An innovative internationally-renowned course for business leaders comes to Cumbria for the first time in May.

Founded in Australia, the Business Improvement Program (BIP) came to British shores for its first two-day masterclass last November thanks to a partnership with Armstrong Watson.

Bookings are being taken now for the first time the programme comes to Cumbria, with a two-day event at Armathwaite Hall confirmed for May 18-19.

The programme is designed to help owner-managed businesses to work to improve their businesses and the bottom line.

In November, almost 30 businesses attended the first event at Wood Hall Hotel and Spa near Wetherby.

Among the delegates was Armstrong Watson client Mark Sugden, managing director of John W Laycock.

Mark said: “I’ve had quite a lot of experience in the corporate world before I came back to John W Laycock and attended all sorts of courses, seminars and days out but I’d never been to anything remotely like that.

“The word evangelical went through my mind while I was there, it was an extraordinary experience, the very high quality presentations were so people-focussed.

“It has changed the way that I view my role and unleashed the leader in me. It just explained and set out that it’s ok to be a leader – to let your creativity go to work. We’ve done some work with the team since and what came out from them was just amazing.”

Businesses interested in attending the next event in Cumbria are asked to contact the team at Armstrong Watson for more details by emailing dave.clarkson@armstrongwatson.co.uk.