Collaboration with Haines Watts and Cardinal Hume Catholic School

Employability / March 17th, 2022

Collaboration with Haines Watts and Cardinal Hume Catholic School

Our most recent partnership for our Employability Programme was with Haines Watts Accountancy firm.

As part of this programme, students participated in workshops at the Newcastle and Leeds offices, which focused on CV’s, mock interviews and LinkedIn. To help raise their aspirations, students visited Newcastle University and Leeds Beckett. During sessions with BSBCIO, students were given a unique insight into working at the firms with career podcasts from a variety of employees from Partners to Graduate schemes.

To further push students out of their comfort zones, our Sixth Form Students took part in a gorge walk at Alston. The students developed teamwork skills essential to their future success.

For the finale of our programme, students delivered some impressive presentations which focused on what they had learnt with BSBCIO and Haines Watts regarding CV’s, mock interviews and LinkedIn. It was clear that the students had really increased their confidence and had developed their ability to present ideas under pressure, key skills which will serve them well in the world of work!

Both of these programmes have been highly successful, and we are extremely grateful for the extensive in person and financial support given by Haines Watts. Haines Watts organised a series of charity events to raise money towards the sponsorship, this included coffee mornings, a Bake off, sponsored team events such as football/running and finally a raffle.

“I would like to thank Building Self-Belief for organising and delivering such a high-quality programme to our students. The students can be extremely proud of how far they have come within this programme which has been a very postive experience for them. I would highly recommend the programme because of the level of support it gives to young people in preparing them for their next steps in life ”

- Mr M Stobbs, Cardinal Hume Catholic

Heritage / March 8th, 2024

Jean Simmons - Consett Heritage Podcast

Our volunteer, Maisie Dobson, conducts an interview with her great-grandma, Jean Simmons, aged 96, discussing life and work in Consett during the peak of the Consett Steelworks era. During the conversation, Jean mentions a royal visit to the steelworks, prompting Maisie to enquire about its accuracy. Upon researching, we discovered that the event did indeed occur. Listen in to enjoy this unique recording, offering insights into the social history of Consett.

Heritage / October 14th, 2024

Duncan Barnett - Consett Heritage Podcast

Duncan Barnett's ancestors came to Consett in the 1700s to work at the very earliest incarnation of the iron works, and his family worked in 'the Works' for generations. His job was in the plate mill. After the closure, he went on to get his degree, masters and PGCE and worked in the community with young people to support crime prevention in the young, and as a district councillor for Benfieldside. As well as this, he played in bands and worked in security for bands in the area. Listen to what he has to say about his eventful life in Consett and beyond.

Heritage / February 3rd, 2025

Designing a Steel Statue for Consett

On Tuesday 28th January, we hosted a fundraiser and design session to generate some ideas about what the community want the Ray Lonsdale statue to look like. We were very lucky to have renowned artist Ray Lonsdale with us, who gave a talk about his artistic journey and past designs, and answered all of our questions about his statues and how we should go about creating our own for Consett.