Covering the north west, from Carlisle to Preston, one investment firm is making a difference across Cumbria.

Richard Dawson has been the regional director of Rathbones in Kendal for over a decade and has seen the firm go from strength to strength.

As well as investing clients’ money, the company also visits local schools to help young people to understand financial issues.

Mr Dawson was speaking to in-Cumbria as part of our ‘10 minutes with’ series.

So, who is Richard Dawson?

"My name is Richard Dawson, and I am the regional director at the Kendal branch of Rathbones based at Levens Hall.

"We have a team of seven here and we have a client base of private clients, companies and charities that we look after, and so we’re responsible for the money that we invest on their behalf.

"We look after these relationships, chat to the clients about what we’re supposed to be doing for them and also investing the money for them."

Being the centre of the north west operations

"We have other offices in the north east in Newcastle and one in Liverpool, so we’re very much in the centre of north west, we see our patch as everywhere south of Carlisle down to Preston and towards Yorkshire.

"The office is based in the stables at Levens Hall so we have great communication links and we’re only 10 minutes away from the M6, to get north and south and the A590 to go further west as well.

"We cover a wide area with just our seven members of staff.

"I’ve been up in the Lakes since 2002 and took over running the office in 2006, so I’ve been around for a while."

The company’s recent growth

"The company as a whole has developed a lot over the last ten years and the assets that we manage have grown significantly and certainly that’s true of the Kendal office as well.

"What you find is that we invest in a broad range of different assets, in terms of the company we are a relatively small office but we are a UK wide business with resources from larger offices in London to support us.

"We’re provided with thoughts from our colleagues across the business about issues such as Brexit and the US election and how we should be developing client portfolios.

"As an industry it’s ever-changing, as are the markets and it’s important to be at the forefront of that and it’s important that Rathbones see it in those terms.

"We develop the business, the research and IT capabilities, so that the company can stay ahead as well as developing the proposition for the clients."

Developing a regional presence and working with schools

"What Rathbones try and do is offer a regional presence, our clients are private clients and it’s good for them to be able to meet the people who will be handling the money. Having that regional footprint is an important thing to have.

"We also sponsor events, such as the Grasmere sports event in August but we also run, what we call, financial awareness courses for local schools.

"We offer to go into schools and introduce kids to financial topics such as borrowing money, interest, or what inflation is or just to try and have a positive local influence outside of our day to day job.

"It’s a relatively new development, we’ve only been doing it for the last three or four years and we go to schools from Manchester up into the Lakes and Yorkshire, whichever schools are interested we’d be happy to turn up.

"When kids are thinking of leaving school and going to university, that’s when you’re going to be borrowing money, whether it’s for student fees or whatever of if it’s for your first job.

"Trying to persuade an 18 year old to start thinking about a pension is a challenge but it’s something that we do and it’s worth thinking about."