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TODAY is the day that this year’s Hidden City festival is launched in Plymouth – and Sandie Ferrar is one of the brains behind it. The city businesswoman, from Plymouth artist-led Part Exchange Co, is one of the key people organising the festival.

The event, which will take place in September, will unveil areas of Plymouth relatively few locals know about in the quest to uncover not just interesting places and stories – but artistic talent too.
Sandie reckons it is only fair that she ‘uncovers her story to the people and the city she is seeking to engage with’. In other words, she loves Plymouth and its people and she’s looking forward to the forthcoming festival.

Sandie Ferrar and her fellow directors Rachel Aspinwall and Ruth Mitchell at the newly formed Part Exchange Co are about to launch the ambitious project to ‘awaken the spirit and inspire involvement in order to create inward investment, new companies and an entrepreneurial culture in Plymouth’. The vehicle for this vision is the Hidden City Festival, a series of cultural events in ‘hidden’ areas of Plymouth from September 29 to October 5.
She said: “We chose Plymouth because we wanted the city to look at itself differently.
“It is a place that people should be proud of and we felt a wind of change sweeping through the city and a desire to market itself both inside and outside the region for economic progress.
“For us, we want to play a part in this process by getting people to see the city’s rich heritage and help Plymouth regenerate itself culturally – the economic spin offs from this are massive.”
And Sandie should know.

Originally from a working class background in Coventry, Sandie was quick to discover an unusual talent for art, social justice and numbers. She said: “At the age of six or seven I was organising kids in our street for charitable events.“I was always drawn to those who were disadvantaged and was determined to raise funds for them.“I guess my ticketing skills came to the fore at an early age!”

Sandie Ferrar’s strong work ethic and appreciation of social justice stemmed from her parents who moved to the Midlands from Glasgow in the late 1950s to work in car factories.
They also stemmed from her entrepreneurial grandmother, who sold secondhand clothes – so many, in fact, that she earned enough to build her own house, despite the fact the she couldn’t read or write.

After attending a ‘great girl’s school led by an inspirational headmistress’, Sandie left school at 16-years-old and followed her parents into the automotive industry at British Leyland.
She joined British Leyland’s special projects division and trained as a cost and management accountant. From there she decided to seek a change from the industry and joined FedEx working firstly at their UK hub and later out of Brussels. During her time there she was part of the project team tasked with rationalising the company’s UK operation which established modern day operations. In other words, gaining tremendous experience in crunching numbers and business modelling. She said: “It was at FedEx that I first got to know how powerful corporate social responsibility could be.“This was the early 90s and they had a huge commitment to it.
“At the time they encouraged their employees to get involved with community projects.”

It was at this time Sandie realised that – with the right focus and structure, which was often lacking in the voluntary sector – community projects could fly.
With this new-found understanding of the sector, she got in contact with the Council for Voluntary Services in Coventry who worked with over 200 organisations in the city.
She said: “I looked closely at their cost accounting and structured it in line with funding.
“I helped them to develop a more businesslike outlook and, as a result, strengthened their balance sheets by several million.”
Sandie enjoyed the experience to such an extent that she left FedEx to set up her own consultancy – which gave her the opportunity to spend more time with her sons, who are now 19 and 22-years-old.

She said: “It was a great time for me because I could enjoy seeing my boys grow up and combine that with giving something back to the voluntary sector.”
It was during that time that Sandy got in front of many of the organisations affiliated to the Council for Voluntary Services.
From 1994 until 2002 she worked with literally hundreds of charitable and not for profit organisations, adding several millions of pounds to their bank accounts through better accounting and costing systems and helping them to get more organised. In Sandie’s words – ‘creating a businesslike culture in those charities and in doing so, stability through stronger balance sheets’.
Her flair in the sector didn’t go unnoticed and, as a result, she was approached by Business Link in Coventry and Warwickshire to head up their work with the charitable and not for profit sector.
Her next position started her journey to the South West, where she took up the role of Director of Operations for Business Link Somerset.

After a few years and a brief sojourn as a director of a software company in the Midlands, she met her now husband Stephen and ventured even further into the region by moving to the edges of Dartmoor.

Sandie helps Stephen run the family business - a small industrial estate - near to their home in the Teign Valley within Dartmoor National Park.
Shortly after settling into her new surroundings, she responded to an advert placed by Creative Partnerships and, once there, met a woman by the name of Rachel Aspinwall - an accomplished theatre director. Shortly afterwards, Rachel introduced her to Ruth Mitchell, an eminent actress, and together, they outlined their idea of the Hidden City Festival to Sandie. All three believed passionately in being at the heart of cultural regeneration in Plymouth and Part Exchange Co was born. Their first major project is the inaugural Hidden City Festival.

Sandie said: “We want to put the spotlight on Plymouth and drive cultural tourism into the city.
“The key venues for the festival have been specifically selected for the important part they have played in Plymouth’s cultural and economic heritage so our chosen sites all tell a story.
“The official launch is today at The Royal William Yard’s Cooperage.
“We will unveil places in Catherine Street and Finewell Street and reveal their historical significance in terms of worship and public health.
“We have held ‘inspire days’ where local people have come in and told their stories and artists have captured this interaction with the past.”

Further events during the festival, which is backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Plymouth City Council and Arts Council England, will see a floating poetry venue, walks and talks – ‘twalks’ – by local experts and celebrities encompassing some of the most historic buildings in Plymouth.
The last weekend of the festival will be a ‘best of the fest’ with key performances taking place along with a VIP party for sponsors, supporters and key contributors.

So what does The Part Exchange Company want from the Hidden City Festival?
Sandie Ferrar said: “We really hope to increase ownership of this fabulous city by getting everyone to feel proud and look at it in a different light.”
And, looking ahead, what does the company want to achieve?

Sandie said: As an arts and social enterprise, our commitment is to reinvest all profits into the continued development and showcasing of local talent through future Hidden City festivals and other events in the cultural calendar. This will help us to grow and who knows, maybe one day; achieve the magic £1 million turnover.

“To do that, we need to increase our profile as a strategic beacon for emerging writers and artists and be at the heart of cultural regeneration in Plymouth.
“If we can do that, we will play a tangible part in driving income into the city.”
For more information on how you can get involved with the Hidden City festival visit the www.hiddencityfestival.org.uk website.

SNAPSHOT
Sandy Ferrar
Age: 47
Lives: Christow, Teign Valley
Family: Husband Stephen and sons Luke and Mark
Hobbies: Walking and nature, old movies and anything art
First Car: Mini
Current Car: Ford KA
Last book: Isabella di Medici
Last film: Caramel – story of 4 lebanese women
Last holiday: Renaissance Italy
Business heroes: Anita Roddick, Joseph Rowntree
Words of wisdom: “Be daring, be first, be different, be just...”  Anita Roddick