I thought I would take a moment to share the background story behind Work Rest or Play (formerly known as the HD8 Network).
I – Merewyn Sayers – run another business – Sayers Solutions – marketing coaching, training and consultation.
Like many other business owners, I find myself travelling distances, outside of the area I live for work. I am passionate about the local economy yet I find myself working with customers and suppliers outside of this area, across the country.
Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to travel out of the area, if we didn’t want to?
The background story of Work Rest or Play, starts with the HD8 Network in April 2013.
To make connections and build my Sayers Solutions business, I am used to attending networking events. One evening I ventured over to an event in Brighouse, where I met at least 8 people from the HD8 area (which is quite a lot, as there was only 12 people in attendance!).
I joked to Keith Loveday, the guy running it – who also lived in the HD8 area – and said “why don’t you set up one where we live?” While driving home I thought ‘why don’t I do it?’.
There is a wonderful amount of amazing businesses and groups I come across through my work world.
One of the pinnacle people, who was also part of the background story of Work Rest or Play (and the HD8 Network) is Steph Walker from Delicious Media.
She was my sidekick, my go to gal, my extra bit of confidence at the beginning and in some respects still is to this day. She helped me plunge into the world of hosting networking events and also created our amazing website.
Without Steph this journey would never have been possible, at all.
I am forever and continually grateful to her.
It is unfortunate that she’s upped sticks and moved down south …. to Sheffield! …
However, if you want an amazing website built, Delicious Media are your team. They are incredibly busy but this is testament to their ingenious, intuitive intelligence when it comes to websites and the dedication they give to their clients.
In 2015, the HD8 Network went through a rebrand.
Initially all I wanted was a pop-up banner – to let people know they were at the right venue for our Meetups – and maybe some promotional leaflets.
As the HD8 Network hardly covers the costs of running the meetings, there was no money available to do this so, I looked to see if there was any grant money or other funding available.
I discovered a Kirklees Council initiative that provided me with strategic support. This led me to develop membership packages, changing the HD8 Network from a hobby into something more.
I invested some inheritance money and engaged with several suppliers from around the area. A terrific group effort brought together the website by Delicious Media, the CRM and respective softwares by Creative Analysis. Branding, including our amazing logo, by Nunu Creative and photographic images by John Steel which involved coordinating a photoshoot with potential members, a few “drive-by-shootings” to capture images of the area and many, many laughs and cups of tea.
We also ran a Business Show in 2015 … in Skelmanthorpe with the thanks to Think Forensic, it was AMAZING – Read what you thought of it
What you see today enabled Work Rest or Play to be created
The HD8 Network grew from monthly networking events and social media accounts; to providing an online events calendar, directory listing and news page all found on our website, alongside pages for each village in the area, with descriptions, facts and figures and other information, highlighting specific events and organisations in the village.
In 2025 we rebranded to Work Rest or Play
The decision to rebrand was taken over many years. There were many obstacles and misunderstanding that we weren’t able to overcome. After spending some time with HD8 Network Community Members for a local high school student’s work experience video project, we understood that there seemed to be resistance with community groups about becoming Members, they were wary what they were signing up for – when we explained ‘advertising’ they got it, barriers came down – particularly when we highlighted that it was free for them.
We also received some criticism from members about the lack of engagement from their fellow members, and we looked at why people sign up and on the whole what did they want. Whilst membership and supporting each other was interesting, what everyone is wanting is to promote and advertise their business, non profit or event.
So our customers are now referred to as Advertisers, instead of Members
We want to retain the support and collaboration aspect more than anything and that’s why we have created our new Help Desk platform, giving Advertisers the opportunity and space to connect and use their advertising benefits and features, alongside their fellow advertisers.
Work Rest or Play offers three levels of packages (Gold, Silver & Bronze) to organisations who want to promote themselves locally. The packages provide several options to reach more people and raise awareness of their organisation in the local area.
We also offer two Types of membership – Business or Silver – essentially they are the same, but just different price points. It is thanks to paying business members, that we are able to subsidise the cost for community groups, charities and event – they truly make our community bountiful and beautiful. Its the right thing to do if we are really supporting local communities.
We also found that people would exclude themselves because they weren’t based in the HD8 postcode, even if they were in the neighbouring village – which shared the postcode!
The rebrand alleviates our geographical boundaries
Whilst local is still important to us, we realise that the rest of the West Yorkshire, the wider UK and potentially even globally, communities could be positively impacted by access to our platform. We know this because we are told all the time from people outside the area. “Ow something like that by us would be great!”.
We continue to manage a number of different social media communities. Predominately on Facebook – our groups are active supportive communities – however you can also join in our conversations on Instagram, Linkedin and TikTok (we decided to drop Twitter/X, but would love to hear where you are hanging out and if we should have a presence there too!) Find out more here – https://www.workrestorplay.co.uk/contact-us/social-media-communities/
So this is the background story of how the HD8 Network was created and became Work Rest or Play.
What is your background story? How can we help you tell your story?
We have a news section and social media platforms available for you to use.
What would you like to tell people and what would you like to hear?
We always want to hear your stories – they are what makes the world go round, so chat to us.
Would you like to be part of the future of Work Rest or Play?