation Station in the Orkney Islands and Rebecca Wootton from Ash.

The short list for the People’s Choice award as voted for by the Creation Station network of franchise owners are Sara le Roux, Kevin Kerridge, Emma Theunissen, Kirsty Hickson, Penny Gilbert, Sue Hammond and Nicole Norman. These member of the network have all gone above and beyond, lending valuable help and support to their fellow franchise owners.

The nominees for the Best Can Do Attitude are Jenny Farmer, Louise Richardson, Suzie Smith, Claire Darnley, Tracey Pennell and Ruth Longrigg, who have all dealt with challenges that arise in the world of business with a fantastic and inspiring attitude.

The winners of the above awards and for Best Member of Staff and Best Retailer, will be announced at the award ceremony at 3.30pm at the ‘Release The Creation Station Magic’ conference. Huge congratulations to all those shortlisted for reaching the final stage of this prestigious award.

Reviewing my priorities bought me back to my dream of working with children.

My desire to work with children has brought me full circle, and now I have more control over my family time and working week.

Rebecca Dickinson changed the desk job to work with children as a Childminder and as her own children grew, she decided to take her passion for working with children into a new direction and run her own rewarding and successful Creation Station franchise.

“I had spent the last 10 years working behind  computer desks in a variety of customer service related roles but none of these remotely touched on my passion of working with children.

Before I went to university I had loved working with children; as a dance teacher, swimming teacher and holiday play scheme leader. I’m not sure when my career took such a dramatic and unfulfilled turn, but things changed when my husband got offered a job in Kent and we relocated. .

The ideal time to make a change

With two amazing children, my eldest’ Joseph was about to start school. Now was the ideal time to make a change, to go back to working with children and to find an opportunity to be there for my family.

My Mum had run her own dance school and I had grown up in the privileged position of having a Mum who worked hard and was still able to attend my school plays, assemblies, sports days and to help out on school trips.

I wanted to be there for my family like my wonderful mum had been for me.

I decided to become an Ofsted Registered Childminder, I was finally back working with children!

I loved the work; nurturing and educating the children, building amazing relationships with them and their families, getting creative and inspiring the children with arts and crafts. I was even able to go to all my son’s plays, assemblies and sports days (with a buggy full of children). But the paperwork Ofsted required me to complete and the hoops they expected me to jump through as a Childminder left no time for family life. I was looking after children eleven hours a day and then once I had put my two to bed I would spend most evenings writing reports and planning.

I was constantly exhausted both mentally and physically, my home was looking more and more like a nursery filled with toys my own children had out grown and was covered in labels and posters Ofsted expected me to have displayed.

I had loved being a Childminder, but by the time my daughter started school I knew I needed to make another change. Just what that change was? I wasn’t sure.

Whilst pondering my career future I went to the Child Care Expo in London. Hoping for a ‘pick me up’ and to be re-inspired as a Childminder and I attended a number of workshops on that day. The last workshop I attended was about easy and inspiring arts and crafts for young children and I was inspired! The workshop was run by Sarah Cressall, owner and founder of The Creation Station. Afterwards I spoke to Sarah to thank her for such a great workshop, we got chatting about the classes The Creation Station run and the franchises they award. This struck a chord with me and I spent the train ride home reading everything I could find online about The Creation Station and the pros and cons of buying a franchise. The numerous awards that The Creation Station Ltd and Sarah personally had won were reassuring and reading about the experiences of the other franchise holders sealed it for me. At 9:30 am on the following Monday I was on the phone to The Creative Hub (a.k.a. the head office of The Creation Station Ltd) having a Discovery Chat and booking on to a Discovery Morning.

It needed to be right for me and my family

At this stage it was all about finding out information; what was The Creation Station really like and about, would it suit me and would I be a good fit? I did my research and spoke to my family and then went along to the Discovery Morning with my husband, children, a close family friend and a list of questions. By this stage I was already pretty much sure that The Creation Station was what I had been looking for but the Discovery Morning was a great opportunity to meet some of the existing franchise holders, for my husband to get reassurance about how the figures worked and to see if my children could be inspired by the demonstration class. We left that morning with me convinced, my husband fully on board and to the ringing chorus of my children asking if they can go to The Creation Station every weekend!

I am now 6 months into my Creation Station journey. I attended the comprehensive training in April and launched The Creation Station Kent, Faversham in July. It has been hard work and at times I have wondered if I have done the right thing, but I have now got classes established, Family Fun sessions that are selling out, Create Club running successfully in two schools with interest from other local schools and I have also made great retail links with one of the local Universities.

I have far more support than I ever had as a Childminder

Things are starting to fall into place nicely. The support from The Creative Hub and the other franchise holders has been phenomenal, I am part of an amazingly supportive and creative ‘family’. Owning our own territories means that we are not in competition and rather than being competitors these other franchise holders are my mentors, always full of advice, support, on-line hugs and cheer.

My house is no longer full of Ofsted labels, posters and out grown toys, instead it is full of glitter, paint and paper, this is something we can definitely live with! My children’s own creativity and love of arts and crafts has flourished, my husband is still incredibly supportive and I have come full circle.

I am once again working with children and running my own successful  business but with lots of support . I am constantly stepping outside my comfort zone and with the help of my Creation Station family, I am achieving things I never thought I would even attempt.

I’ve grown in so many ways and feel very excited about my future

I am a successful business women, making links with the community, promoting and marketing myself and my business but most importantly I am also balancing my family life, attending school events and finding quality time for my own children”.

Rebecca Dickinson – Owner of The Creation Station Kent, Faversham

If you would like to find out about Rebecca’s classes parties and events visit here

or email rebeccadickinson@thecreationstation.co.uk.

To find out about running your own Creation Station franchise request your free info pack.

Creation Station Celebrates 13 Years Of Inspiring Imaginations

“It’s been 13 years since I started Creation Station and apart from a good excuse to eat cake! It naturally brings some reflection.  Which I’d love to share with you;

We’ve been really fortunate to have helped inspire over 170,000 children and families, we deliver approx  1000 creative experiences each week for children aged 6 months to 11 years. We do this through our award winning Baby Discover, Little Explorer and Family Fun Classes, Birthday Parties, Out of School Clubs and Events. We lead a team of over 100  fantastic  Creation Station franchise owners and now have a store of over 13,000 art & crafts products. We also have a really great team at Creative Hub.

It’s much bigger now than I dreamt, and I do believe the success of The Creation Station is due to the wonderful children families, partners and hard working franchise owners and awesome team at Creative Hub.

“Creativity is so important for children to explore, discover and develop their own potential. It encourages so many important skills as well as problem solving, thinking and self esteem” says Sarah Cressall founder of the Creation Station “As a society  we don’t provide for this, schools and parents don’t have the time, yet is it fundamental in order for our children to blossom and develop. We can’t teach our children everything, we don’t know what the future holds, we need to teach them how to learn, think and discover, this is what creativity helps to develop. ”

So from a very special teenager – here ‘s to inspiring imaginations!”

Sarah Cressall

Founder & Muma of The Creation Station

E; sarah@thecreationstation.co.uk

T; 01395 239700

www.thecreationstation.co.uk

Winner Entrepreneur of the year 2013

Finalist Business Woman Of The Year 2012

Winner Best Woman Franchisor UK 2011 – EWIF Awards

Winner Best Franchisee Marketing Support 2012

Winner ‘Crème de la Crème’ Business Award 2011

Winner ‘Best Interactive Business’ Award – Mumprenuer 2011

Finalist ‘Extraordinary Woman of the Year’ 2011

Business Woman of the Year 2009 – Women of Achievement Awards Leicestershire

Discover more about running your own franchise and bring along the whole family for some fun activities

Are you looking for a new challenge?

At the National Franchise Exhibition you can find a range of opportunities to help you discover a flexible and rewarding, family friendly franchise and inspire your child at the same time. The Creation Station will be running the Kids Zone, helping everyone enjoy their day and providing free creative activities.

Come and find us at the Kids Zone and discover how you can be your own boss with the support of an established award winning children’s activity franchise. Meet some of our franchise owners and members of the Head Office team and find out what it’s really like to run your own fun and rewarding children’s activity business.

For more details about the Creation Station click here.

The Franchise Exhibition will be held at Birmingham NEC 

Friday 2nd October: 10:00 – 17:00
Saturday 3rd October: 10:00 – 16:00

Interested in coming to the event? Contact us for FREE Tickets.

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Listen in to a webinar on ‘What it’s like to run your own Creation Station franchise’

Four Creation Station franchise owners, Rebecca Dickinson, Kirsty Hickson, Melanie Jeffries, Coralie Huson and founder Sarah Cressall ran a live webinar to talk about what it’s like to run your own franchise.

Questions where submitted from people who had signed up to attend the live webinar, these where answered at the end of the live web meeting.

Here is the recording, it lasts 1 hour so grab a cuppa and listen in.

>> Listen Here

If you have any questions or would like any more information please pop your details in the form below and Maggie will get back to you. To find out the date of the next discovery event click here.

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Don’t forget to vote

The awards ran by ‘What’s on 4 little ones’, are open to the very best activities, classes, days out and party providers for young families and children across the UK. We are proud to have a number of franchisees up for regional awards for ‘Most Outstanding Activity Leader for the Under 5s.’ “It is fantastic that our franchisees are receiving recognition for the amazing work they do. We have a positive and inspiring network who are proactively helping parents and organisations to inspire children imaginations and nurture creativity all across the UK and Ireland,” says Sarah Cressall, Founder and Managing Director of The Creation Station.

Voting closes on the 1st May so only a few days left to make your vote count.

To vote for The Creation Station visit What’s On 4 Little Ones and select The Creation Station from the drop down menu under:

• Most Outstanding Activity Leader for the Under 5s – South/West & Wales/East/N.Ireland & Scotland

To find out more about The Creation Station and the fun and creative baby and toddler development activities in your area visit The Creation Station Ltd Facebook or www.thecreationstation.co.uk

How to do, what you want to do…

One of the the many reasons I love being my own boss is having the flexibility to be able to take 3 weeks to be with my family and also to return back to do something I love.

Our core values are about inspiring children’s imagination and our team of truly inspiring franchise owners and our Creative hub team, really help to make this become a reality.

We help inspire thousands of children and families  with classes, clubs,  parties and events – but it’s the difference to each individual child that really matters.

I saw this lovely enquiry the other day sent to one of our franchise owners  asking to  go on a waiting list  as  her baby was due in 5 months.  The feedback from what we do is spreading which is really lovely.

It’s good to have a purpose and to work to make a difference  and at the same time to be able to prioritise what is important in your own life.

If you want to find out more whether this opportunity could be right for you – come along to the next free Discovery event:

24^th Jan in Guildford  9.30am – 1.30pm

28^th Feb in Wolverhampton  10.30-2.30pm

– simply email maggie@thecreationsttaion.co.uk to find  more – or book online here  

Here’s to inspiring futures,

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah Cressall

P.S.  You can  find our more by watching what happens at a Discovery Event by clicking here 

National Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2013 award is scooped by Sarah Cressall founder of The Creation Station

With a passion to inspire children’s imaginations and support others to run their own rewarding and flexible business, Sarah Cressall established The Creation Station and has achieved the National Entrepreneur Award 2013.

The event was hosted by the Founder of The Venus Awards, Tara Howard together with the Devon Regional Partner, Celia Delaney. The sponsors of Entrepreneur of the year were
Bisphop Flemming, a leading UK charted accountancy firm committed to providing businesses, and individual clients, with the full range of pro-active support and advice.

“I was pretty amazed to win this award. There are so many brilliant business owners out there doing really great things, so I was truly amazed and very delighted! However, I’d like to dedicate this award to a group of really amazing people and they are our Creation Station franchise owners who deliver truly inspiring experiences right across the UK.  As a team we’ve been able to help inspire over 105,000 children and families that we’ve had the privilege to meet through our classes, parties and events.

Sarah Cressall Founder of The Creation Station wins the Venus National Entrepreneur of the Year Award, sponsored by Bishop Fleming.

My big thanks go to my wonderful husband Duncan,  my three boys Sam Ollie and Josh, and my very supportive team at Creative Hub. I am eternally grateful to the years of ongoing support from my very talented sister Fran Long and I have been amazed at the kindness and commitment shown by the very lovely sponsors Bishop Fleming. It couldn’t have happened without the very fabulous Celia Delaney and Tara Howard. So thank you.

I’d love to send my huge congratulations and thanks to all those who were involved in the awards and especially the fantastic runners up for the National Entrepreneur of the Year award;  Nicky McCrudden from the excellent training company McCrudden Training and Jane Dyke founder of the hugely successful nursery chain Yellow Dot Nurseries. 

Our huge congratulations goes out it to all the other winners a total inspiration to us all:

Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Jemma Cooper – HI Therapies (Dorset)
New Business: Denise Buchan – Classis Consulting (Brighton)
Green Business: Cathy Debenham – YouGen Ltd (Devon)
Online Business: Belinda Poore – Bellacrafts (Southampton)
Small Business: Rachel Boyle – ABC Magazine (Brighton)
PA of the Year: Lisa McKenzie – Autism Wessex (Dorset)
Inspirational Woman: Christine Tebano – Parent support link (Southampton)
Home Based Business: Samantha Acton – Domestic Angels (Dorset)
Networker of the Year: Jane Hames – Glide Training Ltd (Brighton)
Lifetime Achievement: Tina Wellman-Hawke – The Dave Wellman Cancer Trust (Southampton)
High Achiever: Michelle Tatner – Dutton Gregory (Dorset)
Employee of the Year: Ebony Butler – Beales Gourmet (Dorset)
Employer of the Year: Mariam Badavi – Purity Boutique Spa Limited (Devon)
Business Mother: Emma Sheldon – Choice in care (Southampton)
Social Entrepreneur of the Year: Monica Norley – Visionary Soap Company (Brighton)
Outstanding Achiever: Tricia Walker (Dorset)

Isn’t is amazing what you can achieve with a bit of inspiration and no doubt a fair amount of perspiration too! It’s been my privilege and a  great honor to be part of this.

So for anyone thinking about pursuing their dream…  don’t hold back – if we can – you can!

Here’s to inspiring futures,

Love

Sarah Cressall

For more information about The Creation Station please visit ww.thecreationstation.co.uk For more information about Bishop Fleming services visit www.bishopfleming.co.uk. To find out more about the Venus award visit www.venusawards.co.uk