Dowson Communications

OpenCoffee Leeds

I finally got along to an OpenCoffee in Leeds, which was a great opportunity to talk over video production, technology developments, and website design with media and creative types, and have some free coffee, even decaff which is all I drink now. Excellent to catch up briefly with what Imran Ali is up to, since we were colleagues at bmedi@ in Bradford. I can recommend it as a place to meet new people in a relaxed setting, share information, get a new persepctive on something you were thinking of doing, and so on. As I'm a big believer in video on the internet its good to talk to the creatives who work on those projects.

The venue is old Broadcasting House on Woodehouse Lane, which was home to the BBC until a few years ago, and was my home during university in the 1980s when I worked part-time for BBC Radio Leeds, and then full time when I left Bradford University in 1985. Today, among other things, it provides hot desks for new technology start ups and is home to the New Technology Institute, which provides first class Apple training, which I have utilised on a number of occasions.
Photo by Imran Ali

Gumption Centre

I have known David Robertson-Brown since I worked for bmedi@ Bradford's digital media network, he's a great guy and I've been very impressed at the work he and his business partner John Simms have put into their venture in Bradford, a business centre for small businesses located by the National Media Museum. I attend a regular networking event that they host, and it gives me the opportunity to chat with familiar faces about the problems and challenges we all face in business, make new contacts, and even turn up new projects. This week we heard from Colin Nesbitt whose young son has cancer and is permanently at St James' Hospital in Leeds, and there is a fund raising ball for Colin's charity Little Heroes, to support the children and fanilies affected by cancer. THe Little heroes Cancer Trust Ball is on 27th September at the Hilton in Bradford email billy@shinerc.co.uk to book a table, at £500.