Three of our partners have kindly agreed to be interviewed to give you an insight into their roles, interests and how they’ve coped with lockdown. Our next interview is with Paul Newbold.
About Paul’s role
What does your role as partner entail?
I have several responsibilities including Audit Partner and technical guru for all matters audit and accounts related. Saying that, my role principally is client-facing and mainly from the Gosforth office., I usually see clients in the development phase of their business, and it is rewarding to be able to lead them through the minefield of incorporation or self-assessment and the advisory elements are the aspects of the job I really like.
What do you look forward to most when you start work each day?
Being able to help someone: it’s great knowing that sometimes a fairly simple suggestion can really take the weight off someone’s mind. If I can distil a heavy topic into terms that the layman can understand, I consider it a job well done.
How have the events of the last year changed your way of working?
Being able to hold face-to-face meetings is important as I can tell from body language whether something I’ve been talking about has been understood. Covid-19 restrictions have unfortunately meant that face-to-face meetings have reduced significantly in number. Phone calls, as an alternative, are inadequate as the whole body language element is lost. Zoom and Teams can compensate a bit, but I can’t wait to get back to some kind of normality.
Outside of work
When you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing?
Reading – I am a voracious reader. It’s what I use to relax after a hard day at the office. Because I am winding down, I prefer to read something light and uncomplicated. If I find a novel of this kind that I like, I will quite happily read that book 4 or 5 times.
What are your top tips for a relaxing day?
Gardening – 15 years ago, you couldn’t have paid me to work in the garden! I now find the whole thing therapeutic – the chance to listen to some good music and de-stress.
Favourites
What is your favourite song and what do you like about it?
In direct contrast to my requirements for a good book– I prefer my music to be more substantial and thought-provoking. As I move into my 7th decade (!), I find myself harking back to the days of my youth and balmy summer holidays in Northumberland in the early 70’s, when everything seemed so calm and peaceful. Currently, my favourite songs are those which evoke memories of those halcyon days: that means “Remembrance”, “Warm Summer Sun” and “She’ll Be Riding Horses” by Downes Braide Association, “Hedgerow”, “The Permanent Way” and “Swan Hunter” by Big Big Train and pretty much anything by Renaissance.
And your favourite food?
Being married to a Frenchwoman, French cuisine features highly in our lives. It’s a good job that I’m a fan of French food. When the kids were growing up, we had to get used to some strange Frenglish fusion dishes – traditional English fare, with a French twist – like Birds Eye fishfingers …… in a nice hollandaise sauce. If pushed, Rosbif à l’Alsacienne with Spaezle or Escalope de Veau à la Crème et aux Champignons et pommes-frÎtes are my preferred dishes. When we go to France, I’m not happy unless I’ve managed to partake of both meals at least once each during our visit. The only downside – they’ve about half a million calories each, so they’re not very kind on the waistline.
And finally…
If you could travel anywhere tomorrow, where would you go and why?
France. So I can get my fix of the above foods! It’s been over two years since I’ve been able to partake due to the Covid-19 restrictions – far too long.
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