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NORTH EAST GROWTH HUB BREXIT NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 2

Importing and exporting after Brexit. If your business has traded within the European Union during 2018, you may already have received a letter from HMRC, allocating you an EORI (Economic Operator Registration and Identification) number. If you have not received this, and you wish to trade within the EU after 31 October, you will need to apply for one online. An EORI number is a unique ID number given to businesses that import or export goods within the EU. If the UK exits the EU on 31 Octo...

NORTH EAST GROWTH HUB BREXIT NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 1

The UK is set to leave the European Union on Thursday, 31st October 2019.  It’s essential that all businesses in the North East make the necessary preparations for leaving the European Union.  Government has launched its ‘Get ready for Brexit’ campaign to provide businesses and organisations with the information they need to prepare for Brexit. The campaign will feature heavily across print, broadcast and online media in the coming weeks.  It will lead you to an online ...

WORKING WITH IBBITSON'S QUALITY MEATS TO SLICE THEIR ENERGY BILLS

Ibbitson's energy contracts were approaching renewal date and they were shocked by the proposed increases from their supplier.  On top of this, their merchant services costs were beginning to become poor value for money when compared with their usage. After speaking with other businesses, they were pointed in the direction of Great Annual Savings Group (GAS), who had helped similar companies with their running costs. How did GAS help them? GAS experts set about searching the energy market t...

NORTH EAST’S FIRST URBAN WINERY TOASTS NEL INVESTMENT SUPPORT

The North East’s first urban winery is aiming to change people’s perceptions of English wines with the help of a five-figure investment from the North East Small Loan Fund Supported By The European Regional Development Fund. Based in Team Valley, Laneberg Wine is the most northerly winery in the UK and released its first vintage of white and rosé wines this year, using grapes grown at a vineyard in Leicestershire.NEL is also responsible for investing the £18m North East Growth Ca...

CHAT HEROES TALKING UP GROWTH PLANS AFTER INVESTMENT WIN

A successful North Tyneside-based managed web chat service is talking up its growth plans after winning a five-figure investment from the North East Small Loan Fund Supported By The European Regional Development Fund. Chat Heroes helps clients across a wide range of sectors convert website traffic into useful business leads by providing a proactive chat system managed by a team of experts based at its Wallsend Town Hall offices. NEL is also responsible for investing the £18m North East Growth C...

GAS HIRES DEDICATED CHARITY RESOURCE

Great Annual Savings Group (GAS) is looking to further expand its community impact by dedicating resource to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The Seaham-based B2B cost consultancy has donated more than £45,000 over the last 12 months to its three corporate charities and has also carried out volunteer days in the local community. With plans to continue the Group’s phenomenal growth over the next 12 months, the GAS Board is keen to accelerate the fundraising momentum it has spent three ye...

A BLOG TO MAKE YOUR BUSINESS STAND OUT

Ann English has written an excellent blog about making your expo stand really stand-out. It's full of useful tips and helpful advice and we highly recommend it. Ann told us "As the founder of The Visual Marketing Academy, I’m intrigued to see how brands present their pop-up stands and shops at Expos and Events. As a visitor, unfortunately, I continue to feel disappointed, uninspired and bored by the exhibition stands. I know the overall experience could be improved if exhibitors used their ima...

DBN MEMBERS HELP TOW LAW CHILDREN UNLOCK THEIR GREAT WAR HERITAGE

Across the summer term, Building Self-Belief CIO worked with the young people of Tow Law Millennium Primary School, in County Durham, on a creative writing and cultural heritage project, supported by the National Heritage Lottery Fund. The aim of the project was for the children to create an anthology of historical research, creative writing and poetry in remembrance of the men from Tow Law, and the surrounding villages, who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Great War 1914-18, and to exhibi...

A YEAR OF SUCCESSFUL SELLING FOR MOIRA

I am celebrating one year in business at the end of September for Moira Barnes Sales Consultancy. Thanks to some great connections I've made via DBN I have run a monthly Sales workshop every month bar August since November. There is another one coming up on Wednesday, September 25th, which still has some places vacant. This workshop is for anyone who needs to sell to make their business grow BUT they aren't keen on the idea of selling and don't know how to get around this conundrum. That's where...

JOANNE EXPANDS HER SALES OUTLETS

Busy local wildlife artist Joanne Rowland has been invited to display her art and crafts at a new cooperative which gives local artists a platform for their work. The cooperative is based at Congburn Garden Centre, Edmondsley and the launch was covered by the Northern Echo (there's a link to the article which features Jo below). Jo told us "I've been in the paper recently and my new calendar is now available on pre-order at a discount, only £10, usual price of £12.95, and I'll post out at the ...

NORIKO’S REUNION WITH HER YEAR 1 TEACHER AT HER BOOK PROMOTION EVENT IN JAPAN

DBN member Noriko Matsubara was over Japan this summer promoting her newly published Japanese edition of her picture book.  The highlight of her trip was the reunion with her Year 1 teacher, who came to Noriko’s book event at Hachinohe Book Centre.“I was so surprised to see my teacher there.” Noriko says. "We hadn’t seen each other for over 30 years but she still remembered me and told me she wasn’t so surprised to see me becoming a children’s author as I was a dr...

IAN GROWS HIS BUSINESS BRAND AT BEAMISH

Congratulations to Ian McAninly of Diamond Valeting who was this year's principal sponsor for the famous Beamish Museum Leek Show. Ian said "It's a great way to raise the profile of your business and get involved in something really worthwhile for the local community too". He added, "This is the 33rd year that the Leek Show has been hosted by Beamish Museum alongside the Shield Row Allotment Society and it forms part of the Beamish Agricultural event. The car we were chauffeured round in is an A...

DBN Business Newsletter - September 2019.

You can read our latest Newsletter here - September 2019....

SPACIOUS & VERSATILE WAREHOUSE / PRODUCTION AREA AND OFFICE SPACE FOR RENTAL ALONG THE A68

One of our members passed this on in case a DBN member is looking for warehouse / production space.  Click on the image for further details....

DERWENT MANOR HOTEL LAUNCHES ITS CHRISTMAS BROCHURE

It's never too early to plan your special festive celebration.Please click on the image to download the 2019 Derwent Manor Christmas Brochure....

SEE JOANNE ROWLAND DRAW THE BEAUTIFUL FUDGE, A CHOCOLATE LABRADOR IN PASTEL

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TAYLORED FIT PHYSIO 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY VIDEO

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BEAMISH MUSEUM IS LOOKING FOR A PARTNERSHIPS COORDINATOR

Passionate about the heritage of the North East of England and how our story can be told in exciting new ways to surprise and delight visitors? It’s an exciting time to join the team at Beamish Museum right now, as we are investing some £20M into a 1950s town and farm, and developing a Georgian Coaching Inn in which visitors can stay overnight. We are seeking a dynamic and resourceful individual to join our Partnerships and Communications Team, to support the coordination and management of th...

NATHALIE TELLS US WHY TAKING A WORK PLACEMENT PUPIL CAN BENEFIT YOUR BUSINESS

Recently I had a Y12 pupil from St Bede’s School in Lanchester on work experience with me for a week, and we had such a great time I felt compelled to tell you about it  in the hope that you will in the future consider taking on young people on placement with you. For starters, schools still tend to promote and gear their pupils towards employment rather than self-employment, so I love sharing what it is like to be your own boss: the good and the bad! It is important to expose teenagers t...

DESIGNS UNIQUE CELEBRATE SUPPLYING THE NATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM BEAULIEU WITH THEIR TRANSPORT INSPIRED GREETING CARDS

After meeting representatives from Beaulieu at a trade show in February 2018 Maccine kept in contact throughout the year via email whenever a set of new designs were created. Maccine and Graeme were delighted in June this year to receive an order from Beaulieu for a selection of designs to showcase over the coming months.  Maccine said "It was fantastic when the order came through and goes to show it’s worth keeping in touch with key contacts”. Designs Unique began creating various rang...

LOCAL ARTIST (& DBN MEMBER) JOANNE ROWLAND TELLS US ABOUT REWILDING – A SOLUTION FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

What a day! Mr R and myself were lucky enough to be invited to be part of an Event organised by Climate Action North again this year.Keystone Species. If you follow me on Social Media, you’ll have seen me busy lately, creating drawings of the Lynx, Eagle Owl, Pine Marten and of course the beautiful Wolf, these were all created with this specific event in mind, are all noted as Keystone Species by ReWilding Britain. I could rattle on for PAGES about how good the speakers were, but I'll keep it ...

EXCITING PROJECT ALERT!

DBN The Movie? You'd better believe it! We'll start filming this summer . . .Do you have an interesting story about how you came to set up your business? We'd love to hear from you. This summer DBN is working on an exciting project to make a short film about how and why people start their own business and their business journey. You (our members) will be the stars in this movie. After our meeting in June we already have several volunteers to be filmed. We need a few more (hint: no male volunteer...

VISUAL STARS "GO LIVE"! HOW TO MAKE LIVE VIDEOS - VISUAL PUNCH

Visual Punch have joined forces with Hypestar to bring you an amazing video training programme called Visual Stars “Go LIVE”! The combination of 4 online lessons and a 1 day seminar is the perfect recipe for you to learn how to confidently create Live videos that you can share with your audience. In 2019, we’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of video content being created and shared. We have also an increase in the demand from social media platforms for video content as businesses have...

DBN Newsletter - July 2019

You can read our latest Newsletter here....

STREAMLINE YOUR BAKERY

Bowe Digital has been developing bakery software for almost 20 years and bakeries across the country are using our bespoke BaPS software to help run their businesses today.Have a look at this short video to see how Dave used BaPS to streamline his bakery.  See how good it could be for your business too....