A Morning Well Spent at The People Festival
I am writing this back at my desk in Shaftesbury, still buzzing from a brilliant morning at The People Festival 2026 at AFC Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium. Organised by Dorset Chamber as part of the Dorset Local Skills Improvement Plan, the event brought together employers, educators, training providers and business leaders to talk about something that really matters. How do we get more young people into meaningful work?
Sitting in the Champions Room and feeling like an imposter
I was invited to join a panel discussion in the aptly named Champions Room. I say aptly named because the people sitting alongside me were genuine champions in the education and employment space. Serious professionals who live and breathe this work every single day.
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If I am being honest, I felt a little like an imposter. I run a digital marketing agency. I am not an education specialist. But I think that is exactly why events like this work so well. The conversation was not just about policy or theory. It was about practical, real-world action. How do we create more opportunities for young people to experience genuine workplaces? How do we encourage more employers, especially smaller businesses, to open their doors and get involved? And how do we reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training?
These are not just statistics. They are real people, and in Dorset we have both the challenge and the opportunity to do something about it.
The Marsham Court Hotel and an inspiring conversation with Rosie
One of the highlights of my morning was sitting next to Rosie Radwell from the Marsham Court Hotel in Bournemouth. I have been visiting the Marsham Court for years, but I had no idea about the depth of work they do around inclusive employment.
The Marsham Court is a family-run, four-star hotel that has been owned and operated by the Dixon-Box family for over 37 years. Rosie, along with her brothers James and Russell, leads the business. What I did not fully appreciate until today is that the hotel is a Disability Confident Leader. They employ a significantly higher number of people with declared disabilities compared to the industry average. They work with organisations across the community to offer placements and real work experience for people who might otherwise be overlooked.
They have a Changing Places facility. They have a sensory room. They have fully accessible bedrooms with ceiling hoists and profiling beds. But it goes far beyond the physical environment. Accessibility and inclusion run through everything they do, from the way they recruit and train staff to the culture they have built across the entire team. They have even won the Cateys Award for Accessibility, which is often described as the Oscars of the hospitality industry.
Sitting next to Rosie and hearing her talk about this work was genuinely inspiring. She is the kind of person who does not shout about what they do. She just gets on with it. And the results speak for themselves.
Why this matters for all of us
The People Festival was not a talking shop. It was a room full of people who want to make Dorset a better place to work, learn and grow. The Dorset LSIP, led by Dorset Chamber, is doing important work in identifying what skills local employers actually need and shaping how training and education can respond to those needs. Events like today are where the connections happen that turn plans into action.
As Chairman of the Shaftesbury and District Chamber of Commerce, and as a business owner who employs people in Dorset, I left the Vitality Stadium feeling that I had spent my morning in exactly the right place. There is real energy behind the effort to get more young people into work, and I want to be part of that.
Thank you, and a note about chocolate
A sincere thank you to Dorset Chamber for putting on such a well-organised and genuinely useful event. Thank you to everyone who came along, contributed to the panels and engaged in the conversations. And a special thank you to whoever was responsible for the gift of far too many chocolates. They may not survive the afternoon.
If you are a Dorset employer and you are not yet involved with the LSIP or conversations like these, I would encourage you to get in touch with Dorset Chamber. Whether you can offer a work placement, an apprenticeship, or simply open your doors to a young person for a day, it all makes a difference.
The best bit about today? Being reminded that behind every statistic about youth unemployment, there are real people and real businesses doing extraordinary things. Rosie and the team at the Marsham Court Hotel are proof of that.
Jim is Brand Manager at Okapi & Co, a digital marketing agency based in North Dorset, and Chairman of the Shaftesbury and District Chamber of Commerce.