Chairman’s Blog – Thursday 20th February 2013
Our second anniversary meeting and a great turnout, 29 members and one visitor Chris Holmes. This was his second visit and he is completing an application form to join. A great way to herald our second year.
David Plumley’ education slot was largely a suggestion that we should always under promise and therefore over perform. In other words we should give ourselves some “wiggle room”. I thought it should have been “wriggle room”, unless the wiggle room is what is otherwise known as the rest room, where most of us under promise and over perform.
On this anniversary what things can be found in our 60 second round?
Peter Hood was selling his “24 hour call out service” and the two examples of late night call outs both related to toilets and sewage and were therefore perhaps something of an echo of David Plumley’s early reference to the “wiggle room”. This was taken up and perhaps echoed by Jaimie Harrison who explained that Carmichael Browns now turned not only sunshine but also wind into pounds. Whatever you do, do not let them loose on your wiggle room.
Of course the breakfast was particularly characterised by the presence fried eggs. It was the only difference in the breakfast from other weeks and therefore perhaps the reason why Graham Thurston seemed to be slower getting out of his seat and standing behind it before delivering his 60 seconds.
With the possibility of better weather Geoff Todd was bemoaning an absence of gritting!! Now there is a thought for breakfast…”Grits” If I have to put up with the absence of scrambled eggs it is only fair that I should be rewarded by having “grits”. Why? – You might well ask. The reason is simples, I haven’t the slightest idea what grits are and EBF should always be willing to push back the boundaries…
Brian Painter started pleasantly enough, he encountered the weary worker returning to his home and plonking himself down into his seat with a satisfied aahh! We were all relaxing and then he started talking about smoking, about all the chemicals that smokers inhale and then I think he made a connection somehow with mutants. Was he thinking of the X-Men or was he thinking of the “Ninja Turtles”. We all thought it could not get more whimsical but Jason Nortey stood up and declared that is bank was interested in doing commercial lending. Now that is whimsy.
Not only did David Plumley deliver the Education Slot but he assumed the role, in the absence of Chris Sadler our event photographer, I therefore felt justified in trying to avoid giving him a 60 second slot for the sake of everyone’s sanity. He quite rightly asserted his rights and sure enough we were all rewarded by an extended triple limerick, which to be fair, should have been a contender for the Oscar. However I suspect Richard Read was mesmerised by David’s earlier contribution in the Education slot and with his references to the wiggle room.
Jaimie Harrison won the Oscar, presumably for drawing our attention to Carmichael Browns control of two of the elements as money making enterprises. Next week the waves…
And so to the part of the meeting that is normally occupied by the 10 minutes slot. As it was our birthday, instead of listening to some slick presentation on the nature of one members business you were subjected to the annual review. I can only thank you all for listening patiently and clapping at the right time. Of course its purpose was to soften you all up for the prize giving which was the sort of award ceremony that makes the” BRITS “look professional.
It is not the purpose of this blog to record all of the winners but particular congratulations must be given to Paul Booth as the member off the year in accordance with the member’s votes and Jason Nortey as the Board’s member of the year. Congratulations to you both, both were well deserved.
We now must look forward to our new year and the referrals round was encouraging. 20 referrals and £11,306 worth of business recorded a good steady start.
As if to further herald new beginnings I was also able to close the meeting at exactly 8.30 giving us all plenty of time to network afterwards and even time for a committee meeting.
Finally I would like to salute the wisdom of all the members who sensibly declined the invitation from Scott Griffiths and myself to join us on the golf course afterwards. For those of you that have the slightest interest; we completed 18 holes, it was absolutely freezing, there were several snow flurries, and underfoot it was soggy at best. We both thoroughly enjoyed it in the way that you enjoy banging your head against a brick wall…. It is wonderful when you stop! We were left to muse over a very welcome coffee and baguette that it must have been reasons other than the pursuit of a successful golf career that made Tiger Woods the sexual athlete that he was. You are welcome to comment or speculate further on this if you wish.
Until then with fond memories of walking off the course I will look forward to what I hope will be a well attended meeting next week.
Excellent attendance for our 2nd anniversary … and some well-earned rewards and thank-yous. What a merry bunch we are. BTW … since Aidan does not know what grits are i shall grab a handful of gravel from the car park and place it next to his fried egg this week.
2 Years! Well done to all those who work really hard to make it a successful networking group. Impressed you also braved the snow flurries for a game of golf. Not many golfers compare golf to banging your head against a brick wall and it being wonderful to stop, but in that weather it can’t have been enjoyable. You can, however look forward networking and playing golf in daylight and sunshine soon!
Well I thoroughly enjoyed the golf. I’m looking to play again in a few weeks too if there are any more brave enough to join me…
I thought that the meeting was as excellent as ever and that we all deserve a big pat on our backs to say well done and congratulations. I’m looking forward to the future of EBF and an exciting 2013.
Read, Read?? I think it’s Reed but I’ll check…. yep just received the post and it’s definately Reed.
And where is the best photo of the day? Made it as best pic by having Jamie in it ( & you thought I was going to say me).
Best item of the day – fried eggs (albeit better still if flipped over for a couple of sec’s).
Best call of the day – I couldn’t make the golf.
Best Networking year yet.
Best Networking group around.
Yes excellent meeting and well done on the 2nd anniversary and I am sure that the group will only go from strength to strength- fried eggs were a great success
good meeting got off to a good start with fried eggs lots of members and mr doom and gloom Brian.It does work standing behind the chair keeps my hands out of my pockets sorry Jason for forgetting you done commercial morgages still not as bad as some of the door monitors vforgetting my name thanks all a good meeting
It was a fantastic meeting, and well done EBF. I am a proud member.
Congrats to all the winners, but to the board and leadership team for all the hard work.
J
A very good meeting and a big thank you to the members not just for the award but also for the business, friendship and assistance over the last year.
Strategically tomorrow, I may try to place myself near the end of the Breakfast queue with a view to being greedy and having two fried eggs if sufficient are left.
My congratulations go to all the award winners and to whoever decided on the scrambled egg – fried egg menu change! Looking forward to the third year of EBF.