Operational Note for the launch of Teesside Business School at the University of Teesside, Middlesbrough on Thursday October 4, 2001

Lord Leon Brittan will speak on Britain and the Euro at the official launch of the new Teesside Business School in the University’s Innovation and Virtual Reality Centre, Middlesbrough, at 6.30pm tonight (Thursday October 4).

Middlesbrough-born opera singer and University of Teesside business graduate Suzannah Clarke (who sang the national anthems at the England-Albania football match in St James’ Park, Newcastle) will sing at a reception - 5.30-6.30pm in the Clarendon Building, next to the Student Centre. (She will be available from 4pm on Oct 4)

Local business chief, Alistair Arkley, Chairman of the Tees Valley Partnership and New Century Inns, will also speak at the official launch on Oct 4. He will stress the importance of the Business School’s activities to the economic and social regeneration in the region. Professor Derek Fraser, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, and Dr John Wilson, Director of the Teesside Business School, will also speak at the event on Oct 4.

The Rt Hon Lord Leon Brittan of Spennithorne QC is a former European Union Commissioner and Chancellor of the University of Teesside. He will give his keynote speech on ‘Europe, the Euro and the UK’s relationship with the European Union’. (Lord Brittan will also be available to meet the media on Friday Oct 5 at 11.30am after a tour of the Business School to meet staff and students the day after the launch).

Proceedings will include the official unveiling of a plaque by Lord Brittan and Mr Arkley to mark the occasion at around 7pm.

Suzannah Clarke graduated from the University of Teesside with an honours degree in Business Studies in 1992. She was the top student of her year in the Human Resource Management stream and has set up her own business as an opera singer. She said: “Who would have thought that a Business Studies degree would be the best foundation for a career in opera! I found that many of the areas that I studied such as communication skills, accountancy, presentation techniques, contract law and organisation skills, were common to both a career in business and in the arts. Good training and education build confidence and create opportunities - many of them unexpected.”

Suzannah will make a surprise (so, please note the embargo) appearance in full ball gown at the reception, 2nd floor Clarendon Building on Oct 4, around 6pm. (The building has been renovated at a cost of £5m recently to provide state-of-the-art facilities for the Business School). Suzannah’s parents, Sheelagh and Bill live in Normanby. Suzannah sang at the opening ceremony of Euro’96 in Wembley Stadium and at the England-Albania game in Newcastle. She is a passionate supporter of Middlesbrough Football Club. She trained in Italy with Arrigo Pola - Pavarotti’s singing teacher after studying at the Royal College of Music and is one of England’s best known opera singers.

---