Unofficially celebrating 10 years of making a difference
On 10th December 2025, we marked 10 years since The Shoebox Enterprises CIC first came into existence – our unofficial birthday, before the “official” celebrations next year when we hit 10 years of actually doing the work.
Ten years ago, I was sat round my friend (and ex-youth work colleague) Sue Scott’s coffee table signing the documents to become a Community Interest Company. Back then we were Pop Up Enterprises CIC. Today we’re The Shoebox Enterprises CIC and so much has changed since that day.
It feels right to call this our unofficial anniversary, because it took about a year before we really got going. But that early stage still mattered. It was the period of slowly shifting from full-time employment to eventually finding the confidence to take the leap to work full-time on the social enterprise. I’m grateful for our very first £5k grant from the Breckland Youth Advisory Board, which supported a youth enterprise challenge in Thetford and helped get us started.
That project also took me through the doors of the Castle Meadow building – the place that would unexpectedly become our home soon after. At the time it was operated by The Missing Kind charity, who we worked alongside for a couple of years. Eventually, our work shifted from a focus on young people to a broader mission to bringing adults together and empowering them to lead fulfilling lives.
I was 28 when I began this journey, but I’d already been working since I was 15, so I’d earned a few grey hairs by then. I’ve always had the urge to create, try things, improve things, take risks and make a difference. Social entrepreneurship comes with a lot of uncertainty and a fair bit of making it up as you go along, so the support from organisations like The School for Social Entrepreneurs – and later from the people who joined the Shoebox team and community – made all the difference.
Because The Shoebox has never been about one person. It’s always been about the community that formed around it.
What we’ve achieved together
Because of you – our members, volunteers, customers, staff, board members and partners – we can now say we have:
- a thriving community of hundreds of members and volunteers in Norwich and Great Yarmouth
- a wide range of community and volunteer-led groups and activities that bring people together and make a real difference every day
- people telling us they feel more confident, more connected and more fulfilled
- no.1 ranking on Tripadvisor in Norwich for The Shoebox Experiences
- thousands of five-star reviews
- over 60,000 customers welcomed on our tours
- nurtured partnerships with councils, NHS, charities, social enterprises and local networks
- raised £52k through a Crowdfunder
- explored new ways of working alongside communities and gathering valuable insights to help improve outcomes for people and places
- an annual turnover now over £500k supporting our social mission
And recently, we secured £80k from The National Lottery Community Fund – a huge boost that will allow us to continue our Community Connector work for another year and to keep learning about how best to enable people to have more control over their communities.
It hasn’t always been easy
Many of you will remember that not long ago we were at risk of losing our home in Norwich after our landlord issued notice on our lease. Fortunately he later had a change of heart, but we’re still on a short-term lease and working hard to buy our building and secure our future. Hopefully next year is the year.
This past year has also been one of our toughest, with rising costs and reduced grants creating real pressure. But I’ve learnt you rarely have all the answers when you’re building something that matters. What keeps us going is the strength and determination of the people around us.
Thank you
Even though this is the unofficial milestone, it still feels important to pause and celebrate. Every member who has walked through our doors, every volunteer who has given their time, every staff member, every partner – you have shaped The Shoebox into what it is today.
We’ll raise a glass at our Christmas dos, and I hope many of you will join us to celebrate.
Here’s to the next decade of discovering, laughing and growing together.
Thank you for being part of The Shoebox.
Cheers 🥂
Tom Gaskin
Founder & CEO, The Shoebox Enterprises CIC
Photo gallery
Here’s a snippet of what we got up to over the last 10 years…
