Portfolio North’s second Business Lunch took place at Jesmond Dene House in Newcastle and was attended by 80 guests.
Sponsored by The SDDE Smith Group, Bradley Hall and JAM Prints and Marketing, the event brought together businesspeople from across Newcastle to network and hear from speakers on a range of topics.
The speakers were Peter Bartley from Bradley Hall, Ryan McKnight from The SDDE Smith Group, Jacob Palmer from Gosforth Family Chiropractic and Juliet Sanders from Feeding Families.
Guests of the sold-out event included solicitors, wealth managers and house builders from businesses including Miller Homes, Lowes Financial Management and Santander who all enjoyed a buffet lunch catered by Jesmond Dene House’s restaurant, Fern.
Cassie Moyse, director of Portfolio North said: “It’s fantastic to welcome so many of the region’s likeminded and dedicated professionals to our networking and knowledge events. Our speakers were inspiring and engaging, the venue were fantastic and most importantly we received some great feedback from our guests.
“One of our priorities is to support the North’s businesses with opportunities to be introduced to businesses and people who can develop mutually beneficial relationships – and our events are proving to be a fantastic environment to do this.”
Peter Bartley, Group Director of full-service property firm Bradley Hall, provided an update and forecast on commercial and residential properties in Newcastle and up-and-coming areas that would make good investments. With over 30 years of experience, Peter is a key figure in the property market and has a strong reputation as a property consultant and is renowned as the leading residential estate agency consultant in the area.
He noted that areas such as Ponteland and Darras Hall are consistently popular, but newer developments close to the city centre are also proving popular for those who want to be closer to transport links, their offices, local restaurants and bars and cultural venues.
He also spoke of the impact of Newcastle United Football Club on the city and the financial boost it has provided in terms of visitors to matches and the exponential success of both the men and women’s teams.
Director of People and Places at The SDDE Smith Group, Ryan McKnight, provided an update on some of The SDDE Smith Group’s companies, including holiday home rental company, Host & Stay, and their football club, Redcar Athletic. Ryan spoke passionately on current economic issues and challenges which many businesses are facing, and around corporate social responsibility.
Jacob Palmer, of Gosforth Family Chiropractic, shared an insight into supporting health and wellbeing for professionals, with information on how to support posture and ways to improve movement whilst working a desk-based job.
Juliet Sanders from Feeding Families talked through her charity’s journey from its initial conception as a small Christmas charity to the thousands of families they now help throughout the year from across the region.
The charity offers support and security to those experience food poverty in the North East and work closely with other organisations and agencies to ensure the thousands of people they help have access to Emergency Food Boxes and support packages. In the past year, the charity have donated 161,000 meals to families in need.
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