Eventful life for mother and daughter

Jul 31 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

A MOTHER and daughter are aiming to carve a niche in the busy events market by combining their talents.

Black and Gold Event Management, based in Nedderton Village near Bedlington, Northumberland, has just been launched by Alison Gordon and her daughter Rebecca Teasdale.

Mrs Gordon had arranged conferences and corporate events while working for a number of firms and had started organising events for friends when one suggested she and her daughter team up.

Ms Teasdale, due to graduate with a master’s degree in event management at Northumbria University next month, reckons they’ll prove the ideal combination. “I was studying it, my mum’s worked in it and we’ve both got a passion about it,” she said.

“There is a lot of demand, but there is also a lot of competition. One North East is putting loads of money into the North East, there is a lot of work out there.” Rather than plunge in feet first, Black and Gold is taking a steady approach – especially in the teeth of the recession. “Obviously, that’s a major worry. We’re taking it slowly, we’re not rushing in, we want it to be right,” said Ms Teasdale.

“We know we’re different, we want to work for ourselves, so we’re going to do our own events first. There are a couple of things we have in the pipeline.

“These are things that haven’t been seen in the North East before.”

They took part in Business Link’s women’s pre-start events programme and had help on a business plan and website funding.