MEDWAY is too modest about its winning results, according to a speaker at a business conference held at Priestfield in Gillingham.

Marc Hume, chief executive of the Thames Gateway Kent Partnership, told the Going For Goal event: "We're too modest and we should be celebrating our success."

The conference featured a strong line-up led by comedian Norman Pace and scriptwriter Terry Morrison.

Sponsored by the University of Kent at Medway, North Kent Chamber of Commerce and the Kent Messenger Group, it aimed to show local businesses how to promote themselves better and explain the region's exciting regeneration plans.

Mr Hume went on to say that £142m is being invested in the area from Canary Wharf to Southend to Sittingbourne, the largest regeneration zone in North West Europe.

More than 17,500 companies trade in Medway and North Kent, of whom 11,000 employ between one and four workers.

The area is set to have up to 50,000 new homes and 80,000 jobs over the next 20 years.

But skills shortages are a key issue. Professor David Melville, Vice Chancellor of the University of Kent, said 83 per cent of Kent graduates leave the county to work elsewhere.

Keeping them here was a priority and the developments coming on stream should stem the flow.

Marketing guru Malcolm Gallagher gave a lively presentation on how to face the nightmare of cold-call selling. He offered motivation hints while Graeme Jones, the Royal Bank of Scotland's business manager for Maidstone and Medway, discussed his bank's business policies.