A NEW knight has stepped forward to join the team at Lumley Castle.

BEN HAMIDA, 49, has been appointed restaurant manager of the Black Knight Restaurant at the hotel in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.

He will oversee the day-to-day running of the restaurant and will be introducing a new lunchtime menu for guests.

Mr Hamida, who has worked at many of the region's top hotels, said: "Restaurants have always been my life and working at Lumley Castle is a magical experience. Now I feel like a true king of the castle."

* Chartered accountants Mitchells NorthEast has promoted BARBARA HARDY to manager of the business services department. Ms Hardy, who has been with the Bishop Auckland business for ten years, will be involved in management accounting, taxation, business planning and marketing.

* BOB SHORTLAND has taken over the management of the refurbished Dicksons butchers in Newbottle Street, Houghton-le-Spring. Mr Shortland, joined Dicksons four years ago and moves to Houghton-le-Spring after spells in shops in Guide Post and Blyth in Northumberland.

* nvisage customer contact centre in Peterlee has appointed GINNY AKEN-TYERS as call centre manager. The graduate, from Consett, held previous positions with the Metropolitan Police Force, as an air hostess and as a customer care manager with British Airways.

In her new position, she will be responsible for setting up operations and overseeing the recruitment and training of 160 customer service staff.

* KARL PEMBERTON has been appointed executive banking manager at Yorkshire Bank's Premium Financial Services Team. It provides wealth management advice and service to professionals in the Tees Valley.

* Pin Point Personnel in Newcastle has appointed SARAH GAUDEN, from Durham, as human resources manager. She was previously client services manager at the organisation.

* PROFESSOR DAVID FLEMING is the new head of the School of the Built Environment at Northumbria University. Originally from Merseyside, he joins Northumbria from Nottingham Trent University where he was director of post-graduate course development in the School of Property and Construction.

* JENNIFER HOLLOWAY is the new head of corporate communications at Skipton Building Society. She joins from the Building Societies Association.

* HSBC has appointed TONY WARWICK as senior agriculture banking manager, responsible for the North of England. He will lead a team of agriculture banking managers across County Durham, Northumberland, Cleveland, Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester.