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VOLUNTEER AND GROW YOUR CONFIDENCE!

"I volunteered at the Willow Burn shop in Consett with my friend a couple of years ago and found that my confidence and development of people skills increased significantly through engagement with customers.  For many young people, volunteering is seen as a way to gain experience for future job applications, however it is often ignored how much the opportunity can improve personal values, leading to the growth of skills that are beneficial in any situation - whether professional or personal...

SUNDERLAND BUS RETURNS TO THE NORTH EAST!

We’re thrilled to welcome Sunderland Corporation Leyland Lion bus No. 2 to the Beamish Transport fleet!  No. 2 dates back to 1929 and served routes around the Sunderland area, it was part of a first batch of buses purchased by Sunderland Corporation.The Leyland Lion design first appeared in 1925 and marked a significant step-change in bus design – moving from what were essentially adapted goods vehicle chassis, to a design that was tailored to carry passengers.Following use by Sunderlan...

FROM BURUNDI TO UGANDA WITH DURHAM COFFEE

Hello coffee lovers,We wanted to inform you of a little change within our core Heritage Range Coffee Selection; namely that our St. Cuthbert’s Journey coffee is once again going on a pilgrimage and this time we’re moving on from Burundi to Uganda.We have chosen a bean that suits a medium-light roast profile that will blend well in our Castle Blend and stand it’s own as an exciting new single origin too.  You can buy our new Ugandan St. Cuthbert’s Journey Coffee here or pop into our ...

HAVE YOU MET THE LUMO TEAM?

It's been such a busy start to January here at Lumo, our team have been run off their feet but they always have a smile on their face.Last year we had the pleasure of working with the team at Wander Films and we asked them to capture the essence of what makes Lumo different to other R&D firms.Anyone who knows us would agree that the Wander team have captured us perfectly - socks and all!  If we haven't had the pleasure in meeting you yet this video will give you an insight into who we a...

NORIKOART NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Do you have newspapers you don't need any longer?Noriko runs Chigiri-e (Japanese paper collage) workshops and she uses newspapers as art material.  If you have unwanted newspapers, and also live near Consett, please contact Noriko.  She'd love to come and collect your old newspapers in exchange for some of her Chigiri-e cards.Thank you for your help!Noriko's contact: admin@norikoart.comMany thanks,Noriko...

DBN Member Podcast

First Cohort International Ltd is a state-of-the-art substance abuse testing and safety service provider. Based in the North East of England, they deliver workplace drug testing services to businesses and individuals.Managing Director David Bainbridge talks to us about drug testing in the workplace and the effects that consumption of drugs and alcohol can have on both the individual and the people working around them.Listen to full podcast HEREAnyone wishing to get in touch with David can contac...

Free Counselling Sessions

Northern Lights Counselling in Consett is offering a number of free therapy sessions. They currently have a counsellor on placement with them until October and therefore they can offer individuals between 4 and 6 sessions of counselling free of charge. Ideally this will be face to face therapy which will be provided at Consett Innovation Centre but they can offer online therapy too. If you are interested or know anyone who you feel would benefit from this opportunity ( over the age of 18 ) ...

FIVE ACRES COMMUNITY GARDEN C.I.C.

Five Acres Community Gardens CIC was set up by Debbie and Gavin Iceton, it opened in May 2019, after many months of planning around the kitchen table.  They wanted to set up a day service for young adults with special needs in our area.They work in the transport sector and have spent many years transporting young adults to different services within the region.  They noticed that many of these services had been greatly reduced over the years and wanted to offer a unique service where th...

DBN Meeting Dates from February to July 2023

Let's Get Organised For 2023!Here's the dates of our 'Do Business' Network Meetings for this year - February to July. All meetings run from 8:30 through to 10:30.Pop the dates in your diary and book your place HERETuesday, 21st February - Consett Rugby ClubTuesday, 21st March - The Greenhouse, GreencroftTuesday, 18th April - Venue TBCTuesday, 16th May - Lanchester Garden CentreTuesday, 20th June - Derwentside CollegeTuesday, 18th July - DBN Netwalk at the Land of Oak and Iron...

It's a wrap! Ending on a high at our Big Ideas event.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our 'Big Ideas' event.Over the last two weeks we've covered;* Business Planning* Setting Goals* Offline Marketing* Digital Marketing* Creating Content* Customer Service ( Looking after your customers)It was lovely to see everyone leaving happy with lots of ideas for their business in 2023 and beyond.A special thank you to Jo Long,( Jo Long Marketing) Melanie Cant (Elm Marketing Solutions) and Terry McStea (RTC North) for delivering the tra...

DBN NEWSLETTER

Calling all DBN members!  The deadline to submit your free article for our next newsletter is 5pm on Friday 24th February.If you miss this deadline we can carry your article over to our March newsletter.If you are not a member you can sign up to receive our newsletter by completing the box in our website footer.  The DBN newsletter is currently circulated to just over 800 North East businesses.If you are interested in becoming a DBN business member please find out more here....

APPRENTICESHIPS AND JOBS FAIR

News from Richard Holden, MP for North West Durham . . .My next Apprenticeships & Jobs Fair - Friday, 10th February 2023 - 11:00-16:00 at Derwentside College.Whether you’re starting your first job or thinking of changing career there are lots of apprenticeships and jobs available.  I can’t wait to see as many of you there as possible.  Apprenticeships drive productivity and growth in our economy as well as allowing you to earn while you learn.Apprenticeships are also great for ...

OUR BIG IDEAS FOCUS FOR 2023

Day 1 of our Big Ideas event and we've built our business empires with Lego!Thank you to Terry McStea for leading our Lego Serious Play session which got us thinking about short term and long term business goals, what we need to do to achieve our goals and what obstacles we may encounter on the way.The second half of the day was focused around offline marketing and was delivered by Jo Long from Jo Long Consulting. Jo focused on identifying your target audience, business values and exploring trad...

HAVE YOU MET THE LUMO TEAM?

It's been such a busy start to January here at Lumo, our team have been run off their feet but they always have a smile on their face 😁Last year we had the pleasure of working with the team at Wander Films and we asked them to capture the essence of what makes Lumo different to other R&D firms.Anyone who knows us would agree that the Wander team have captured us perfectly - socks and all !! 🤣🤣. If we haven't had the pleasure in meeting you yet this video will give you an insight int...

NEW POST - NEBSF

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WHAT ARE YOUR BUSINESS GOALS FOR 2023?

At our January meeting our main topic of discussion was business goals and how we can support each other to achieve our goals in 2023. It was really interesting to hear what everyone had planned for the new year and lovely to see how many of us could help each other with business introductions or work together to help achieve our goals.With the permission of our members we have published a few of these business goals below in hope that if anyone can help them they'll get in touch.** We respectfu...

CRAFTS FOR WELLBEING

Wishing you a creative New Year! I have a lovely selection of workshops coming up for you in January and February, including a lovely crepe paper flowers workshop that will be perfect to make everlasting flowers for your Valentine! Have a browse around the workshop calendar on my website to see the full range of workshops coming up over the next few months. If you would like to book one of these workshops as a wellbeing event for your company, please do get in touch, I'm happy to ...

CHARITY RACE NIGHT FOR WILLOW BURN HOSPICE

Industrial Workwear is hosting a charity race night at The Royal Oak in Medomsley on Friday 3rd February to help raise money for Willow Burn Hospice.  If any of our members would like to get involved with the race night there is an opportunity  to sponsor a race at the event! A race can be sponsored for the cost of £100, for this you'll be included in their race night brochure and in all their social media posts during and after the event. You are also more than welcome to c...

GET FIT TO EXPORT

Do you have an ambition to grow your business?  Are you unsure if exporting is for you? Join the Department for International Trade North East for a free workshop & find out what you can do to make your business ‘export-ready’. Who’s it for? This workshop is for anyone who: Has an ambition to grow their businessWants to plan the next steps into exporting as part of an overall business growth strategyIs unsure what exporting might involve, but wants to understand the risks and ...

ONLY A FEW MONTHS REMAIN FOR FIRMS TO UTILISE THE NORTH EAST BUSINESS SUPPORT FUND

Businesses are being urged to submit growth-based grant applications, as the deadline for a much-used fund approaches.  For over a decade, the North East Business Support Fund has provided a protective shield for business owners, helping SMEs de-risk investment in growth. The fund’s success has been staggering, supporting nearly 5,000 SME businesses with over £9.1m in grants distributed across the region. However, the fund is due to end in March 2023, and, with grants still available ...

BUILDING SELF-BELIEF - QUIZ NIGHT

Building Self-Belief CIO, a Consett based children's charity, is having their first Charity Quiz Night at The Demi, in Consett on Wednesday 23rd November, 7.00pm start.It's a £5 entry & there are prizes and a prize raffle as per the Eventbright link here. There are some really good prizes available, including £100 first prize!It would be great if there was a DBN team of Quizzers too!We are also looking for raffle prize donations if anyone feels able to support & would l...

DIGITAL DRIVE COUNTY DURHAM SOCIAL MEDIA FESTIVAL 2022

DATE & TIME: Thursday, 6th October (9:15-16:45)We are pleased to announce that the Digital Drive Social Media Festival is back on Thursday 6th October at the Radisson Blu Hotel Durham.  This unmissable event has been created to help ambitious entrepreneurs and marketing teams take the next steps with their social media.We are pleased to announce that the Digital Drive Social Media Festival is back on Thursday 6th October at the Radisson Blu Hotel Durham.  This ...

POP-UP PRIMER PROGRAMME

The Pop-up Primer is a workshop programme designed to develop the retail skills of local creative and food and drink businesses.  We’re looking for businesses who would like to join this workshop programme, learn more about incorporating the pop-up format into their retail activities, and develop some of the unique skills that can help make pop-up retail a success.Hosted at Newcastle University Business School, online and at Sook, a pop-up retail space in the Metrocentre, Gateshead, these...

JOB OPENING AT DESIGN XPRESS, CONSETT

Do you know of anyone looking for work locally? Busy Large Format Print company seeks Full Time Administrative/Accounts assistant to join their small, friendly team based in Consett. The role can entail ever changing priorities and be fast paced. Job Description  As an Administrative Assistant your duties will be, but not limited to:  provide administrative support to the accounts and estimating Teamsprocessing high volumes of invoices and uploading to external client systemsconve...

ARE YOU A COACH, CONSULTANT OR ENTREPRENEUR LOOKING TO GET YOUR BRAND KNOWN ONLINE?

Listen in, because I’ve been invited by Sheryl Plouffe a former Canadian TV broadcaster and video strategist, to be a guest on CashinonCamera video podcast.  Talking about visual note-taking for business and Sheryl will offer insights on marketing, content creation, media and communication to help you grow your service-based business.I first met Sheryl in 2020 through the magic of Zoom.  Despite being stuck at home during lockdown, we connected virtually at a global business developm...