Clydesdale bank's Presentation on the Economy

Last night Sandra, Michael, Emma and I attended an event at Clydesdale Bank, Kingstown. The evening started with opportunity to do some networking with local business people and professionals along with the team from Clydesdale. This was a great opportunity to meet new people and catch up with local contacts.

This was followed by a welcome from David Hannon, Managing Partner at Clydesdale and then a presentation by Economist Nick Parsons. Nick is the Head of the Bank's Research for UK and Europe and regularly contributes on Sky News. Nick's presentation covered his thoughts on the global economy and the UK economy and it was really interesting to see which economies are rapidly growing and also the future prospects for the UK economy. From Nick's presentation the UK economy is expected to continue to grow very slowly in the next year which is positive.

Following the presentation Nick answered questions from the audience. This was a really interesting and informative evening and now we just need to see what happens in the economy going forward.

Alison Welton

Cumbria Freemasons in Association with Kendal Amateur Boxing Club - Charity Fundraiser

On Friday evening Michael Peile, Craig Pollock and myself hosted a table at a black tie charity boxing event held at the Shepherds Inn in Carlisle. The evening started at seven o’clock with drinks before a three-course meal.

The boxing began with two ‘exhibition’ bouts featuring local youngsters before moving on to the main event featuring ten three round bouts. The first official bout of the evening was sponsored by David Allen and I presented the trophies on behalf of David Allen and was relieved to get in and out of the ring without tripping over the ropes!

At the half way point a raffle and charity auction was held. Unfortunately no one from our table won anything, although I did have a “winning” blue ticket only to find out that it was the wrong serial number? The charity auction featured various sporting memorabilia including signed boxing gloves from David Haye and Ricky Hatton with the highest bid of the evening for a signed Liverpool football shirt??

As the evening progressed the boxers got bigger and stronger and as our table was at ringside we had a perfect view of the power and skill of the lads involved and we all agreed that we were glad to be sitting enjoying a few drinks and would not relish the thought of facing any of the boxers in the ring.

It was reassuring to see how important the safety of the boxers was taken and the professionalism and discipline of all concerned, with each fight ending with handshakes all round.

The event raised in excess of £8,000 for charity; at David Allen we are always keen to support any event that encourages youngsters into a fit and active lifestyle and so in that respect Friday night was a great success.

Derek Baty

Employer Services Seminar

Thank you to all who attended our David Allen Employer Services Seminar yesterday. The feedback has been fantastic, we are pleased you found the Seminar informative and you enjoyed a catch up with David and Sandra. It seems the danish pastries were popular too!

Special thanks to Chris Strutt from Strutt & Co Solicitors who gave us his expertise on topical and key areas of Employment Law.

The Employer Services and Wealth Management teams are always here and happy to help with any employment related issues or financial planning needs you may have.

Jill Hetherington

Free Employer Services Seminar

Our FREE Employer Services Seminar is happening this Thursday 23 February 2012.

The aim of the Seminar is to help our Employer clients by giving some practical advice on the basic areas of employment, including Sickness and Holiday pay, Contracts of Employment, Redundancy and an opportunity to have a free Employer sponsored Financial Health Check.

We are delighted that employment solicitor Chris Strutt, from Strutt & Co is joining Kevin Collier and myself on Thursday to add his expertise on Employment Law.

Thank you to those that booked on, and we are looking forward to seeing you Thursday.

Jill Hetherington

Work Experience

Alex McGeorge chose to spend his half term with us on work experience from Richard Rose Academy. This week was not a curriculum requirement; having spent a week at another accountants in year 10 with nothing more than typing to do, he contacted us to learn what accountancy was about.

I want to thank everyone for enriching Alex' experience of accountancy. By spending time with each team within the office, he now appreciates what the accountancy service is all about and what we do differently to our competitors.

Alex is also my Careers Academy mentee and I was delighted with the positive feedback I have received about his keenness and attitude all week. This is just the start of our 18 month working relationship and I see good things developing for Alex' career.

Kirstie Somerville

Farmhouse Breakfast Week 2012

There’s nothing quite like starting the day off with a proper cooked breakfast, so when the NFU invited me to join them in support of the Farmhouse Breakfast Week 2012, I was more than happy to be involved.

Farmhouse Breakfast Week is an annual campaign which has been running for a couple of years to raise the awareness of the benefits of eating a healthy British breakfast. The event was being held in the boardroom of Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors at Rosehill, Carlisle and sponsored by the Clydesdale Bank.

All proceeds for the breakfast was going to The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) which is a grant-making charity that supports members of the farming community facing need, hardship or distress.

A worthy cause and a great way to start the day!

David

NABO Meeting in Dalston

I attended my first NABO meeting yesterday morning which was held in our boardroom at our Dalston office.

I, along with Hazel Phillips of Burnetts solicitors were new to the event but the host Tanya Moxon made everyone feel very welcome and ensured introductions were made and that the meeting remained focused.

We watched a short video which questioned what systems we each had in place for marketing and how much time we actually spent on our own businesses, this set the scene for an open discussion amongst the group and also led into how social media such as Facebook can be used as a way to promote our services.

If you’d like more information or would like to book a place on a future NABO events please contact tanya.moxon@gmail.com or lisa@winderhall.com.

Carrie Taylor

An Evening of Football

I spent a very different Valentine's evening watching Carlisle United v Tranmere Rovers. I was invited to the sponsors lounge by Charlie Notman and Mally Peacock from C & M Pipework Ltd and enjoyed some good food with some good crack.

The football wasn't very eventful with a 0-0 result but at least they didn't lose! The lack of goals made guess the first goal and half time score etc a bit problematic but with a few lucky dips the prizes were shared out.

Kirstie Somerville

David Allen meets HRH Prince Edward

Stephen Mason and myself had the pleasure of meeting HRH Prince Edward Earl of Wessex KG GCVO on Monday at the official opening of the Blackburn Youth Zone.

After our guided tour of the Blackburn Youth Zone and its fantastic facilities, we had the opportunity to discuss with HRH the great work that is going on with young people in Carlisle.

HRH was well aware of the specific issues in Cumbria and clearly takes a keen interest in the area.

The opening of the Blackburn Youth Zone is yet another milestone in the great work performed by Youth Zones across the country and the dedication and commitment to provide a suitable and encouraging environment to bring young people together.

David Allen

Apprenticeship Celebration & Awards Evening 2012

Myself and Michael Peile attended the 2012 Apprenticeship Celebration and Awards Evening at Lakes College, West Cumbria yesterday evening as guests of the college.

The Lakes College supports over 800 apprentices and engages over 500 local employers with their Apprenticeship programme in a huge variety of areas including Business Administration, Retail, Hair and Beauty, Construction, Catering, Engineering and Health and Social Care.

Categories of awards included Adult Apprentice of the Year and Against All Odds Apprentice of the Year and we were entertained by the special guest speaker, young entrepreneur Fraser Doherty. Fraser is the founder of 100% pure fruit jam company SuperJam, a business he started at the age of 14 after being taught to make jam by his gran. Fraser became the youngest ever supplier to a major supermarket chain when Waitrose launched the range in March 2007. Fraser was also recently named the ‘Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year’.

The evening also included the launch of the ‘Stay West Scheme’ which is a new initiative funded by the Big Lottery Fund and aims to assist those with learning difficulties enter the workplace.

Vicki Moffat

Penrith & Border Agribusiness Club

I was kindly invited to attend this event via Richard Miller (Burnetts Solicitors) which was originally organised by Rory Stewart's office to get the local farming community including advisors in his Constituency, to highlight the challenges being faced by the industry today.

The event was held at Stoneybeck Inn nr Penrith and was chaired by Nick Utting, with special guest Lord Henley (formerly of Defra now the Home Office) discussing the issues of crime and theft in rural areas plus Rory Stewart giving a brief on rural issues raised in Parliament and what we (guests) wanted to contribute. There was a lively discussion from various people and both Lord Henley and Rory encouraged all feedback and took away some useful points.

The next meeting will be held on the eve of Skelton Show which I am looking forward to as this can only be positive for the industry and Rory has been successful in promoting Cumbrian Agriculture.

Sandra

NEWS Networking

Last night I attended a NEWS meeting at the Market Hall Conference Centre, Wigton.

NEWS stands for Network of Enterprising Women in Solway. It is a group for businesswomen throughout Cumbria, who meet once a month to share knowledge, offer support, promote business and provide networking opportunities. It was the first NEWS meeting I have been to so I was a little unsure what to expect.

Carol Milnes of CA Events PR and Marketing Ltd http://www.ca-events.co.uk was the guest speaker for the evening. Carol has many years of experience in her profession and suggested ways to make our businesses more visible in the marketplace. There was also time to network and 'Care and Share' any problems or successes with the group.

The meeting was structured, refreshments were provided and I did get to meet some new and interesting people from various business backgrounds.

More information about the NEWS group can be found on the following link http://www.biz-news.org.uk/

Carrie Taylor

Cumbria on a Plate

Myself and Vicki Moffat went along to Crosby Lodge on Friday evening, as we were invited by Cumberland Agricultural Society to the launch of the 2012 Cumberland Show.

The event was held at Crosby Lodge and the theme was ‘Cumbria on a plate’. The Boyle family from Mallsgate Hall supplied their local lamb and we had an array of typical Cumbrian dishes including Tattie Pot, and the wine was kindly supplied by Pippa Sedgewick Wines to complement the dishes.

The evening was finished off by a speech from Neil Milbourn Chairman of the Cumberland Agricultural Society where he thanked the Boyle family for supplying the succulent lamb and Pippa Sedgewick for the wine. Neil went on to say that the 2012 Cumberland Show will be bigger and better than previous years and that not only is it on a different date – Saturday 9 June but entrance to children will be free.

An excellent evening with over 60 business people attending and who are all looking forward to Saturday 9 June......let’s hope the weather doesn’t let us down!!!

Jackie Matthews

Be part of our Virtual Tour

We are proud of our offices at David Allen and are always keen to show any visitors round. From the welcome you receive when walking into our reception, to the fantastic views from the windows in the boardroom, we have received many comments that our offices are certainly not what you expect from a typical accountancy practice. So how could we ensure more people have the opportunity of a guided tour?

Our solution…put a virtual tour on our website so that any of our online visitors catch a glimpse of us while we work.

We certainly wanted the tour to be slick and professional so we contacted John Harkins and Susanna Boccaccio, Directors of Brilliant Trees Media Limited. John and Susanna worked with us from the outset to get an understanding of what we wanted to achieve then helped prepare an outline of what the tour would involve. They organised the filming so there was minimal disruption to our working day and were very professional throughout the shoot guiding our budding actors and actresses.

Doing a virtual tour was a new experience for us and it was great fun but most importantly it gives people a chance to see our staff in the offices where they work. I cannot recommend Brilliant Trees Media enough for all their invaluable support and if you would like more information about the work they do then you can find their website at www.brillianttreesmedia.co.uk

David Allen

To see our Virtual Tour click here

Ladies @ Lunch

I have just attended my first “Ladies at Lunch” meeting today and prior to attending I wondered whether this would just turn out to be a group of ladies taking the opportunity to have a lazy lunch with a chance to have a gossip.

This was certainly not the case!

The networking event was being hosted by Jeni Banks from May Fifteen and anyone who knows Jeni, understands her energy and passion for bringing business people together and helping them raise their profiles.

The ladies were treated to a scrumptious two course meal at the Hallmark Hotel but more importantly, we had the chance to share information about our businesses and build new connections.

It was great to learn about people like Emma from BabyCakes who has been asked to feature her business in Vogue magazine…and Nicola from Jardine Finan who are moving their business location premises to Kingstown.

So next time you are looking to make new connections, it’s certainly worth joining one of May Fifteen’s events.

Julie Campbell

NABO at the Andalusian

Last night I attended a NABO meeting at the Andalusian. It was the first NABO meeting I have been to so I was a little unsure what to expect.

Tanya Moxon was a very welcoming host and the meeting whilst structured had a relaxed atmosphere which allowed an open and honest debate. The meeting also provided a great opportunity to meet some new and interesting people from various business backgrounds.

In addition to this, the Andalusian also provided some fantastic food!

If you’d like more information or would like to book a place on a future NABO events please contact tanya.moxon@gmail.com or lisa@winderhall.com.

Jill Hetherington