North East business life: charity, community and award events of the week

A company set up by three entrepreneurs from the North East to support women in business in Newcastle and London has expanded its reach to Paris.

City Ladies Networking launched its events and support to English speaking women at an event at Canopy by Hilton Trocadero in the French capital, where the women met on the rooftop space to enjoy pastries and coffee. Hosted by Anna Kalbasko, who lives and works in Paris, the launch event was also attended by founders Natalie Turner, Sophie Milliken and Antonia Brindle.

Stephanie Gelot gave a talk at the inaugural event on being a Parisian woman in business. Giving a round up of her background to becoming a coach, facilitator and regenerative leader she motivated and inspired the attendees to enjoy living, working and learning in the French capital. Attendees included an internationally diverse and eclectic mix of nationalities and professions, all of whom conversed in English.

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Supported by NatWest and Hilton in the ��Ƶ, the organisation holds monthly breakfast meets in each city, with a guest speaker covering a hot topic, along with time to network and promote their business. The next event is held on February 13 with tickets available at eventbrite.

Cara Cunniff, an English business coach for leaders, who attended and lives in Paris said: “As an English speaking woman who lives in Paris, human and emotional connection with other entrepreneurs is crucial and has been very much missing until now. As well as the foundational support we can give each other, we all entered into conversations that gave us energy and motivation . You also never know who you are going to meet, we all felt there was potential to find our next client or collaboration.”

Richard Swart and Jonny Tull (Image: Open North Foundation)

A growing Tyneside film agency has tapped into a ‘game changing’ £2,000 business recovery grant from Open North Foundation (ONF) to aid the distribution of a new movie. Jonny Tull is founder of Tull Stories, which releases films in the ��Ƶ and provides support for independent cinemas, cultural organisations and filmmakers, festivals and other film distributors. Mr Tull has 25 years of frontline experience in film distribution, film programming and marketing for the cinema, heritage and arts and culture sectors.

Recent Tull Stories film releases include Mikey Corker’s documentary Savage Waters, Jens Meurer’s documentary Seaside Special, Maysoon Pachachi’s drama Our River…Our Sky and Jon Sanders’ ��Ƶ drama A Clever Woman. The funds will help Tull Stories to launch its recently acquired Icelandic, award-winning, black comedy, Driving Mum, into cinemas and online in March 2024.

He said: “The film that this grant award will be applied to represents a major gear change for Tull Stories. After years of bootstrapping its releases and with limited resources, this award will allow us to bring in an external PR specialist to work on Driving Mum’s release. We want this film to be in more than just the film pages of our newspapers.

“Without this award, we would have been limited to releasing without PR support. It will be transformative. Cinema and cinemagoing has been incredibly affected by the pandemic. Already an evolving pastime and one which requires care and attention and finger-on-the-pulse thinking, when Covid-19 closed cinemas and changed our habits, it moved how films were released, how they were consumed and how they were talked about ahead by about five years.

“Our own work has been impacted by several elements. We set up our company just prior to the global pandemic, meaning our startup was stalled for two years. in addition, our core aim, that of taking independent films to cinemas, has been rocked by the slower-than-anticipated return to cinemas by audiences.

“I’m so happy that I discovered the Open North Foundation. I was astounded to hear that it was volunteer-led, and am utterly grateful for the award. For a small, and emerging north east film sector business like mine, and especially one that is not operating in production, opportunities for support are hard to come by. To have the Open North Foundation recognise the hard work and ambition of what I’m hoping to achieve, as well as the hurdles we must pass, is incredibly supportive on a number of levels.”

Whinnie's Community Gardens receives the donation from Barratt Developments North East (Image: Barratt Developments North East)

A community garden in Gateshead has received £1,500 from housebuilder Barratt Developments North East. Whinnie’s Community Garden is open to all residents of Gateshead and surrounding areas, and features themed gardens, two play areas, the Chatterbox Cafe and a meeting place for groups and workshops. The garden also welcomes volunteers to help maintain the grounds.

Barratt Developments made the donation as part of its Community Fund initiative, established to reach those most in need living close to its developments. The donation follows the existing relationship between the two organisations, as last year saw staff members of the commercial team volunteer their time to carry out volunteering work.

The new donation will go towards the installation of an electricity supply to the garden, replacing a generator which was expensive to run.

Chris McLaren, chairperson at Whinnie’s Community Garden, said: “We want to say a huge thank you to Barratt Developments for its huge support of our community garden initiative. This donation will be instrumental in helping us bring electricity to the garden and continue to provide a vibrant and sustainable green space that benefits the local community.”

Alex Lawson, commercial director at Barratt Developments North East, added: “It was fantastic to get to know more about the work being done at Whinnie’s Community Garden. When we volunteered last year, it felt only right to continue our support of this initiative with our Community Fund. Green spaces are vital to local communities and a hub like Whinnie’s is exactly what’s needed in Gateshead, so we’re more than happy to help the team boost its capabilities to better serve local residents.”

The winners at the National Apprenticeship Awards (Image: JAY CAIN PHOTOGRAPHY)

Two apprentice ambassadors have been recognised for their outstanding contributions at the National Apprenticeship Awards. Paula McMahon, engineer for Sir Robert McAlpine, was named national champion at the event, hosted by the Department for Education and held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.

The North East Ambassador Network celebrated a double win, with GlaxoSmithKline degree apprentice, Francesca Hume, winning the Degree Apprentice of the Year Award at the same event. Ms McMahon, an Honorary Professor of Teesside University, has held a variety of roles on high profile projects, which she now leverages for extensive promotion of apprenticeships. As a former apprentice, she showcases apprenticeships as a route to success.

She said: “It’s a huge honour to win this prestigious award, following on from previous winners from our region, Ian Green and George Ritchie, who have done so much to promote and showcase apprenticeships to such huge audiences.

Ms Hume, who is a packaging professional degree apprentice at GSK, was singled out by judges for her ability to engage proactively with highly-skilled colleagues and teams from different departments, growing her own confidence and developing communication skills, which she uses to inspire young people to take up apprenticeships and careers in STEM.

She said: “Pursuing an apprenticeship with GSK and Sheffield Hallam University has allowed me to gain technical skills and confidence, helping me to progress in the workplace. I would recommend the packaging professional degree apprenticeship to anyone wishing to develop or upskill in the in industry.”

Left to right: David Charlton, head of operations at Newcastle Building Society, Hannah Moeini, project manager at Community @NE66 and Greg Brown, manager at Newcastle Building Society’s Alnwick branch (Image: Newcastle Building Society)

A North Northumberland charity’s twin drive to reduce food waste and support local families facing food insecurity has received a four-figure boost from the Newcastle Building Society Community Fund at the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.

Community @NE66 is working with a number of local supermarkets to ensure that fresh food which is reaching its sell by date, and which otherwise might have ended up being thrown away, can be made available to people that could use it. The project focuses primarily on families living in the Clayport ward in Alnwick, but it is available to anyone living across north Northumberland and currently has around 250 people benefiting from it every week.

The £4,732 grant, which is the second one that Community @NE66 has received, is now being used to help cover the project’s running costs, which include making deliveries to people with additional needs and topping up supplies with specific items when required.

Hannah Moeini, project manager at Community @NE66, said: ““We wouldn’t be able to be delivering what’s proving to be a highly valued and effective project without Newcastle Building Society’s support and we’re really grateful for their continuing backing for our community work.”

Greg Brown, manager at Newcastle Building Society’s Alnwick branch, added: “The Community @NE66 has recognised a clear local need, a way of addressing it and the structure needed to do so. The positive impact that it’s having on the lives of hundreds of people across the local community is clear and we’re very pleased to be able to help them deliver this very effective project.”