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                                      MEMBERS NEWS

• GEO JOURNEYS NAVIGATE TO SUCCESS

This time last year I realised I wanted to leave Primary Teaching and set up a business. I knew it would be school or teaching related (almost a recession proof market) and something outdoorsy as I love walking and the countryside.

Then I read something about Geocaching (treasure hunting with a GPS unit) and the idea for Geo Journeys came together.

At this point, Carl, a long time friend and financial adviser, joined me and we set up a partnership with help from Be Enterprising in the form of a business grant.

We were able to get up and running very quickly as our outgoings were low and we didn’t need a premises. We began to work in schools, delivering an educational programme which was based in the classroom and the locality of the school. Our educational programmes continue to grow and we have been into a number of County Durham schools and a few in Sunderland. 

Gradually we realised the potential for Geocaching with businesses as a team building/problem solving day and something we could use to boost self esteem and confidence amongst various social groups.

The Geocaching activities can be cooperative (our code cracker activities) or competitive (team time challenges) or both depending upon the needs of the group. Geocaching is very enjoyable for people of all ages. Most people like to walk and enjoy our rural sites and we combine the natural setting with activities which are tailored towards the group in terms of physical challenge and mental stimulation. You also pick up some pretty useful navigational skills to boot!

To find out more you can visit our website www.geojourneys.co.uk or email keiron@geojourneys.co.uk

• A Year of Success!

Helen McDougall HR Consultancy and Training is one year old. The company specialises in providing down to earth business advice and practical solutions to personnel issues.

Helen wanted to put her extensive experience and qualifications to good use. She explains, “Having worked for 11 years as business consultant with a large firm I was looking for a new challenge. The result was that in April 2009 I left the company I was working for and in May 2009 started my own business – and so opened a new chapter in my life.”

Helen recalls, “Your business plan is your anchor, its keeps you grounded. You know your profession inside out and you can have a great idea but a business plan reveals just how realistic your ambitions are. I based my workflow projections on an analysis of the market, on my experience of trends and demands and was conservative in my assessment. As it turned out, I had greatly underestimated the demand for my services.”

“I feel I have come such a long way in a short time but there are so many other things I have yet to do – the possibilities of extending the business and the range of quality services offered is a really exciting prospect.  It has been a great learning curve, one that I threw myself into and one that I want to continue”.

In assessing her first year in business Helen says, “There is a real sense of being in control of your own destiny and this brings into sharp focus the importance of personal responsibility and exceptional customer service.”

Already for 2010/2011, there is a real sense of momentum, especially in relation to the company’s HR consultancy work. Helen says “I’m a perfectionist by nature and uncompromising on quality so I’ve set my standards high in terms of what I deliver to my clients and wouldn’t have it any other way.”

• WILLOWS WEEP ON 21ST BIRTHDAY

Days before a local Hospice, Willow Burn, celebrated its 21st birthday thieves struck a devastating blow to the fundraising activities due to take place.  Margaret Toberty, Fundraising and Marketing Manager arrived at Willow Burn’s storage facility (on loan to us from a local business) to discover that thieves had struck over the bank holiday weekend and had stolen the majority of the generously donated items that were due to be raffled at the birthday celebrations.  The Fundraising team approached local businesses that were able to help save the day so that the event could still go ahead otherwise the party may have had to have been cancelled.  Businesses that rallied round to replace the stolen donations were, Tesco Stores in Annfield Plain and Consett, Elddis Transport, Delves Lane, Consett, AquaJoy Bathlifts Ltd, Consett, Lanchester Wines, Greencroft and local community groups.

Sadly the theft of these donated items will also have a huge impact on forthcoming events such as our Summer Fair on the 24th July as many of the stolen items were also raffle and tombola prizes to be used at this event.  Both of which are big fundraising stalls for Willow Burn.

If you can help and have any new but unwanted gifts and are willing to donate them to Willow Burn to help raise funds for this vital cause please contact Angela Lowes on 01207 523295 or alowes@willowburnhospice.org.uk or Margaret Toberty on 01207 523299 or mtoberty@willowburnhospice.org.uk

• Elddis £20m Contract Extension

Elddis Transport has secured a contract renewal with SCA Hygiene (UK) Limited to the end of 2013 worth in excess of £20 million

The contract includes both the delivery of finished goods throughout the UK from SCA’s state of the art automated warehouse in Prudhoe, and the collection of around 100,000 tonnes of waste paper each year for recycling at SCA’s Unifibres plant. In total Elddis will manage over 20,000 movements each year as part of the deal.

Elddis will utilise its High-Cube fleet of trailers which were developed in conjunction with SCA and provide up to 20% better load fill than standard high curtain trailers.

Nigel Cook, Elddis MD, says “This is great news for Elddis, and continues the long standing relationship we have had with SCA”

Simon Price, UK Transport Manager at SCA Hygiene, says “Elddis have consistently exceeded our expectations, while providing the flexibility and service levels our customers demand”

Note to editors: Elddis Transport is one of the UK’s leading logistics providers, offering road transport, warehousing and supply chain management. It is a family firm based in Consett, Durham. Its fleet comprises 430 vehicles and trailers with seven depots in the UK.

SCA are the largest consumer tissue manufacturer in Europe. Their popular brands include Velvet, Quilted, Cushelle, Plenty, Bodyform and Tena. SCA had annual sales in excess of 10billion euros in 2009 and employs around 50,000 staff with production facilities in 40 countries.

• Million Maker Challenge

Derwentside Enterprise Agency is looking for team members to take part in the Princes Trust’s ‘Million Maker Challenge’. Million Makers is an opportunity to raise vital funds for the Trust but it provides businesses with a unique experience to develop their skills.

Youth unemployment costs the UK economy around £10 million a day in lost productivity and youth crime costs £1 billion every year.  There has never been a more challenging time for disadvantaged young people both nationally and here in the North East and therefore the work of   Princes   Trust has become increasingly vital.

The Challenge

This will begin with a motivational team building day on 18th of June, at “Go Ape” Matfen Hall, the first opportunity for external networking. Following the launch Teams will begin their challenge by drafting up an initial business plan. The Trust will hold a Dragon’s Den to assist with plans. The team will then take forward their plans for the following months. Teams will organise to meet at pre: planned times on a regular basis over the following months.

The challenge will end next January 2011. The Trust will host both a half way celebration event and a regional finale to celebrate the fantastic successes of all teams.

What’s in it for you?

• Opportunity for huge amounts of PR
• Use of Princes Trust and Million Maker’s logo in marketing material
• Prospect to meet other businesses across the North East
• Fabulous, free continual professional development opportunity
• Benefitting the local community

If you’re keen to find out more or become a team member of the challenge, please contact Louise Wilkinson on 01207 585804 / louise@derwentsideenterprise.co.uk

• Derwentside Dates Durham University’s Business Brains

Over 300 Durham University students ranging from Undergraduates through to Post Graduates took part in a “Speed Dating” event at Durham Business School, with businesses from around Derwentside. The students’ objective during the event was to demonstrate the skills they could offer to some real business projects.

Derwentside Enterprise Agency’s Workforce Development, the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, Knowledge Transfer Partnership and the Careers Service at Durham University facilitated the event. The innovative format of ‘speed dating’ and informal networking allowed the businesses to have short meetings with students who felt they could assist the businesses and offer valuable solutions and ideas to complete projects.

Around 30 businesses offered over 40 projects ranging from E-commerce or IT systems through to legal or marketing and communications strategies.

The event was a pilot program and very much a business-led initiative. Louise Wilkinson, Business and Education Collaboration Coordinator from the Workforce Development Team commented ‘Within Derwentside Enterprise Agency we have a fantastic business network with innovative members across a variety of sectors. When businesses started to put forward projects for students we were able to present the University with a variety of practical projects. We believe these projects will offer highly creative work experience opportunities for the students. They are our future workforce and we hope this pilot program will show students what options are open to them upon completion of their University studies.’

It is envisaged that the students will gain experience and expertise which will prove invaluable when making future career decisions. It may also improve their awareness of the possibilities of working in the field of entrepreneurship and small business. At the start of 2008 it was estimated that SME’s accounted for 99.9% of enterprises in the UK (http://stats.berr.gov.uk/ed/sme/smestats2008-ukspr.pdf) with over 13.7 million people employed by SME’s.

Tony Coyle, Manager at Durham University's Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning commented ‘This was a tremendous opportunity for Durham students to engage with the local business community and to deliver practical results for real businesses. The impact they could have on the SME community in Derwentside could be very significant. The fact that so many students took part in this interactive event demonstrates how seriously they are taking their future.’

Companies who attended with real business projects for the students included Echo Graphics, Willowburn Hospice, Oxley Pratt Accounting Services and Elddis Caravans. Sadie the Bra Lady who was involved in the event commented ‘What a forward thinking, innovative idea to bring students and businesses together’. Glen Collins of Silverleaf Ltd was amongst many businesses who were pleased with the ‘quality and quantity of knowledgeable students’.

Keiron Young, founding partner of Geo Journeys was impressed with how enterprising the students were ‘Many of the students I met were creative and forward thinking. They came with a number of interesting suggestions of how my project could be developed. It was undoubtedly an interesting night which will prove beneficial to my business and to the students themselves.’

Over the next few months students who were successful will start to work on the projects with the businesses. The Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning and Derwentside Enterprise Agency are looking forward to assisting both the students and the businesses achieve positive results from the collaboration.

• Come on feel the noise - from r&d to rock & roll

A NORTH East duo is set to support some of the biggest rock and roll bands in the world, helping them to sound better and louder than ever before. KBO Dynamics’ pioneering technology is being utilised in amplifiers used by world leading rock bands, to assist artists in achieving optimum sound and reliability when performing live. 

The new product revolutionises the way sound is produced by amplifiers - using leading edge electronics to produce a sound reminiscent of older, but less reliable, valve-based amps.

The innovation, which has been named TubeSync, was developed to overcome many of the problems associated with conventional valve amplification, such as biasing problems, valve longevity and amplification reliability. The goal is to improve amplifier design without changing the fundamental amplification process, so tone and sound remains unchanged. 

KBO Dynamics Chief Executive, Andy Fallon, said: “TubeSync is a new component which overcomes many of the problems associated with conventional valve amplification without changing the fundamental process, hence the resulting sound output still exhibits that pure analogue magic”

For more information visit www.kbodynamics.com

• Photographer Celebrates 1st Year In Business
   
  

January saw Debbie Todd celebrating her first successful year at her Photography Studio in Annfield Plain.  Debbie started as a mobile photographer, specialising in children and families, but she now has a studio and undertakes all aspects of Photography including commercial, fashion and glamour work.  She is currently working with make-up artists to create images for her portfolio, including fellow Derwentside Business Network member Karen Raby from Gemini Hair & Beauty.  Debbie says 'I can't believe it has been a year already, it has absolutely flown over and I have had such a great time, it makes such a difference doing something you love for a living, and my job fits in well around my 3 year old son Joshua'.  Debbie was helped set up her business by Be Enterprising and recommends that anyone with a business idea should look into it, as anything can be achieved if you put your mind to it.  She celebrated the event by opening her Studio to the public and offering prizes and discounts. 

• Investment in core growths seees Uk company lead the way

A Derwentside tube manufacturer is continuing to grow and create new jobs despite the recession and has invested £175,000 in new machinery to increase production capacity.

Corespec Ltd, based on the Greencroft  Industrial Park in Annfield Plain, manufactures heavy duty cardboard tubes or ‘cores’ used by the paper, textile, flooring and plastic film  industries. Set up in 1998, the company is now one of the largest core manufacturers in the UK.

The latest investment in machinery will enable it to increase capacity by more than 30% to meet the demand from existing and new customers. Five new jobs have been created and the company now has 15 employees.   With advice and support from Derwentside Enterprise Agency, Corespec  secured a £25,000 Grant for Business Investment from One NorthEast and support from HSBC bank. 

“Despite the current difficult times, we are very busy,” said Director Brian Hodge.  “One of our top priorities has always been keeping up with technology and this latest piece of equipment means that we are now the most up-to-date and modern manufacturer in the UK. The grant from One NorthEast and the on-going advice from Derwentside Enterprise Agency have been invaluable. The Agency helped us to start-up and has been there for us every step of the way since so we couldn’t speak more highly of the support.”

  BUSINESS NEWS

• HMRC launches ‘Super Podcast’

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has launched its first ever ‘Super Podcast’, to alert businesses to major changes in the way they file and pay VAT, PAYE and corporation tax.

The free, audio podcast highlights important VAT changes coming in on 1 April 2010, which mean VAT-registered traders with annual turnovers of £100,000 or more (excluding VAT) will have to file their VAT returns online and pay their VAT electronically, while all businesses registering for VAT from April will have to file their returns online and pay electronically.

The Super Podcast, featuring HMRC experts Stephen Banyard and Don Macarthur, also covers three other key areas: the need for all employers to file their Employer Annual Returns online from this spring; new penalties for late payment of PAYE being introduced in May; and key changes to corporation tax filing and payment coming in next year.

The HMRC Super Podcast can be downloaded from HMRC’s podcast pages at www.hmrc.gov.uk/podcasts.

• Compete NE

CompeteFor is a free service that enables businesses to compete for contract opportunities linked to the London 2012 Games and other major public and private sector buying organisations.

With a particular focus on supply chain opportunities, CompeteFor acts as a brokerage service, matching buyers with potential suppliers. It also facilitates access to focused business support, through the national Business Link network, helping to boost the long–term competitiveness of your business.

Registering on CompeteFor will bring you closer to accessing new business opportunities relevant to your sector. This service is delivered through a partnership between public and private sector organisations, working closely with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).

Any business can register on CompeteFor. It's easy, free of charge, and only needs to be done once to access thousands of contract opportunities.

To apply for contracts advertised on CompeteFor, you must complete and publish a full business profile. Once published, your business profile will be used to match your business with contract opportunities you can then apply for. You can also use CompeteFor to search for suitable businesses to partner with.

• www.competefor.com

• NEW RISK ASSESSMENT TOOLS SAVE BUSINESSES TIME AND MONEY

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has developed a new electronic template specially for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) which combines, into one document, the requirements of a health and safety policy, risk assessment and written record of health and safety arrangements.   .

The electronic templates, worked examples and a simple, no-nonsense guide – ‘5 steps to risk assessment’ – are available at www.hse.gov.uk/risk.htm

• New occupational health adviceline for small business

The government is to launch a free occupational health adviceline for small business.

Further information can be found at
www.workingforhealth.gov.uk/Initiatives/OccupationalHealth

• HMRC – Budget Payment Plan 

To help, HR Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has set up a flexible Budget Payment Plan which means that you could set up regular payments by direct debit right now.
The Budget Payment Plan is available to all customers who want to sign up and whose payments are up to date. The scheme takes away the stress involved with finding a large sum of money by 31 January 2010.

To learn more, visit www.hmrc.gov.uk and click on “Paying HMRC”.

• Staff Holiday Entitlement - Help at Hand

From April 1, 2009, the minimum statutory entitlement increased from 4.8 to 5.6 weeks a year.

Business Link has prepared an online guide to implementing increased holiday entitlement, which is available at www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast. The guide identifies what your business needs to do to comply with regulations and provides an interactive tool to calculate increased holiday entitlement