DARLINGTON PARTNERSHIP BOARD

WEDNESDAY 8th JULY 2015

TEESSIDE UNIVERSITY

VICARAGE ROAD, DARLINGTON

DL1 1JW

MINUTES

PRESENT

Alasdair MacConachie,(Chair) Michael Banks, Nick Barker, Ada Burns, Jan Cossins, Miriam Davidson, Bill Dixon, Graham Hall, Cyndi Hughes, Susan Johnson, Edmund Lovell, Mike Matthews, John McGovern, Gillian Peel, Mohammed Quader, Andy Scott, Heather Scott Katie Blundell, Colin Fyfe, Barbara Gubbins, Ron Hogg, Andrea Jones, Doris Jones, Kate Roe, Dave Orford, Tom Hunt

APOLOGIES

Mike Airey, Peter Barron, Mike Barton, Jonathan Fay, Cliff Hardcastle, Sue Jacques, Calvin Kipling, Rob Mills, Karen Grundy,

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE

Seth Pearson, Sharon Raine, Patrick Mashedar

ITEM 2: WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

The chairman thanked those present for attending and Teesside University for hosting the meeting.

The Board were asked to show support for Kate Roe, principal of Darlington College in her hard work following the college’s Ofsted inspection.

The Festival of Thrift was praised for having won an Observer Ethical Award.

ITEM 4: MINUTES – The minutes of the previous meeting held on May 13th 2015 were agreed as a true record.

ITEM 5: MATTERS ARISING – There were no matters arising

Item 6: Ingenious Darlington

Patrick Masheder and John Anderson attended to present an update on the Ingenious Darlington branding. The Board participated in a quiz to ‘test their ingenuity’ which raised awareness of key developments both in the history of Darlington and in the present day.

Significant discussion followed and warm support for the initiative was indicated.

ITEM 7: MAGAZINE/WEBSITE

Neil Bowerbank gave a presentation on the new One Darlington magazine which he explained is due to launch in September. He outlined how it is a partnership publication which will be delivered on a bi-monthly basis to over 53,000 residential and business properties.

As part of the magazine launch, there will be an accompanying website and it was proposed to the Board that Darlington Partnership and it’s social media presence be rebranded as One Darlington to sit in line with this.

There were four recommendations made to the Board:

1.  Agree to adopt the magazine

2.  Consider and agree the themes for the magazine which were given during the presentation

3.  Consider and agree the measures of success

4.  Agree that Darlington Partnership be renamed One Darlington

The recommendations were all agreed.

Cllr Hughes questioned whether the magazine will be made to be of interest to young people. It was explained that each partner is responsible for their own content so it is up to them whether it will be targeted at or of interest to young people. It was suggested that there may be a section of the magazine which could be edited by schools.

It was queried whether there would be commercial advertising in the publication. Currently there is no commercial advertising but this would be explored for future editions.

ITEM 8: DARLINGTON PARTNERSHIP ASSEMBLY

Seth Pearson gave an introduction to the next Darlington Partnership assembly which it was proposed will have culture as a theme with a focus on culture’s contribution to the local economy.

The Theme of the assembly was agreed.

Dates of Future Meetings:

September 9th 2015, Lingfield Point