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The North East Small Loan Fund

Ambitious North East small businesses are being invited to apply to a new fund worth £9m to help them expand their operations and create new jobs. The North East Small Loan Fund Supported By The European Regional Development Fund has been specially designed to assist the growth of more than 300 actively trading SMEs by offering loans to businesses based in Tyne & Wear, Durham and Northumberland. Small Loan Fund Highlights: Typical investment range £10,000 to £50,000Terms of up to 5 yearsLoans...

Inside Dark Justice

Earlier this week Neil Jackson launched a new feature documentary project, Inside Dark Justice, in a Facebook Live that’s had 30,000 views so far.  Neil told us 'It’s a difficult subject, but one we intend to deal with sensitively and with a vision to encourage really vital changes to be made to the criminal justice system to keep more children safe from online grooming. The most important thing right now though is that we’re raising money to complete the film via a Kickstarter projec...

Congratulations Rachel!

DBN Member Rachel Locke of Arlo Private PA Services has won North East VA of the Year. Rachel recently celebrated 3 years since she set up her own business and all her friends at DBN are very proud of her achievement....

Business is blooming at The Green House

Dianne and Helen have been friends for a number years and over that time had often talked about starting a business together. Dianne told us; "We are both fully qualified Florists and have been in the business since we left school. So just over 2 years ago we decided the time was right and The Green House was opened. Stanley had to be the place to be as we are both from Stanley and have always lived and worked in and around the area". At The Green House Florist we offer professionally designed f...

FireFly New Media – Booklets & Brochures

FireFly New Media – Design – Print – Web Telephone – 01207 438 292 Email: sales@fireflynewmedia.com We’ve got you covered – Perfect Bound and Saddle Stitch #1 Tip – Brochures and booklets are used by our customers for presentations, company reports, magazines, hand-outs, and catalogues. Multi-purpose and versatile, these products are printed on a selection of vibrant paper stocks.  Choose between saddle stitched for brochures with a low number of pages, or perfect bound f...

Nominate your business for the FSB 2019 awards

Last year DBN applied to enter the FSB Awards.  We honestly didn’t think we would win but it seemed like a good idea . . . and it turned out to be a very good idea.  We won an award, had an opportunity to attend a brilliant awards ceremony, met lots of amazing businesses and raised our profile enormously (and it was really easy to enter too!).The awards are now open for entries and as we have many amazing businesses in DBN we recommen...

Please help decide the priorities for AAP’s in 2019/20 and 2020/21

Durham County Council Area Action Partnerships (AAPs) cover all areas of the county. AAPs have been set up to give people in County Durham a greater choice and voice in local affairs.  There are 14 AAPs that cover County Durham. Across all 14 AAPs, local people are asked to vote on what priorities they would like to see their AAP boards work on for the following year.In recent years, DBN members have benefited from two business growth programmes supported by the Derwent Valle...

Free help to promote greener commutes & healthier journeys

Bike maintenance sessions, lunchtime guided rides and new bike racks.  These are just some of the fantastic opportunities available to employers in the Land of Oak & Iron to encourage their employees to think green and leave the car at home. There are a range of opportunities, which can be tailored to suit the needs of each individual business.  Bursting with acres of beautiful natural woodland, rich in wildlife, and lots of industrial and cultural heritage to celebrate, the ...

Good luck Rachel!

Rachel Locke of Arlo Private PA Services recently found out that she has been shortlisted for North East VA of the Year (last year Rachel was second runner up). Rachel is based in Consett and set up Arlo in 2015 to provide flexible freelance PA / secretarial services for small and medium sized businesses locally and nationally. Rachel will find out the result on 22nd Sept at the North East VA Conference. We wish her the very best of luck!...

Office Units currently available at The Greenhouse

Situated on Greencroft Industrial Park in Stanley, The Greenhouse was built in 2006 to be the first commercial eco building in County Durham.  Ideally located, we offer high quality office space as well as meeting and conferencing facilities, within an unique, eco-friendly, professional environment.  The Greenhouse is ideally suited for start-ups or small to medium size enterprises looking for a place to grow.We have three office units available at The Greenhouse:Un...

Summer delegate saver & special DBN offers from Hotel 52, Stanley

From only £9.99pp (Catering options available at an additional fee) Room hireProfessional boardroom tableArrival tea and coffeeComplimentary onsite car parkingDedicated Event Manager on the dayUnlimited Free WIFI accessAfternoon tea & coffeeChilled water Then we are offering 10% off for DBN members at Pazzo Italian Restaurant, Loca Bar & Kitchen, Hotel 52 and soon . . . Salon 52 (Opening 9th August). For more information, please email David at dpatrick@hotel52.co.uk....

Introducing The Willow Burn Bouquet

Happy Birthday, Congratulations, I’m sorry.  Flowers can be given for a whole range of reasons and everyone loves getting a bunch of beautiful fresh flowers; now the flowers you buy can help make a difference to your local community. Cindy’s Balloons and Flowers, Events Decoration has designed an exclusive bouquet for the Hospice, the Willow Burn Bouquet; a stunning hand tied bouquet of cream and white flowers, perfect for all occasions.  For every bouquet sold 5% will be...

Nathalie and Noriko bring puppets and socks to Literary Festival

Last month, the Derwent Valley Literary Festival saw Nathalie Paris telling stories and using her puppets to provide a fun session of French speaking while Noriko Matsubara was reading her picture books and helping children make their own sock puppets to take home.The free event, which took place at venues across the Derwent Valley, was a celebration of books featuring local authors, poets and playwrights reading, performing and talking about their wo...

Robson Print makes a perfect partner

Robson Print are delighted to be working with fellow DBN member Willow Burn Hospice supporting their Win Your Happily Ever After Fund Raising event, where one lucky couple can win an amazing dream wedding.As we only produce bespoke Wedding Stationery when asked this is not a usual part of our business but we wanted to support Willow Burn so have created a flexible package that will allow the winning couple to work with us and create their perfect printed Wedding Statione...

We need your feedback please...

DBN is always looking to improve it’s services to members and we need to know what we’re doing right and what we could do better. Please can you help us by completing this short survey by 13th July if you haven’t already done so? There’s only 9 easy questions to complete and all answers are anonymous.Complete your survey here....

If you go down to the woods at Beamish Hall

There is a lot of scurrying in the woods down at Beamish Hall in Stanley with the opening of the new woodland wonderland – an interactive and free walk that brings childhood dreams to reality. Wooden cars, chairs and tables, giant caterpillar tunnels and Alice’s tree, all encourage children to get away from behind computer screens and back to the basics of playing outdoors. The beauty of this woodland adventure is that families can enjoy the activities together whether it be m...

CDC Enterprise Agency – Assessors wanted

We’re looking for exceptional people who can work part-time assessing enterprise and digital qualifications.  CDC Enterprise Agency is an organisation based in County Durham, that specialises in helping businesses to start-up and grow. We do this by offering a range of business support and training solutions aimed at people who either have a great business idea or who already have a business and need extra support and training.  We already have a team of great trainers who are passio...