Gateshead Football Club has announced its latest signing after naming Newcastle travel agents Dawson & Sanderson as official travel partner. The travel company has entered into an exclusive agreement with the club until the end of the 2022/2023 season.
As part of the deal, the travel agents will be responsible for providing travel to away games for the club’s first team and staff and will sponsor the ladies’ first-team and training kit, men’s travel kit, under 19’s training kits, and the academy kit. Match-goers will also see the Dawson & Sanderson brand promoted on matchdays throughout the reception area, the corporate suite, and pitchside at the Gateshead International Stadium. Dawson & Sanderson has also gained partner membership to the Gateshead FC Business Club, which was launched last September to increase networking opportunities for businesses in and around the Gateshead area.
Bernard McWilliams, vice chairman of Gateshead Football Club, said: “We are delighted to announce our newest partnership with such a well-known and highly respected company. The team must have a reliable, flexible travel partner, and we look forward to working with the team at Dawson & Sanderson as we go through the season.”
Annelene Hutton, managing director at Dawson & Sanderson, said: “We are thrilled to have reached a deal with Gateshead FC to become the Official Travel Partner for this season. We have been serving the North East for over 60 years, offering an amazing choice of holidays, great value and award-winning customer service. We are immensely proud to be working with the club and wish them the very best for the rest of the season.”
North East law firm Mincoffs Solicitors has celebrated a special anniversary for a member of staff who has spent half a century with the firm.
Lesley Charlton, who works as an archivist at the Newcastle firm, has been with the business for 50 out of its 75-year history after joining in 1973 when she was just 16 years old. During this time, she has witnessed the firm go through changes including five company names, three different offices and the business growing from 35 staff to a team of more than 100.
Starting as an office junior assisting staff across all departments, she worked as a filing clerk before moving into archives, which housed old files, wills and title deeds. She also spent time as a general typist, helped former senior partner Howard Gold to draft and deal with wills, manned reception and also worked in the residential conveyancing department. She later spent time as a fee earner in the litigation department where she handled miners’ compensation and vibration white finger claims, before moving back into the archives department – which had become computerised since she had last been there.
She said: “When I first started at Mincoffs all those years ago, I couldn’t have imagined I would stay with the business for 50 years. I’ve had a whole multitude of different roles over the years but it’s the people who work here which have made it a place I wanted to stay and I can certainly say I have made friends for life.”
Lesley joins a number of staff members who have racked up decades of service with the business. Howard Gold – now a consultant – has 53 years with the business under his belt, client relations manager Chris Richardson boasts 45 years’ service and former head of residential conveyancing, Una Coulson, retired in 2020 after 40 years with the firm, along with legal secretary and fee earner Anne Henderson, who had been with the firm for 45 years.
Senior partner Paul Hughes, who has spent more than three decades with the firm, added: “Mincoffs is a fantastic place to work and there’s no better evidence of this than the number of staff we have who have chosen to spend the majority of their careers here.”
North East business Parkdean Resorts , the UK’s largest holiday park operator, has announced a new partnership with youth charity The Prince’s Trust. The agreement marks The Prince’s Trust’s first ever charitable partnership with a holiday park operator, and the two parties will work together to empower and support young people seeking employment, through a number of fundraising initiatives and development opportunities.
Parkdean Resorts said it will work closely with The Prince’s Trust to create meaningful opportunities for young people across the UK seeking employment, by developing exciting initiatives and work experience programmes within Parkdean’s operations and across its 66 holiday parks. The Newcastle company plans to join the Trust’s ‘Get Hired’ scheme, which bridges the gap between businesses looking for an efficient recruitment process and young people who are ready to move into work but are struggling to find the right opportunities.
The company is also hoping to participate in The Trust’s “Get Into” programme – two to four-week programmes which give young people an insight into the world of work and give them direct work experience within an industry. Parkdean Resorts will fundraise a minimum of £50,000 within the first two years to help The Prince’s Trust launch at least 20 in-school programmes for young people across the U.K. These dynamic programmes will help raise the aspirations of hundreds of young people at risk of disengaging with their studies and prepare them for a successful career.
Kerry Turnbull-Murphy, head of people services, said: “A career in hospitality is truly rewarding, and can help young people to develop the skills and confidence to thrive both professionally and personally. The Prince’s Trust is the gold-standard when it comes to supporting young people, so we’re absolutely thrilled to be working with them to share our expertise and help guide and nurture young talent in the hospitality sector.”
North East housebuilder Miller Homes raised almost £8,000 last year through a range of sponsored events for St Oswald’s Hospice. The charity, which provides specialist and expert care to adults and children with life-limiting conditions, will use the money to support its activities at its Gosforth hospice.
Fundraising activities included Active April, which raised £6350 as employees combined to walk 6,350 miles, including a 12-mile hike along Hadrian’s Wall. Construction site manager, Simon Wealleans, raised £265 completing the Great North Run in September; quality inspections manager, Jordan Taylor, then finished the Kielder Marathon, raising £260 that was matched by Miller Homes HQ, bringing the total to £520.
The company’s Christmas Coffee Morning, which included a raffle, raised £560, bringing the grand total to £7,895.
Miller Homes regional managing director, Patrick Arkle, said: “The service that St Oswald’s provides to people and families is invaluable to so many people in our region, so we’re delighted to have been able to support them over the past year. Everyone at Miller Homes within the region and across the site and sales teams has really embraced the organisation as our chosen charity and has gone the extra mile to raise money to help their cause. I’d like to congratulate everyone for such an outstanding effort over the past 12 months.”
St Oswald’s Hospice business partnerships fundraiser, Kirsty McDonald said: “Miller Homes has been a fundraising force over the past 12 months and we’ve loved seeing staff from across their organisation getting involved in support of our patients and families. As a local charity offering our services free of charge to those who need them, the support of our business community is vital in helping us raise the £8.5m needed each year to keep our doors open.”
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