Prizes for top Tees trainees

Three trainee chartered accountants with Tees Valley firms have been recognised for excelling in their professional exams.

Claire Horness, Gerard Rafferty and Kate Christie received awards from the C U Peat prize fund for outstanding performance in the exams leading to the ACA qualification of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Claire works at HLB Vantis Audit, Middlesbrough; Gerard is with Leonard Bye, also Middlesbrough, and
Kate is on the staff at Horwath Clark Whitehill, Hartlepool.

Each was presented with a specially-inscribed, gold-plated pen by Heather O’Driscoll, chairman of the Teesside Society of Chartered Accountants (TSCA), and Rob Tindle, chairman of the prize fund trustees, at Middlesbrough FC’s Riverside Stadium.

Mr Tindle said: “In the spirit of the C U Peat prize fund, it is vital that we continue to train chartered accountants in Tees Valley in order to develop a home-grown pool of professional expertise for the benefit of the local businesses and the economy of the area.”

The scheme was established in 1961by former Darlington MP Charles Urie Peat, a senior partner in leading accountancy firm Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co, which had offices in Middlesbrough, Darlington and Newcastle. He became national president of the ICAEW in 1959.

PHOTO CAPTION
(From left) NCASS chair Gemma Rigby, Kate Christie, Gerard Rafferty, Claire Horness, Rob Tindle, Heather O’Driscoll and ICAEW regional director Keith Proudfoot.