An award for her inspiring leadership topped quite the night for Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP) chief executive Carol Gaskarth at the 2025 Make Your Mark Awards.
Earlier, the wellbeing charity – founded in Newton Aycliffe back in 1998 and now a North-East wide organisation – had picked up the Services Business of the Year title.
But perhaps just as important to Carol as the awards was the table collection made for Together 21 – a project supporting young people with Down syndrome and their families and which is run from the PCP’s Pioneering Care Centre.
She told the 300-strong audience at the Hardwick Hall event: “We were already winners tonight because the support everyone has given Together 21 is phenomenal.
“We support businesses across the North-East with things like the Better Health at Work Award, but please support Together 21 – let’s get more businesses supporting our charity.”
Clutching her Businessperson of the Year award, presented by Ian Proctor of Aycliffe Business Park Community, Carol heaped praise on her colleagues, saying: “It is completely down to the team we’ve got.
“We have brilliant staff, nine fabulous trustees – PCP is a volunteer-led organisation and our trustees give their time on a voluntary basis – and a senior leadership team of 10 who all work incredibly hard.
“And particularly this week because we’ve had a big bid to do, so thank you, team, for getting that over the line!”
As for what makes a good business leader, Carol said “being a generalist” helped.
She explained: “My strengths probably lie in cultivating partnerships. I chair various boards across County Durham and beyond around mental health and learning disabilities – so I like being a generalist and learning as I go.
“I’m a great believer in lifelong learning and not being afraid to say ‘I don’t know but I’ll learn’.
“But, in general, it’s about compassion, care, making sure you listen and taking people on the journey with you.
“Also, you need to have a strong vision but create that vision as a collective, taking into account what people want and being visionary in terms of what’s coming down the track.
“Make sure you’ve a good eye for what the future holds, no matter what business sector you’re in, but having a great team is crucial.”
And as an Aycliffe girl, she admitted the Make Your Mark awards meant a lot, saying: “It’s great to be recognised by your own community.”
Carol edged NC Group’s Lee Childs and Marcia Atkinson from BTS Facades & Fabrications to the Businessperson of the Year award.