The first ever Textiles Tea Shop Roadshow took place at 6 different locations (Manchester, Tameside, Oldham, Bury, Bolton and Rochdale) across Greater Manchester throughout June and July. Supported by the European Social Fund and led by the Alliance Project based at New Economy, the aim of the pop up events was to bring attention to the resurgence of the Greater Manchester textiles industry.

The campaign was launched at the Manchester Arndale Market by brand ambassadors Coronation Street actresses and stars Jennie McAlpine and Sair Khan, who have both supported and been very vocal about the importance of the project.

The industry currently employs 11,300 people and generates £650 million for the local economy. Employers and learning providers estimate the creation of 400 new jobs each year over the next decade, amounting to 20,000 vacancies. The Textiles Tea shop invited anyone interested in joining the sector to pop in for a cup of tea, a cake and a chat about these new opportunities.

For those who once worked in the sector before much of the work and the garments and products themselves were sourced overseas, this seems to be something that is long overdue. With a huge consumer demand for quality goods that are sourced and made in the UK, there are a significant amount of jobs being created.

Also visiting were those interested in honing the skills they already possessed either from previously working in textiles or even practical sewing at home. The scheme also offered prospects for unemployed young people with a passion for textiles through varied apprenticeships so they could develop their skills whilst earning. These apprenticeships offer the ability of earning a wage at work whilst learning and developing the necessary abilities to forge a career in the textiles industry.

A wide variety of people attended the Textiles Tea Shop events, many with required skills that are high in demand, but were not aware that there were still career pathways available to them. These events definitely seem to have raised awareness of these new opportunities and the upcoming revival of the textiles industry in Manchester.

Celia Thornley of New Economy said: “The Textiles Tea Shop campaign was aimed at promoting research into the textiles sector in Greater Manchester- which it did successfully. After just one week of the last campaign date, twelve people had secured full time job roles in the sector and media interaction has hit the roof.”

For more information on the Textiles Tea Shop please visit: http://www.textilesteashops.co.uk

New Economy: http://neweconomymanchester.com

After eight highly successful years in Newcastle, the Thinking Digital Conference is expanding into the North West and will launch Thinking Digital Manchester on 2nd & 3rd November 2015 with the help of Don’t Panic. 

• Joi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab
• Ray Kurzweil, Director of Engineering, Google
• Ralph Rivera, Director, BBC Digital
• Holly Lloyd, Technical Director, Pixar
• Russell Davies, Contributing Editor, WIRED
• Greg Dyke, Chairman, The Football Association
• Dan Pink, author of DRIVE
• Johnny Chung Lee, R&D, Google
• Sugata Mitra, TED Prize winner
• Mikko Hypponen, Cybersecurity guru
• Peter Gregson, Cellist & Composer
• Andy Stanford-Clark, Master Inventor, IBM
• Carl Ledbetter, Senior Designer, Xbox
• Jemima Kiss, Guardian
• Aza Raskin, VP Design, Jawbone
• Maggie Philbin, Presenter, BBC One
• Professor Hans Rosling, Karolinska Institute

The TMRW Conference, brainchild of futurist Tom Cheesewright (Book of the Future) took place at Manchester Central as part of IP EXPO Manchester on Wednesday 20th May. Created as a way to bring the North’s disparate digital and tech communities together, TMRW was an amalgamation of thought-provoking panels, interactive workshops and phenomenal keynote speakers.

Kicking things off, Sir Richard Leese of TMRW Sponsor Manchester City Council and MC Tim Lovejoy were both in agreement: “Manchester is a city that is really going places!”

The first keynote was from world-renowned hacker, entrepreneur and whistle-blower Samy Kamkar, who opened the conference with an engaging and humorous talk discussing his early days as the inventor of the infamous MySpace SamyWorm (which culminated in the US authorities seizing his computers), to his current hacking project which enables him to hijack drones- thus highlighting the real issue of security in the digital age.

Throughout the day there were panels on topics including ‘Smart Cities’, where Nathan Cornish and Gavin J Elliott suggested banning cars for a more pleasant experience. ‘Personal Shopping’ and using personal data to create a thoroughly personalized experience, where Polly Barnfield OBE’s advice to retailers was “Be your shopper’s friend”.

Other panels included innovation in digital currencies and the rise of Bitcoin as well as 3D printing, where it was shown that a 3D printer was used at Gt Ormond St hospital to allow a surgeon to see a 3D model of a heart pre-op.

There was also a Live Lounge experiential space featuring 3D printing with Hobs Studio, bio-hacking E.coli to make it glow in the dark with MadLab and a virtual trip to Venice with VR company Gemalto Cinterion.

Finally, keynote speaker Professor Brian Cox delivered an extraordinary presentation on the universe from Manchester.

I was lucky enough to interview Brian about what he thinks the future holds for Manchester. Speaking on the topic of tech and digital bringing Manchester to the forefront of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’, Brian said we are definitely right to be optimistic:

“The future for Manchester is bright. We’ve had the foundations in place for a long time. Just look at the University, it’s one of the great world universities, and we are lucky to have that here. That provides the nucleus, if you look at any of the great intellectual powerhouses they are built around universities. We’ve also got this post-industrial heritage. We’re fortunate to have all these foundations, but now we’ve got this energy that is being invested in properly. I think we’re right to be optimistic about this city. Manchester was always an exciting place to be – arguably this post-industrial renaissance began in the times of Factory Records when you see this culture beginning to build, but now its not only about music, it’s about this high tech industry and the foundations and investments it has brought.”

TMRW’s official sponsors were Manchester City Council, Prolific North, The Business Desk, Manchester Digital, Heineken, IoD, MIDAS, KPMG, Hobs Studio, Digital Innovation, Manchester Metropolitan University and Centre for Enterprise.

TMRW will return in 2016, we look forward to seeing you all there.

Lydia Wagster

Last Thursday we managed the JustGiving Awards on behalf of our client JustGiving. It was the fourth year we’ve helped out with the awards which celebrate and congratulate outstanding fundraisers, teams and charities who’ve done incredible things for causes they care about.

As always it was an evening of high emotion and none more so than the posthumous recognition of nineteen year old Stephen Sutton for his outstanding commitment to fundraising for the Teenage Cancer Trust . Stephen raised almost £5 million for the charity and will always be remembered for his positivity and inspiration in the face of adversity. We’re proud to have been part of a celebration that recognised the efforts of Stephen and so many other incredible people.

The UK Search Awards are now in their fourth year and attract hundreds of entries from the leading search and digital agencies from across the UK & Europe. Deadline for entries is Friday 12 September (with a late entry deadline of the 17th) and this year’s awards ceremony will take place at The Troxy, London on Thursday 6 November.

The awards will be followed by a UK Search Conference early next year which will feature keynotes, panel sessions and case studies from many of our 2014 winners and will be hosted by Microsoft at their London HQ.

Nicky Wake, MD of events agency Don’t Panic who launched the UK industry awards in 2011 followed by the European Search Awards in 2012 and the US Search Awards in 2013 said of the conference “The follow on conference to the UK Search Awards is an opportunity to share valuable case studies of winning work and without doubt this is good practice for the industry. It’s also one of the must attend events for those working in SEO, PPC and digital marketing and we’re extremely grateful to Microsoft for their support and use of their auditorium.”

More details will be announced on the evening of the UK Search Awards.

Don’t Panic are proud to have played a part in remembering the outbreak and impact of World War One in Manchester. On Monday the 4th of August, one hundred years after Britain entered the war, we worked with Belgian PR agency Twice and their client Visit Flanders to remind commuters of the sacrifice made by all those involved in the conflict.

Paper boys in period clothing delivered free copies of The Flanders Fields Post to commuters in Manchester’s Piccadilly train station, Piccadilly Gardens and on the city’s Metrolink tram system. A special delivery was also made to the Imperial War Museum North.

Based on the Britsh front line publication The Wipers Times, the special edition newspaper is also being issued on key dates in cities around the world to commemorate the First World War.

Andrew Daines, Director of VISITFLANDERS UK, said: “The contribution and sacrifice made by the hundreds and thousands of men from across the UK and the impact it had and continues to have on society is almost beyond comprehension. Flanders Fields bore witness to some of the worst atrocities, as well as stories displaying immense humility. Through this newspaper, we invite people to visit, to reflect, to remember and to learn from this monumental period in history.”