Published in Smartspeed Consulting on-line newsletter, September 2008 Several years ago Giles was working for the Agility Group on a project called North Transport Planning. It was during this time that Godfrey Syrett Ltd , a manufacturer and supplier of office equipment and furniture, asked for his help. Stuart McCourt , 32, is Logistics Manager at the company's new plant in Spennymoor, County Durham . On a typically busy afternoon, he explained to me how an IT system introduced by Giles firstly helped the company solve a problem and secondly, opened Stuart's eyes to the potential of using IT in his job. Stuart was then Operations Manager at the head office in Killingworth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne . “My job was to prepare and send orders to our factory at Langley Moor, “We deliver to all over the country, which is divided it into around 20 sectors. Each of these contains all the postcodes for that area. My job was to manually go through the files, finding the postcodes, writing up the load plans and getting them to the drivers. It was a labour intensive procedure and involved a lot of paperwork. “Furthermore, I was the only one who could do these load plans so whenever I was on holiday or say if I was sick or something, then it caused all sorts of problems and impacted our business efficiency. “As you can imagine, it was a very time consuming process. I had to work ridiculous overtime to get the orders done. And the more people who were involved, the more paperwork, the more links in the chain that could go wrong. Not good for the stress levels! “Giles spent several sessions with us and his solution to our problem was a script of formula, which he wrote for an Excel spreadsheet. He also produced a user guide with screen shots and gave me a crash course in how to use the software! “The Excel spreadsheet pulls out all the district numbers and post codes needed for our drivers. So instead of having to use a cumbersome paper based system we could now do it all at the push of a button. The order form could then, also at the touch of a button, be attached to a postcode and a loading sheet sent to a driver. “I cannot describe to you the beneficial impact this had on my job. Before, it would take twelve hours to get orders prepared. Now it only took three or four. This freed me to concentrate on other things. The end result was that we could now maintain another £10m worth of orders. “What Giles put in place is very good. We just had to tweak it. It just slotted in. “And it helped us set a course for our company, for the future.” Querido and davidson press release, published in Biz News, October 2008 Press Release A Sight for Sore Eyes! Originally established in 1956 by Victor Graham, the business was taken on by Jan Querido in 1985. John and Julia Davidson took over in 2002 and have just reached a milestone. They have treated their 20,000 th client, Das Neoc leous, 50, a mortgage advisor from Hexham. To mark this very special occasion, Das will be presented with a Mini Cooper. The presentation will take place on Friday October 31 at 1.30pm at Querido & Davidson's premises on Chillingham Road, Heaton. “Our unique selling point is care and attention to our patients' needs,” John explains. “Normally you would expect to get a 20 minute consultation at most optician practices but we dedicate up to an hour for each and every patient. In addition, our products are of a very high quality. Normally, a pair of specs might last a couple of years. Some of our titanium models however can last for up to 10 years. “We are also very much a community practice. This includes doing home visits, which most of our competitors don't do. I often do home visits on my days off and I don't mind in the least, its part of our community ethos. In many cases my patients have become friends because I've been treating the same family for years. “In fact, I hear the same compliment many times, ‘It's like having Dr Finlay taking care of you. I thought this dedication to service and care had long gone. But it hasn't!” This dedication to service has paid off because John, who employs six people, gets patients from all over the country. John also does a lot of workplace based eye testing, which many other opticians don't do. John will spend all day with a business client if needed and this service is much in demand because employers are increasingly aware of the need to ensure that their workforce can access good eye care, especially in relation to use of computers and driving. John's clients include Nexus and Rington's Tea. Querido & Davidson's use of technology also makes this a very distinctive practice. John and Julia have spent £70,000 on instrumentation. This includes groundbreaking technology used for capturing detailed images of a patient's eyes and early detection of conditions such as Glaucoma . Consequently there is little need for paper based patient notes. This sort of technology enables better recording of eye conditions and management of patients and is much more environmentally friendly than a paper based process. The practice has also embraced e-commerce, selling its products through its website and helping promote this successful North-East company to a much wider audience. John Davidson is a specialist in the field of contact lenses; he has lectured all over the country and in Europe on this subject and has also written many papers. In 2006 Querido & Davidson was awarded a national eye care award as Contact Lens Practice of the Year, in recognition of clinical experience and innovation. John's is the first practice in Newcastle to practice Orthokeratology . This is a contact lens that you wear at night. While you're asleep it gently reshapes your cornea and so corrects your vision. The next day you don't have to wear specs or contact lenses. Querido & Davidson has experienced a seven-fold increase in sales of contact lenses over the past couple of years. John says, “The importance of eye care is crucial. Early diagnosis of many conditions is important and often easily treatable.” John's message is, don't lose sight of the need to look after your eyes! Contacts John Davidson (Bsc) Hons MCOptom Querido & Davidson Phone: (0191) 265 9898 Chris Rooney Journalist and author Writing Works Phone: 07517 485 430 Growing Up In The Butcher's Shop First published in the Best of British Magazine in March 2008. (http://www.bestofbritishmag.co.uk), February 2008. ON the high street in the village of New York in Tyne and Wear there stands a shop. Small, unassuming, tucked away amongst the terraced houses. For 60 years the shop was called Thompson the Butcher's and it was the heart of the small, rural community of New York . The shop was built in 1900 by George Thompson and he named it Pretoria House, in honour of his father, Thomas. Thomas, a Tyneside farm labourer, went out to South Africa in the 1870s and made his fortune in the diamond mines. When he returned to England in the 1880s he was able to build a fine house for his family in Forest Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne . Thomas had transformed the Thompson family's fortunes and it enabled his son, George, to build the shop and go into business as a butcher. Mrs Meg Stephenson, nee Thompson, grew up there in the 1930s. She lived above the shop with her parents, George-Badon Thompson and Molly, nee Elliot, and siblings, Joan and Billy, and the maid, Edna. Meg's grandfather died when she was three and so her father, George-Badon, became Master Butcher. Dave Ridley was his apprentice and Frank Rutter and Michael Cochrane delivered meat to the outlying areas in the three vans that had replaced the horse drawn wagons. The shop was Meg's world, a place of endless fascination and drama. “The wooden floor was covered in sawdust and grease, from the cutting of meat. Pigs' carcasses hung in the shop window. On the counter were the brass weights and massive, ornate, shop till. I had to stand on a stool just to reach it and the buttons were far too stiff for me to push. And there were the smells, of sawdust and wood, meat and fresh blood. “I loved watching my dad sharpening his knives. The blades flashed, a blur, his hands moved so quickly. Clash clash went the blades and dad would be chatting away with customers all the time, ‘Lovely morning Miss so and so' or ‘I have a fine joint for you today, Mr so and so.' “ The shop was the only place in the village to have a telephone, an old one at that, with a listening device on a thick black cord, which you held to your ear and a speaker down which you had to bellow to be heard. The telephone stood on a shelf in the hall and was regarded with something like awe by many in the village. “No-one except my dad knew how to use the telephone so people were always coming into the shop and asking, ‘Can you make a call for me?' Sometimes there would be a queue in the hall with dad standing there, dialling numbers and grumbling that he should be minding the shop.” Out back meanwhile was the wash building, a pothouse and stables. And there was the slaughter shed. Animals arrived every week from market and the butcher did his own slaughtering. Sometimes Meg watched, from the doorway. A humane killer was used on the cattle but the pigs had their throats cut and their bodies were hung up, to drain away the blood. “It was not hidden from us,” says Meg. “This was life – and death - and it was not sanitised. Life was raw. “My bedroom was always cold because the shop doors were never shut. In the winter, when I went to bed, I could see my breath steaming and there was ice on the inside of the windows.” The place was also smelly because Meg's bedroom overlooked the backyard, where the animal bones were kept, in a big tin tub. Every a week the bone man collected them. Lying in bed, Meg listened out for the steady clipperty clop of horses' hooves and the clattering of the bone man's wagon. Smoking his pipe, cloth cap pushed back on his head, he shovelled the bones onto his cart and then trundled off. “But one time he went on strike and the bones piled up and the smell was atrocious. And there were maggots everywhere. Eventually, the smell and the maggots got so bad that one of the lads poured scolding water over the bones. The maggots swarmed up the wall to escape.” Wireless aside, the family had to make their own entertainment and storytelling was a favourite pastime. With everyone gathered round the coal fire at dinnertime, George-Badon would light his pipe and tell the family's favourite tale, of the Dog and the Whiskey, as Meg recalls. “When dad was a lad he had to walk, every week, the ten miles to Gateshead Cattle Market. Then he had to walk the animals back to New York . “Dad was helped by a collie dog. I can't remember her name but she was a real character, according to family stories. Well, one day when he was walking the cattle back from market, dad reached the half way point, at a village called West Allotments, and the dog collapsed with exhaustion, right outside the Northumberland Arms. Dad rushed into the pub and came back with a glass of whiskey, to revive the poor dog. “After that, whenever they reached the Northumberland Arms, the dog feigned exhaustion and wouldn't move until she'd had her tot of whiskey.” When George-Badon Thompson retired in the late 1950s he handed the business to Dave Ridley who sold the shop, now a Chinese takeaway, in the 60s. Meg married in the mid-1950s and moved into the home in which she still lives, on Ingleside Road in North Shields. And whenever she goes past the little shop on New York 's main street, 60 years of a family's memories are stirred into life for her. 'published on the Age Concern North Tyneside website, October 2008.' Keeping my independence - Dorothy's Story Dorothy's carer, Steph, bustles around the room, tidying up and then laying a cardigan over the lady's shoulders. Dorothy had a bad fall last year and is no longer able to get upstairs so now her bed is in the living room, next to the window that overlooks her beloved garden. On the shelves around the room are fine blue china plates, blue is Dorothy's favourite colour, and on the mantelpiece is an ornate Victorian snuff box. There is rather fine china bowl on the sideboard, which gleams with age. When asked about the china bowl, Dorothy replies, “Oh that, I was baptised in it when I was a baby. It's been with me all of my life.” In fact, Dorothy has lived in the same house, in Whitley Bay , for 73 years. As a teenager she lived here with her parents but they are long gone and now Dorothy lives alone in the home she loves. By the door is Dorothy's trolley, with which she gets around the downstairs of her house, moving carefully from room to room, or to the kitchen where Steph has prepared lunch of buttered toast and a boiled egg. Dorothy's stay in hospital last year, for a hip replacement, has in many ways been confining. The doctors were quite clear that she was reaching a point where she would not be able to cope alone in her house. Suddenly, Dorothy found herself facing an uncertain future. How would she cope? She wondered anxiously. She couldn't imagine moving out of her home. “And yet gradually, I was becoming more and more restricted in my life,” Dorothy recalls. “I could no longer do my stitching because of the arthritis in my hands and arms and in my shoulder. Even reading had become a problem, with turning the pages and I love reading. “Also, I wasn't able to get upstairs anymore and moving around generally was becoming a problem. I tried having a stair-lift put in but it didn't work out because of the way the stairs turn and twist. “And then I had a fall, which meant that I was confined to downstairs. It took some getting used to, not being able to move about the house as once I could. Steph and the other Age Concern workers are not only home carers; they provide a link to the outside world. “As an elderly person with mobility problems that's what you fear most, the isolation, being trapped in a single room or a chair or if you've had a fall, on the floor when goodness knows what will happen. “And so fear and anxiety become your dominant emotions. It shapes your life. Steph alleviates that a lot. She's a great help, not only caring for me but for my old things as well. I can't get upstairs anymore but at least I know that Steph goes up there once a week and does a tidy up. So I know that the objects that have been with me all of my life, some of the furniture was handmade for me by my grandfather, are being looked after.” About a year ago a lady came to see Dorothy, to explain that Age Concern North Tyneside were taking on some of the work previously undertaken by the Council. This included providing Dorothy's carers. Dorothy listened with concern. She treasured those daily visits. Not only that, she'd just come out of hospital and was finding it increasingly difficult to cope alone and at the back of her mind was the dread of having to go into a residential care home. “I needn't have worried though,” says Dorothy. “The Age Concern carers have been visiting me several times every day. Stephanie comes to see me twice, in the morning and then in the afternoon. The first thing she does each morning is make me a cup of tea. I can't imagine starting the day without my morning cuppa.” The two women laugh. They have become good friends, over that year. As she speaks, sitting on the bed, Steph holds Dorothy's hand. “After I've made Dorothy her morning cup of tea I put the washing in and then when I come back at lunchtime I take it out and make Dorothy something to eat. I think Dorothy's spirits have lifted quite a bit over the past few months, since she realised that she'd still be getting daily visits by her carers.” “Oh yes,” Dorothy agrees, “I just can't imagine living anywhere else and the Age Concern carers mean that I can stay in my home.” Here to help - Steph's story On a bright sunny morning, a car pulls up in front of a house in Whitley Bay . The driver is Stephanie Clough, 35. Gathering up her handbag she strides up the path to the house. There is a spring in her step and laughter in her call of “Good Morning” as she lets herself in. Steph is a personal care assistant with Age Concern North Tyneside and Dorothy is her first visit of the morning. Dorothy calls back, “I'm in here, hinny.” Steph goes into the living room where Dorothy is waiting for her, leaning on her walking stick. “Good morning pet. I always look forward to the sound of your voice. You're like a bird singing.” Steph laughs, rolls up her sleeves and heads for the kitchen. “I'll put your washing in, Dorothy, and make a pot of tea.” “Ooh yes,” Dorothy says enthusiastically, following her carer out of the living room and down the corridor into the kitchen, walking slowly, leaning on her wheeled trolley. “Nice cup of tea,” she says. Steph bustles around the kitchen while the lady takes a chair at the table. They chat away, the sound of their voices added to by the burbling of a kettle. Stephanie's duties revolve around the personal care needs of her service-users , such as dressing and undressing, housework, cooking, helping with medication. The Age Concern carers work closely with district nurses and social services and are an integral part of a person's care plan. “I help with people in all sorts of circumstances,” Stephanie explains. “Many live alone but not all. In some cases a person is living at home with their relatives and it can put a lot of strain on a family, seeing someone they care deeply about who needs a lot of care. And sometimes the person who is being looked after doesn't want their loved ones to have to carry that burden alone. “That's where I come in. One of my service-users, for example, lives with her sons but I help the lady with her personal care. She prefers it that way and that's fine, it's why I'm there. It takes a lot of pressure off her family. “It's a privilege to be able to care for people and support them to be independent.” Steph joined Age Concern a year ago. Before that she had worked mainly in catering and had reached a point where she was looking for fresh challenge, a new direction in her life. Whilst browsing the Age Concern North Tyneside website one day Stephanie saw an advert for a job as Personal Care Assistant. “I was a bit unsure but my husband said well why not, go for it. So I did. It was a big step but I was excited because it was a role where I felt I could make a difference to people's lives. “During my two weeks training I learnt about the physical aspects of the job such as lifting, health and safety and so on. I learnt about using hoists and frames with which we help people in and out of the bath or bed. Then I spent two days shadowing one of my colleagues. “I help care for people with all sorts of conditions, chronic illnesses, mobility problems, people who feel socially isolated. And I find that people, just as importantly as having their personal care needs taken care of, look forward to having someone to talk to, to listen; the happy memories, and the sad ones too; the pain as well as the happiness; the tears as well as the smiles. “That's why I'm there.” Chris has written two novels and is currently working on a screenplay. His first novel, Death Portal, is set on contemporary Tyneside. Psychologist and paranormal investigator Dr Kim Lanark has spent 10 years investigating the supernatural. She has never come to accept the reality of an afterlife and her books have been searing exposés of what she regards as superstitious nonsense. And then one morning Tony Benner walks into her study. His assertion that the spirit of his late wife is trying to kill him propels Doctor Lanark into an investigation that transforms her views and reveals the terrifying truth of the supernatural. And the horrifying reality of what God really is …… Coming Soon!! Copyright: Christopher Rooney 2008 'Long running series, Weekend Walks, published by the South Shields Gazette 2007 - 2008' A summer's dawn lighting up Hadrian's Wall saw me wading through long tawny grass, pheasants periodically bursting from the undergrowth to wing noisily into a nearby forest. To the north of me, the Roman temple of Brocolitia slipped gradually from view as the Tyne Valley steepened. Over a stile, boots clumping on wood, I walked on, down a country lane where swallows darted around hedgerows and foxes trotted through the grass. This was very pleasant walking, just unhurriedly strolling down a lane shaped in front of me by sunlight and overarching trees that rustled in the cool, autumnal breeze. In fact it did feel like an autumn morning, with leaves covering the tarmac, crunching underfoot. Time for a coffee break. I pored over the map, tracing the morning's route with my forefinger: down the lane to Newbrough and then across the road and into the riverside woods, from there heading east to Fourstones Village. Then I put away the map and just enjoyed the moment, of standing in a country lane, sipping coffee while enjoying the breeze and the sun on my face, the sounds of gently swaying trees and the wind scything through the grass. Moments like this are one of the great pleasures of walking. My lunchtime pint and – an extra treat - homemade pie and chips, was at the Railway Inn. Then I went for a wander round Fourstones. The cool morning had been deceptive. It had turned into a scorcher of an afternoon and the village was a real suntrap. I found myself strolling down a lane with on one side sheltered woodland and on the other high walled gardens. A roadside bench offered some shade at last. Taking off my sunhat, I wondered if the really ancient buildings I'd come across during the day were made of Roman stone. It's amazing that anything of the Roman Wall has survived because so much of it has been carted off over the centuries to build country houses, castles and fortified farms. The situation wasn't helped in 1757 when General Wade demolished a sizeable chunk of Hadrian's Wall so he could build the Military Road, to get the English Army to Carlisle and confront Bonnie Prince Charlie. Reclining on the bench, I stretched out my legs and enjoyed the break, cooling my face and arms with water and the small towel I carry in the rucksack. Overhanging trees gently shadowed the lane. Flowers traced fine, intricate lines in the mossy stonework of garden walls. Honey birds flickered, bees busied themselves, a cat loped through sunshine. The afternoon slumbered. Still, warm, lazy. From somewhere a flute played. The tune rose and fell hypnotically, dragonflies shimmered, I sleepily enjoyed my rest, watching flowers trace red and blue lines in the stonework and the cat chasing butterflies. I must have dozed off because I dreamt of General Wade tearing down Hadrian's Wall with his bare hands and the sound of the flute ran through my dream like a rose. Then I woke up and stretched and yawned and there was the cat, sitting in the sunshine and smiling up at me with his eyes. A little reluctantly, I roused myself and headed east, out of the village and over the fields to Warden Hill, which is crowned by its Iron Age fort. The closer you get to the hill the more awesome it becomes and it's a delight for all the senses with the smells of bark and leaf and light spilling through the trees. Once out of the forest, there's a steep climb to the summit of this ancient fortress. It's hard to believe that this was once a military base. Now sheep graze, birds sing, clouds drifting overhead add to the peaceful ambience of this place. Between 800BC and the Roman invasion of Britain in 43AD farmers used the site. Ramparts however ring the fortress interior so at some time in the distant past this was the stronghold of a powerful local chieftain. The climb to the top of Warden Hill is worth it for the views from the summit. Hands on hips, getting my breath back, I decided that the fort would have enjoyed a commanding presence. Below me lay the forest, glowing faintly under the sun. Beyond that, Fourstones Village nestled in the bottom of the Tyne Valley. Perhaps there had been an ancient settlement here, when Iron Age warriors patrolled the ramparts of Look-out Hill. Beyond Fourstones, southwest Northumberland lay revealed, in that moment, like a secret in a book. Shifting patterns of light and shade revealed hidden depths of colours and shapes. You realise that the landscape isn't static at all but a constantly changing pattern, formed by the sunlight that emphases a hilltop here, a meadow there, a stream somewhere else. Finally, I headed back from the summit of the fort, through the long lush grass and grazing sheep, back through the trees and then south along the rim of the hill, down to the rail line and east to Hexham. It was pleasant, relaxed walking after the climbing. And on the train to Newcastle I thought about the contrasts of landscape I'd travelled through on my nine-mile walk, from the moors and wind beaten crags of Roman Wall country, through forests that grace the Tyne Valley, to the bare, green, jewel like summit of an ion-age hill fort. Journalism “Weekend Walks”, South Shields Gazette (2007/08) Sample Stories “Our Memories”, Best of British Magazine (2008) – Story “Age Concern”, North Tyneside (2007/08) “Death Portal”, an online novel (2008) Media
Smartspeed
A Sight For Sore Eyes
The Butchers Shop
Tai chi
Death Portal
North East Riches
Examples of Chris' Clients
A project that Giles Johnston worked on prior to his establishing Smartspeed but which helped him in its creation, demonstrated the benefits of IT to businesses.
Count Durham, for dispatch,” he explains.
“The business was expanding and our systems were straining to cope. So I asked for Giles' help. He spent time soaking in the atmosphere, asking questions, looking around and quickly focused on the area that needed the most improvement – our order and dispatch systems.
“People are great but when it comes to admin systems like this, IT is a godsend, as I found out.
Querido & Davidson are that rarity in business, a family owned company that has been serving the same community for 50 years. John Davidson and wife Julia are at the helm of this Newcastle based optician and they welcome both private and NHS patients. 
“The shop lads wore aprons with blue stripes, we knew them as slops, but the Master Butcher wore a white coat.
Dorothy, 83, sits in her living room, hands folded in her lap. She is surrounded by the objects and furniture that have been with her all her life. In fact they are more like old friends than artefacts.
