The Family Business Conference, which takes place at The Halston, in Carlisle on Thursday, October 19 includes high profile speakers from across the UK in addition to familiar faces from the county.

Confirmed headline speakers include William Robinson of Stockport’s Robinson’s Brewer, while representatives from Yorkshire family business Wold Top Brewery and Manchester’s HMG Paints will take part in a special panel discussion on the “next generation” of family business.

Fred Story of Story Homes and Story Contracting will also headline, and there will be appearances from food producer Hawkshead Relish and Twoey, which manufactures educational resources from its base in Wigton.

Event organiser, Sue Howorth of The Family Business Network Ltd, said that attracting national speakers to along with high profile local figures showed there was a growing community of family businesses eager to share their learning and experience.

 She said “I’m delighted to see the conference has attracted speakers from across the country, but am even more pleased to see that family businesses can see the value these larger companies stories’ can bring and are coming to the conference for that reason.

I think the fact that they are sharing their challenges with other family businesses allows for a more honest take which is where part of the appeal stems from.

Family businesses are the masters of their own fate, the ability to make decisions quickly means they are often ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation and direction of their business. However, the challenges that come from working with family can be universal, large or small family businesses can relate to the difficulties and are keen to understand how to overcome them.”

Carlisle MP John Stevenson will also speak at the event in his role as Chair of The All Party Parliamentary Group for Family Business.

For more information about the event visit www.fambiznet.co.uk/conference