A NEW community interest company is launching to serve the Braintree district.

The Braintree District Foundation has been set up by founders Caroline Burrows-Wren and Joanne Beavis to help businesses in the district reconnect with people and communities in the area.

A community interest company is a social enterprise, regulated by the government, where profits are reinvested in local projects which will benefit residents.

The business has been running since November and has already help facilitate a huge project to spruce up Braintree and Bocking Public Gardens with the help of Tesco and Wyvale Garden Centres.

But on October 14, the foundation will officially launch at a ceremony in Braintree Town Hall.

Caroline Burrows-Wren said: "I used to run a company called Wren Consultancy and that was helping people that were disadvantaged with their IT skills and helping them to find employment.

“The company was very successful and I ran it for 15 years.

“Through that company I found out about the Gosfield Foundation and met Joanne Beavis.

“We wanted to do something for Braintree but we could not bring the foundation over from Gosfield into other areas, so we decided to set something up.”

The Gosfield Foundation is another community interest company that has among other things, donated cricket bats to young children, installed the new village zip-wire and even help set up the Gosfield Village Shop, with all profits being reinvested back into the community.

Former Braintree MP Brooks Newmark has also joined the Braintree Foundation as their president.

Mrs Burrows-Wren said: "We have not done this lightly, we have thought long and hard for about two years before setting it up.

"There is a community out there that does need help and we want to provide that help for them.

"It feels wonderful because we are not sitting around a table talking about it anymore we are actually doing it.

"We have made that commitment, and we have met some wonderful people."

The foundation is on the lookout for businesses who want to get more involved in their local community.

More information can be found on their Facebook page: http://bit.ly/2cV4F6r.