Aycliffe Today Business PNE1578_AycliffeTodayBusiness_Issue28_WEBhighres | Page 6

Simon Goon to leave Business Durham role
6 | Aycliffe Today Business
PUBLISHING GROWTH PROVES A POINT
Someone said to me recently on social media : “ has the paper mag not had its day ?”
The guy in question was commenting on a Facebook post about one of our new publications .
“ Everyone uses the internet these days , I can ’ t see why people would want it ” he added .
He was responding to a post about the launch of a new lifestyle magazine , Tees Life , which is published by my new company , Resolution Media and Publishing .
To a certain extent , he ’ s right . Just about everyone is online today , and certain sectors of the print industry are in decline .
However , the growth of magazines , in our experience , isn ’ t .
Many will remember the very first Aycliffe Today Business magazine , launched in November 2012 . It consisted of 16 pages and , looking back , it represented something of a primitive company brochure .
The magazine quickly took off , however , and has since more than doubled in size .
Off the back of the success of this magazine , we launched a new quarterly business magazine for Teesside , Tees Business , in February 2015 , and that has also doubled in size from 36 to 72 pages .
And more recently we launched Tees Life , a brand new quarterly lifestyle publication which is delivered free to homes and businesses across Teesside including Wynyard , Eaglescliffe , Yarm , Ingleby Barwick , Wolviston , Hartburn , Nunthorpe , Marton and Guisborough .
All of these publications are free , funded purely through traditional advertising and sponsored content ( advertorials ), so by the simple fact we ’ re continually adding pages proves there ’ s demand for them , certainly from advertisers .
But the trick is making sure they ’ re reader-friendly . It ’ s all very well having a high-quality magazine , but if it ’ s just full of adverts , press releases and generic content sourced from the web , readers will quickly switch off .
We try to keep our readers engaged with original content , as well as news – some of which is already in the public domain – and we ’ ll always continue to try to come up with good and informative content people enjoy reading .
You can read more about Resolution Media and Publishing and Tees Life on pages 10 & 11 .
Thanks for reading . Martin Walker Editor , Aycliffe Today

Aycliffe firm Roman wins Queens Award

Newton Aycliffe-based shower designer and manufacturer Roman has received The Queens Award for Enterprise for International Trade .
Roman has been awarded the recognition for International Trade as it has shown a substantial and sustained increase in export earnings over three consecutive 12-month periods , to a level which is outstanding .
The Queens Award is made on the advice of the Prime Minister after examination of applications by an Advisory Committee composed of leading individuals from industry , commerce , trade unions and government .
The awards are conferred by her Majesty the Queen on her birthday in April .
As part of The Queens Award , Roman will be invited by The Queen to attend a winners celebratory ceremony held at Buckingham Palace .
There will also be a ceremony held at Roman Headquarters where a presentation will be made by The Queen ’ s representative , the Lord Lieutenant of County Durham .
Roman design and manufacture shower enclosures and solid surface products for the bathroom at its headquarters on Aycliffe Business Park .
The firm has three manufacturing plants – one for shower enclosures , bath screens and wetrooms , and another for solid surface fabrication of vanity units , basins and bathroom structures , and the third for moulding solid surface shower trays .
Roman has achieved such a strong position in the market place by consistent and creative product innovation and has produced significant growth across all UK market sectors and in the past five years , while it has established subsidiaries in Ireland and Malaysia .
The Aycliffe manufacturer is currently active in 28 international markets and has supplied products for projects in over 50 markets across the world from County Durham .
Roman is among an impressive list of Europe ’ s top 1,000 fastest growing companies . The entire FT1000 ranking featured in a Special Report of the Financial Times .

Simon Goon to leave Business Durham role

A leading figure in the region ’ s business community has announced he is to leave his post later this year .
Simon Goon , managing director of Business Durham , is stepping down from his position at the economic development company to take up a job as chief operating office at Synoptica , an early-stage Artificial Intelligence company based in Guilford , Surrey .
Mr Goon , who will leave in August , has held his position at Business Durham for the last four years , overseeing the growth of the NetPark science site at Sedgefield , as well as developing employment sites elsewhere in the county .
He said : “ I have enjoyed a great few years at Business Durham , helping the organisation to achieve its aim of supporting businesses to create wealth and jobs for County Durham and driving enterprise and innovation .
“ I ’ ve worked with a brilliant team who care passionately about the economic development of County Durham .
“ I ’ d like to thank them for their support and I look forward to an exciting new chapter in my career working in a sector which is at the cutting edge of economic advancement .”