editor’s WORD

4 Hello and welcome to the latest edition of North East Times Magazine.

I don’t know about you, but I find the world to be so noisy these days.

No, not the constant whizz of traffic, the wannabe death metal star thrashing away next door or the shouty café dweller who has seemingly invited us all into their conversation.

I mean the racket of useless press releases dropping into my inbox.

You know the ones: Steal Khloe Kardashian’s look (no thanks, she’s more than welcome to keep it); the regions that spend the most on furniture; smell better by putting your perfume in the fridge; apples are South Carolina’s favourite fruit…

Then there’s the perpetual political bluster, the mass of clickbait articles and the vitriolic extremes of social media, where people slide the volume to 11 and shout in capital letters at anyone who dares to deviate from their narrative.

And it was while reacting with (now standard) bemusement to Commons' goings-on, hitting the delete button, escaping unwieldy websites and muting profiles that I thought of this column because, while all around gets louder, North East Times Magazine continues to cut through the noise.

This edition is a perfect example.

It begins on a 21-mile stretch of mothballed rail line between Pelaw, in Gateshead, and Ferryhill, in County Durham, with a detailed feature that lobbies the Government to revive the route and provide stronger transport links and no little economic stimulus.

It continues with deep insight around combatting the region’s skills challenges, with experts from academia and business channelling their thoughts on how to develop existing staff while ushering through new generations.

It extends through a special report alongside architectural practice Corstorphine & Wright, which investigates healthcare through the prism of sustainability, analysing the future direction of support from the intersection of design and wellness.

And it spreads further in the latest of our features on law firm Ward Hadaway’s Fastest 50 list, which this time focuses on the successes of historic building materials merchant JT Dove.

Longevity is celebrated too in our piece with Lucy Gardiner and Darren Richardson, whose eponymous strategic brand communications firm is marking 25 years.

Theirs is a story of friendship and optimism, of identifying a gap in the market and staying supple to trends and technological changes to keep on thriving.

And we mark another milestone in our feature with Dr Arnab Basu, the face of NETPark-based Kromek, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Despite its relatively tender years, the business long since came of age, with its radiation detection equipment helping thwart terror plots and driving improvements across medical scanning.

But, as Dr Basu says, its journey is still only just beginning.

Five minutes with... Nicky Jolley is managing director of HR2day, the Darlington-based provider of human resources support to firms across the North East and beyond. Here, she tells Steven Hugill about the company’s growth, why HR is far more than a perceived box-ticking exercise, and why, despite its continued expansion, the business will never lose its personal touch.

There were thrills aplenty as The Hoppings made a triumphant return to Newcastle’s Town Moor. Featuring hundreds of attractions and sideshows, Europe’s largest funfair once again sent thousands of visitors wild with excitement.

A roundtable discussion, hosted by North East Times Magazine alongside award-winning architectural practice Corstorphine & Wright, saw sector leaders and key academic thinkers investigate wellbeing through the prism of sustainability.

Grow

Closing this month’s issue of North East Times Magazine, Keith Miller, chair at Cramlington-headquartered international earthmover bucket and coupler maker Miller, reflects on the firm’s 45th anniversary, its plans for future growth and its place within the global sustainability agenda.

Behind The Cover

“After sitting and chatting with Arnab, I wanted to capture a little bit of his calm and friendly character. His stories are engaging and inspiring; one thing that stuck with me is how he is always looking to the future but not forgetting where he started.”

Mike Sreenan, photographer