Author: r.mcdonald

Teqex’s 2nd annual Emerald Ball took place at the Hilton Hotel Manchester over the weekend, raising much needed funds for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.The brainchild of entrepreneur Dean Mason, the event was set up with the help of his team in the hopes of raising thousands of pounds for the hospital through a grand prize auction and raffle during the evening.

Last year, the event raised £7,000 for the cause. This year, the amount raised more than tripled, reaching a staggering £21,720.

Attendees included Coronation Street’s Katie McGlynn, Kym Marsh, Antony Cotton, Ryan Prescott and James Burrows as well as TV presenter Olivia Birchenough.

Guests were entertained by a host of live acts. 2014 X Factor winner Ben Haenow performed a medley of popular hits including some of his own original tracks and was a big hit, with everyone queueing up to grab a selfie with the singer.

Keeping the comedy levels up was popular Geordie performer Chris Ramsey who had guests in fits of laughter with his quick wit, whilst 2017 X Factor contestant Benji Matthews gave a sassy performance of some classic tunes along with his first debut track. Strutting around the stage, he got the whole audience involved in a singalong version of Amy Winehouse’s classic Valerie.

Kym Marsh’s daughter Emilie Cunliffe also performed for the occasion, with her stunning vocals setting off the evening’s events. Bringing the party vibes after a night full of fundraising was Girl on Sax and DJ Mark Jay.

Teqex first got involved with RMCH last year for their Many Hands fund raising campaign, getting to the final with Atlas Bar. This year they joined forces to put on the Emerald Ball together, building a great relationship with each other and the hospital too.

Host Lorna Bancroft said she was blown away by the incredible auction prizes that were donated and how generous everybody was on the evening.

“This year’s guests couldn’t have been more supportive,” said the Heart North West radio presenter.

“It was such a great atmosphere from start to finish and Dean should be really proud of himself! The Hilton is always a fantastic venue for these events and The Atlas Bar smashed it with the welcome drinks and afterparty. You can’t beat a variety of G&T!”

“From start to finish the entertainment was simply perfect and the guests had a thoroughly fabulous evening,” said Lorna. “Emilie Cunliffe, the beautiful daughter of Kym Marsh, had the voice of an angel. And Josh Hindle really got the party going with his Michael Bublé style. I didn’t want his set to end.

“My favourite was probably the gorgeous Ben Haenow. He had everyone up dancing and singing and was great fun. Chris Ramsey had a hard task ahead as everyone was super giddy by the time he came out, but he totally dominated the room with a hilarious set. I wish I could do it all again next week.”

During the evening, one very generous guest made a huge donation of £10,000 to the charity fundraiser. She took to the stage to announce that GovData were donating the money in memory of Jake, a child who lost his life at a young age.

“Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital is an absolutely fantastic cause to raise money for,” Katie McGlynn told us. “I couldn’t think of a more worthy cause and I’m proud to show my support for the Emerald Ball and its charity partner.

“The event was great. We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, albeit slightly emotional. It’s always very hard to listen to the heart-breaking stories from patients of the Children’s Hospital but it just shows how important our donations are and who they are helping to support.”

All pics Joe Hauge Photography

An ex-Equanet salesman who set up his own reseller after being made redundant has talked up the growth of his fledgling firm, despite struggling to secure credit from disties on big-ticket deals.

Dean Mason set up Teqex in 2014 after being let go when Kelway – now CDW – took over Equanet. Since then, the firm has grown quickly and is on track to smash the £1m sales barrier this year, after doubling sales in its last year. Ambitious Mason said the plan is to reach £5m sales in the company’s fifth year, and within 10 years, he wants to appear on CRN‘s Top VARs list, which ranks the top 100 resellers in the UK market.

The firm’s four employees are currently based in an office in Manchester, but Mason hopes to sign up more staff in the near future.

Mason used to specialise in NHS accounts during his time working at other resellers, such as Insight and PC World Business, and so focuses on this area in his new venture. Although getting on public sector frameworks has brought the firm success so far, it also has won deals with big corporates too.

Mason told CRN that one of the challenges of being an up-and-coming reseller is that more negotiation is required when it comes to distributor credit.

It’s challenging for some of them now because I guess there are fewer disties out there than there were – Eddie Pacey

He cited one recent large deal it signed off when he was unable to secure distributor credit, so appealed on LinkedIn for help, which worked, and the big contract was signed.

“We’re going through a quick growth stage,” he said. “The credit insurance companies the disties deal with are cautious and I understand that – I’m not knocking them for that. To ship [big deals] all in one go, we need the credit in one place – not some here and some there. It’s kind of a Catch-22 – [disties] are governed by credit insurance, but we’re going through quick growth.”

He said the issue was sorted quickly and that its key distributors have agreed to increase the company’s credit limit on a regular basis as more big sales come through.

Credit consultant Eddie Pacey sympathised with the situation in which some small resellers can find themselves when deals exceed their credit limits, but said there are ways around it.

“It’s challenging for some of them now because I guess there are fewer disties out there than there were,” he said. “It’s a common theme and it has always been around. If resellers are struggling to get the required credit from suppliers now, I would be really disappointed because there are so many ways in which a reseller can do big deals when their credit can’t take it.”

He said that separate and specific deals can be drawn up between the reseller and distie in order to satisfy the requirements of each. But he said the key to getting bespoke deals signed off is communicating early on.

“The only potential issue is that you have small resellers which don’t take the time to talk to disties early enough, or they don’t bother to open up and tell them what they want to achieve. The rule is to talk to your supplier and give them all the info they want – and yield and bend a bit. There are ways.”

Originally Posted Here: https://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/3000818/fledgling-var-on-the-up-despite-distie-credit-woes

He had earlier had the crowds in stitches with his stand-up routine.

Manchester City fan Jason couldn’t resist having a cheeky dig at former Manchester United player Wayne Rooney after his recent drink driving conviction after attempting to drive home “party girl” Laura Simpson in her VW Beetle in Wilmslow.Jason told the crowds how much he enjoyed being asked to perform at previous PFA footballer of the year awards – and wouldn’t mind doing it again this year too.He joked: “I tell you what I’d like to do it this year, crikey with Rooney sat there.

“Can I have a lift back?,” he quipped.

He added: “What are people doing drink driving for, I can’t even drink and walk!

Original Article Here: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/showbiz-news/jason-manford-wayne-rooney-ball-13666565

Following the announcement of the Rochdale Wonder Wall Project last week, Rochdale AFC and Rochdale Hornets have received a fantastic response so far from volunteers and local businesses wanting to get involved.

We are delighted to announce that local businesses – IT company Green Cloud IT and Gordon Riggs Garden Centre – have both donated over £1,500 of plants and bedding soil to give the project a blooming head start!

Dean Mason, Managing Director of Green Cloud IT said: “When I saw the clubs asking for help with this project, I thought it was a great initiative. Living and owning my business locally, I thought it was a great opportunity to get involved and support it.

“As an RAFC supporter, the club are doing great things both on and off the pitch and within the local community, and this is something that we, as a business, pride ourselves on, so instantly we wanted to help and assist.

“We hope the Wonder Wall goes down well with the local community and fans of both clubs.”

John Jackson, Manager of Gordon Riggs Garden Centre added: “We are delighted to get involved in the Wonder Wall project at the Crown Oil Arena.

“We already support the Pennines In Bloom and have done so for a number of years, so it’s great to support this new and exciting project that will benefit the local community and fans of both sets of clubs.”

We are still looking for volunteers to help at our Planting Event taking place this Saturday (June 24th) from 9am.

If you would like to volunteer, please contact Frances Fielding at Rochdale AFC on Tel: 01706 753581 or Email: frances@rochdaleafc.co.uk or just turn up on the day but please remember to bring your gardening gloves and tools!