north tyneside business forum newsletter spring 2015

Spring 2015

NewsLetterSpring2015Meet the new Chair and Vice Chair Page 2Showbiz 2015 Pages 4 and 5What it takes to be a Micro-Electronics Design Engineer Page 6Manufacturers’ Forum Go on Safari Page 8

NORTH TYNESIDE BUSINESS FORUM NEWSLETTER

Spring 2015

NORTH TYNESIDE BUSINESS FORUM NEWSLETTER p2

Inside this issue Meet the new Chairand Vice ChairMeet the new Chair and Vice Chair p2

Enterprise Awards for North Tyneside businesses p2

Breathing new life into Wallsend Hall p3

Apprentices are good for business p3

Showbiz 2015 p4 & 5

What it takes to be a Micro-Electronics Design Engineer p6

New challenges in data protection p6

Printer achieves Gold Standard p7

Broadband boost for Tyneside Vet p7

Free wi-fi; sales boost p7

Generating help for local business p8

Manufacturers’ Forum Go on Safari p8

Fire Service Changes p8

David Rose, Chair of FuDaInternational, has beenappointed Chair of the NorthTyneside Business Forum.

David, our previous Vice Chair,also chairs the Cobalt andSilverlink Business Association.Ken Parkin, MD of TurneyWylde Construction Ltd inWallsend has been appointedDeputy Chair. Ken doubles upas lead for the ConstructionSector Group. Both David andKen, along with other BusinessForum members, regularlyattend meetings of the Mayor’sCabinet in order to offer abusiness perspective todiscussions.

Local winners for Ixion North EastEnterprise Awards 2015A community theatre company and a care franchise areamongst the winners of the inaugural Ixion North EastEnterprise Awards 2015.

Winner of the Community Impact award was Red Diamond,a community interest theatre company offering performingarts to all members of the community regardless of age,ability or disability. Bluebird Care North Tyneside, whichprovides high quality care to adults in their own homes,took The Outstanding Service Award.

In other categories The Challenger Award winner was Your Computer Centre; The Innovation award went toSoundDampedSteel.com; and CD Heritage Ltd won theOutstanding Product Award.

Runners up were Whitley Bay Skate Club, The ChocolateSmiths, Green Frog Developments, Happy Planet CreativeArts and Dream Pop Bakery. Special awards were given toNorth Tyneside Council Adult Learning Alliance and DaveStewart of Avanta.

The awards ceremony was held at theVillage Urban Resort Newcastle atCobalt Business Park on 12 Februarywhere 100 guests joined Linda Sian,Enterprise Director and Gary Kernaghan,Strategic Business DevelopmentDirector of Ixion Holdings; special guest,His Grace the Duke of Northumberland,presented the awards.

Picture Caption : L-R Gary Kernaghan, Linda Sian,Garry Dawson CD Heritage, Tracy Cadman and Alison Stanley Red Diamond, His Grace the Duke ofNorthumberland, Jonathan Mentell Your ComputerCentre, Lisa Souley Bluebird Care North Tyneside andLeslie Thompson SoundDampedSteel.com.

David Rose

Ken Parkin

Spring 2015


Breathing new life into Wallsend Hallon success

A local couple have breathed new life into a neglectedhistoric building, turning it into a charming tearoom,wedding and conference centre.

Peter and Rosie Elliott have seen their business bloom sincethey began leasing Wallsend Hall three years ago.

The couple first tackled the venue’s Georgian parlour whichthey have lovingly restored. This opened, in May 2012, as atea room specialising in the quintessential English Afternoon

tea, but also offering light lunches, snacks and a SundayCarvery.

Once that was up and running they turned their talents tobuilding the wedding and conference side of the business.It’s been a long haul, as most weddings are booked around18 months in advance, but hard work and determinationhave paid off and the Hall’s wedding suite is now bookedfor most Saturdays during the 2015 wedding season andbeyond - although there is still some limited availability.

The restoration work the couple are undertaking atWallsend Hall is sympathetic to the building’s heritage andincorporates many original features, such as a sweepingstaircase and a beautiful stained glass domed ceiling in theentrance hall.

Rosie said, “Wallsend Hall is a lovely venue with its elegantinteriors and 9 acres of mature manicured gardens. Whethervisiting for afternoon tea, a conference, family party orwedding breakfast all our food is home cooked on site usinglocal suppliers and, in many cases, traditional local recipes.”

For further information on Wallsend Hall visitwww.wallsendhall.co.uk or call 0191 2637022.

Apprentices are good for businessSeveral local organisations are working together toencourage employers to take on apprentices; andyoungsters are already benefitting.

Leon Dalton from North Shields is six months into apainting and decorating apprenticeship with TynemouthDecorators Ltd, thanks to an apprenticeship bursaryprovided by North Tyneside Learning Trust andadministered by North Tyneside Council.

Eighteen year old Leon has already been involved in a widerange of refurbishment projects at venues across theborough such as Whitley Bay Playhouse, The Low Lights andThe Lakeside Centre.

He said, “Everything is going great. I work with a friendlyteam and have already undertaken extra training such asAsbestos Awareness and obtained my CSCS card.”

Stephen Hull, Managing Director at Tynemouth DecoratorsLtd, commented; “The overall experience has been excellent.Working with North Tyneside Council has been easy andtheir help and support has made all the difference, theincentives are also important as the economy recovers fromthe recession.

Leon undertakes his off the job training at TyneMetCollege’s dedicated construction training facility in Benton,which specialises in qualifications and training for buildingservices and the construction industry.

Mr Hull adds; “The training facilities offered by TyneMet arevery impressive. The main value is having our apprenticeslearn in a safe, purpose built environment, with a structuredlearning timetable that is suitable for all involved.”

For information on apprenticeship bursaries contact ClaireDunn on 0191 64307. To find out more about trainingopportunities at TyneMet college visitwww.tmcbenton.co.uk or call 0191 2295280.

Spring 2015


Showbiz 2015 a businessevent like no other Around 100 local businessmen and womengathered at Tyne-Met College on Tuesday 10March for the spectacular Showbiz 2015 event.

Showbiz 2015 was a business event like no other – packedwith business boosting keynote talk, seminars, businesssupport and advice experts in the exhibition, plusnetworking breakfast and lunch!

Guest speakers travelled the breadth of the country tobring the very best of take home value to those businesseswho attended.

Keynote speaker Anthony Stears, aka The TelephoneAssassin, kicked off the morning by advocating a return totraditional business methods. His advice; “....stop hidingbehind email and social media; pick up the phone, start aconversation and watch your bottom line sales grow.”

Coffee and networking was followed by two furtherseminar sessions; the first from writer and media expertAlan Stevens on how to build and maintain a first-classbusiness reputation and last, but not least, Lee Jackson’sfunny and down-to-earth session on eradicating death bybullet point, or how to write PowerPoint slides that makeyour message stick, really hit the mark.

Then it was lunch and more opportunities to network andmeet exhibitors from the best local support, advice andtraining organisations.

The event was opened by North Tyneside Business Forumretiring chair, Peter Hedley, who used the occasion tolaunch the North Tyneside Business Forum Business inSchools initiative.

Peter said; “We have many schools looking to engage moreclosely with the business community and a number ofbusinesses who are interested in working with schools but,until now, we had no effective way to bring these partiestogether.

“After running several successful pilot schemes we are nowextending the programme to all businesses and schools inNorth Tyneside.”

For further information on the Business in Schools initiativeemail [email protected] or call thebusiness helpline on 0191 6436000.

Spring 2015


Spring 2015


How did you become a Micro-Electronics DesignEngineer?I gained a first class honours degree in opto-electronics atNorthumbria University.

What kind of organisations do you work with?NASA, Sony, Hitachi, leading machine vision distributors acrossthe world & end user SMEs in sectors as broad as UAV,robotics, medical, dentistry, ATM companies and aerospace.

Do you need qualifications?Traditionally a degree in an engineering discipline likeelectronics design.

What does your job entail?I work on CAD for PCB layouts; spend time developingsoftware programmes and testing the functionailty ofproducts we create and host.

What it takes to be a MicroElectronics Design Engineer We talk to Mark Vernon, MD of Vreo

New challenges in data protection A new law on Data Privacy, due to be passed thissummer, holds significant implications for businessowners.

The forthcoming European Parliament directive, which aimsto harmonise various EU member laws, will change the UKData Protection Act in a number of ways.

In the area of penalties, this revised law will have sizeableteeth; up to 5% of annual turnover compared with the£500k cap in place today. This is to force organisations totake sufficient and reasonable steps to secure theinformation they use while undertaking business.

The law will also make clear the shared liability betweencustomers and suppliers, to account for the high degree ofthird party suppliers such as Cloud providers.

One further area, still under debate, is MandatoryNotification. This gives organisations 24-hours to notify theInformation Commissioners Office if they suspect they havebeen breached or caught up in the breach of a supplier; italso pre-supposes continuous self-monitoring.

Dave Lloyd, Principal Partner at Whitley Bay-based

Signacure Resilience said : “This all sounds quite a burdenbut, if tackled in a systematic way, the culture needed toprotect sensitive information can be built.

“The most important first step is to implement a robust andmeasurable Information Security Policy for the wholeorganisation, not just the IT elements, followed by a focuson employee and visitor behaviours.”

For further information email [email protected]

Are there any issues you need to be especially aware of?Technical risks, challenges and time - not knowing how long adevelopment will take or cost.

What is a typical day?Writing code - programming in to a prototype and testing todetermine the development’s success; reading technicaldocuments; skype calls with the external development teamand answering emails from customers.

What is a typical career path?Start as a junior engineer in an SME, gain experience onsmaller parts of a big project Move to gain a broader varietyof engineering experinece which will eventually lead to aproject management role, an R+D lead role or starting yourown business.

What advice would you offer someone interested inbecomming a Micro-Electronics Design Engineer?Do extra curriculum/out of working hours work to developyour capabilities; keep up to date on the latest technology and, at school, focus on Maths, Physics & ICT.

For further information visit www.vreo.biz , email [email protected] or call 07811 362460.

Spring 2015


A North Shields printing business has received specialrecognition for its work within the local community.

YourPrintDepartment, based in North Shields, is the firstbusiness to receive the Gold standard in Sector Connector’sCommunity-Friendly Business Awards.

Rob Gibbons, owner of YourPrintDepartment, said “We’redelighted to be the first recipients of the Gold Award. It’sbeen a pleasure to be involved with Sector Connector andto be able to offer help and support to voluntary groups. Forus it’s a way of meeting new clients and showing that wecare about the community we work in, plus there’s adefinite feel-good factor of being able to ‘give somethingback’”.

Sector Connector, run by North Tyneside VoluntaryOrganisations Development Agency (VODA), brokersrelationships between businesses that have skills, time orexpertise they can share with community organisations ona voluntary or at a heavily discounted rate. TheCommunity-Friendly Business Awards are given on threelevels, Bronze, Silver and Gold, based on how manyvoluntary and community groups are supported.

Businesses or community organisations in North Tynesidelooking to get involved in the Sector Connector projectshould contact Ian Dougall on 0191 643 2638 or [email protected]

A North Tyneside Veterinary practice is the latestbusiness to benefit from the Go Digital ConnectionVoucher Scheme.

Moorview Veterinary Practice, in Backworth, had a newsuperfast broadband connection installed by supplier NTE

Broadband boost for Tyneside Vet

Printer achieves Gold Standard

Rob Gibbons (left) and Ian Dougall.

Free wi-fi; sales boost A local garage is discovering the benefits of providing free wi-fi for its customers.

Redgate Lodge of Shiremoor, has recently had Purple Wi-Fi installed on their premises by local supplier Harrison IT.

John Harrison from Harrison IT explains; “Free Wi-Fi is almost expected these days, the public often seek out venuesoffering this service and businesses providing it often see an increase in sales. Purple Wi-Fi creates a legally compliantnetwork which protects a business’s computers from guest users whilst allowing business owners to capture vital userdata and habits and use that data as part of their marketing process.”

For further information contact John Harrison on 07905 118509 at or visit www.harrison-it.com/free-public-wifi

and received £3,000 from the Go Digital scheme to off-setthe project’s £3,500 cost.

Iain Kennair said; “We are delighted with the service whichis really making a difference to the work at MoorviewVeterinary Practice. For example we can transfer largediagnostic images to referring practices and clinical partnersin minutes. Before our new connection this was impossibledue to the file size.

Under the scheme, small and medium businesses, charitiesand social enterprises can get up to £3,000 towards the costof connecting to superfast broadband. For more informationand to apply for a Connection Voucher, visit www.godigitalnewcastle.co.uk, call the team on 0191 277 1625or email godigitalnewcastle.co.uk

A local nursery has become the latest business to benefitfrom help and support of the Generation NE project.

Leigh’s Nurseries, which opened its third branch in ChestersAvenue, Longbenton, in November, received support withtheir staff recruitment and first aid training, plus financialassistance toward uniforms and even travel expenses forsome of the younger staff.

Leigh Cavan, owner of Leigh’s Nurseries said; “We have beenworking with Business Advisor, Barbara Clarke, whose helphas been invaluable. She came and talked to us about theGeneration NE project and the kind of help that is availableto us. The support is excellent and the financial assistancehas been a massive help for some of our young girls who arejust starting in the workplace.”

The Generation NE project aims to help local businessesconnect with the region’s next generation of employees. Itgives young people the opportunities and experience theyneed to kick-start their careers, while giving organisations thechance to enhance, rejuvenate and future-proof their business

Generating help for local business

Generation NE offers impartial, tailor-made supportprovided by a team of expert business advisors andinvaluable connections with young people who are eager towork and learn.

For further information call the team on 0191 2300491 orvisit the website at www.gen-ne.co.uk

Spring 2015


Manufacturers’ Forum Go on SafariAround 20 local manufacturing companies attended avisit to SMD’s Turbinia Works on 24 February to learnmore about the company and its Tyneside operations.

A presentation from MD Andrew Hodgson on thecompany’s history and development was followed by a tourof the site. This included viewing some of SMD’s range ofundersea trenching and pipe laying remotely-operatedvehicles.

The next NTMF meeting will be at the end of April lookingat sources of financial and practical support for the industryand how to access them.

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service is changing the way the Service responds to some fire alarms.

From 1 June 2015 Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service will no longer automatically attendalarm calls from non-residential properties between 08:00 hours and 18:00 hours; instead theywill attend when a fire has been confirmed or when there is a physical sign of a fire (such as asmell of burning). Between 18:00 hours and 08:00 hours an emergency response will still besent to non-residential properties as soon as a call is received.

More information is available at www.twfire.gov.uk/firealarms or by calling 0191 444 1277.

Fire Service Changes for Business

north tyneside business forum newsletter spring 2015

Documents