THE Northern Echo has never attended Spear’s Wealth Management Awards, but we suspect that Bishop Auckland is rarely in the spotlight at the annual dinner which celebrates high fliers of high finance.

This year’s event, which billed itself as “The Oscars of the private banking world” took place at the Dorchester Hotel, in London’s swanky Mayfair, and featured the usual array of the super rich and the people who are paid to look after their money.

It was pleasing to hear then that a man who is determined to make a huge impression in County Durham was feted at such a gathering.

Jonathan Ruffer, who chairs Auckland Castle Trust and Eleven Arches, received the Philanthropist of the Year Award for the outstanding contribution he is making to the regeneration of Bishop Auckland and the surrounding area.

Mr Ruffer bought Auckland Castle in 2012, opened it up to public access for the first time and the castle’s trust is in the process of transforming the 900-year-old Bishop’s palace into a world-class centre for art, faith and heritage.

Mr Ruffer’s award also recognised the trust’s sister charity, Eleven Arches, which this summer staged the spectacular Kynren – an epic tale of England, attracting more than 100,000 visitors.

About £100 million is now being invested across the two charities that Mr Ruffer chairs as part of a bid to make Bishop Auckland a significant tourist destination capable of attracting almost half a million visitors and inject almost £20 million a year into the local economy by the end of the decade.

His efforts to achieve this ambitious goal – and in the process remind an audience of well-heeled Londoners that a world of culture exists beyond the M25 – means that Mr Ruffer fully deserves his award.

We offer him our warmest congratulations.