This month's guest speakers on Wednesday 11th November 2026 9.15am – 11.15am 2026 Richard Carroll Head of Procurement for DCC and Lead for County Durham Pound Debbie Howe and Jo Long County Durham Pound: Connecting Local Businesses, Creating Local Opportunity This event looks to bring together SMEs from across the Barnard Castle and Teesdale areas to explore the opportunities available through the County Durham Pound. While the session will provide an introduction to social value and what it means for local businesses, the real focus will be on connection and collaboration. It is an opportunity to understand how the County Durham Pound can facilitate opportunities, build relationships with other local businesses and understand how we can better connect Tier 2, 3 and 4 suppliers into wider supply chains through Partner and Supporter spend. By bringing buyers, partners and local SMEs together, we want to create stronger local networks, open up new opportunities and help more County Durham businesses benefit from spending taking place within the county and, of course, create those Community Social Value benefits at the same time! The event will be attended by partners from the County Durham Pound Board and facilitated by the Pound’s new Supporter, Jo Long Consulting. Come along, make connections, and help us keep the County Durham Pound local. With over 1 billion pounds delivered in social value in the first three years, how can we connect better to the South of the County? The Networking group meets on the 2nd Wednesday of each month here at Enterprise House in Barnard Castle. Meetings are from 09:30am - 11:00am and we are proudly sponsored by Business Durham - the business support service for Durham County Council. Meetings are FREE to attend and open to all businesses (not just those in Teesdale) but places are limited so you will need to book your place. Bookings can be made via our website, www.e-house.co.uk or by contacting us on 01833 696750. Complimentary tea, coffee, juice and light breakfast refreshments will be available.
