It was daylight when the first of us arrived at 6.a.m.
Alan Moller was third in, wearing what appeared to be a very virulent cold and asked whether he should come to the meeting or not, given his medical state. As Paul Booth and myself backed towards the end of the room we suggested maybe he ought to give it a miss this time. Great effort for turning up Alan, hope you aare feelingbetter soon. Notwithstanding Alan’s fleeting visit we finished up with 25 Members being ready to sit down for breakfast with two visitors. Tim Heard was there with his application form which was submitted at the end of the meeting. Dan Wright was with us for the first time.
Before the meeting got under way proper, an email was read out from Alan Shaw thanking us for his retirement card with also a threat to visit us one Thursday but at the moment he is on standby duties for his daughter who is expecting her second baby. We look forward therefore to seeing Alan sometime in the future.
Education Presentation
Scott Griffiths used the education slot to test the water as far as the supply of documents and folders from EBF is concerned. The consensus appears to be moving towards doing away with the A4 Folder that can contain everything and moving to a combination of cardholders and notebooks all suitably embossed. More self-informative than educational, it was nonetheless useful.
The 60 Second Round
With Richard Reed’s email about being more specific as to clients we were looking for in our 60 seconds we kicked off.
Howard Bullock was the first up. He is now writing a romantic novel that tells the tale of Stephanie and Brett. The catchphrase “use it or lose it” was mentioned at some stage but I can’t remember for the life of me its context.
The highlight of Kieran Peaty’s 60 seconds was his proud declaration that he has got a badge. Now all he has to do is wear it every week to avoid punishment from Brian Painter who polices these things.
Anna Marie was looking for aged relatives who could tell a story and be photographed.
Ben Golding, back from his treatment, is looking better. Not only did his complexion appear improved but the purple pullover offset his noble features and when at the end of his 60 seconds he produced the pig it was clear what the inspiration had been for the colour of his pully.
As to the Smoked Salmon Sect, Toby Acton managed a brief rendition of a Spice Girls classic. Going forward he is now always likely to carry the mantle of being “Scary Spice”. His fellow set member Simon (I like a bit of fish) Essex, finished up enquiring if anybody wished to provide sponsorship for the production of Godspell in Brentwood sometime soon.
Kevin Brooks stood up and explained about load bearing windows. A problem not immediately envisaged by one of his clients but Nick Cooke saved the day and avoided total collapse of bungalow.
Saj remains fixated with Mother Day and he received a few orders.
Highlight of the meeting, if not the winner of the Oscar was the return of Kevin Radford as the Bard of Hadleigh. He produced the sort of quality rhyme that rose well above doggerel and showed, like Arnie, that the Bard of Hadleigh is ”back”.
Ashley (I rhyme with orange) Bermange produced samples of his gear suitably branded. Kevin Brooks was the lucky recipient although none of it seemed to fit him.
The Mayor of Gants Hill, a la mode de Howard Bullock, claimed to be writing a book, extolled the good quality business card.
Brian Painter was once again trying to get people to kick the habit of smoking. He produced a poster which ultimately had the slogan of “dying for a cigarette” is likely to turn into “you will die from a cigarette”…. all done without reverting to a description of the various poisons or the likely diseases that smokers might attract.
Apart from reporting that Paul Booth has no self-employed comedians on his books, I can reveal that Howard Bullock awarded the Oscar to Brian Painter. Well done Brian!!
This weeks statistics and points of note
- 26 Members (counting Alan Moller)
- 2 Visitors present
- 33 Referrals passed
- £29,000,00 worth of business recorded
- Brian Painter was the winner of the Oscar
- Jill Willis is in the lead of our Performance League
- Simon Essex was the presenter of 10 Minute Slot.
10-minute presentation by Simon Essex
Adrenalin-fuelled nervousness often produces the best presentations. It follows therefore that after Simon Essex’s acknowledgement of feeling nervous he produced a really first class presentation. An illustration of the positive use of the slide show, He fully explained and illustrated his business….. a very professional presentation.
After the meeting Tim Heard’s application was approved by the committee.
Great 10 minutes Simon. Looking forward to the next Mills & Boon 60 seconds
Excellent meeting everyone, Simon, a great presentation – well done.
To be fair I think if Howard hadn’t of been presenting the Oscar he would have won it., but as he didn’t give it to me , don’t let him know. The 60 second round standard just keeps getting higher. Well done everyone. An excellent presentation from simon I will have no hesitation in recommending you .
Well done Simon, very good first 10 minutes! the literary corner was alive and thriving this morning and put on a good show, great turnout see you all next week!
Great 10 minutes Simon! And, let’s all give a little cheer for the light, bright, early mornings. I LOVE spring!
Sounds like you guys had a great meeting, and I sadly missed Smoke Salmon Simon’s ten minutes and Brian getting the Oscar! Look forward to seeing you next week have a great weekend 🙂
Nice lively meeting and good to see loads of people there, very good sixty second round. Superb presentation from Simon, really good to know what he can do and also how he can help people, will look forward to the rants! And also recommending his services.
The blog is a damn good read too…
Have a great week everyone and see you all next week.
You certainly wouldn’t know from his performance that Simon was very nervous before his first 10mt slot, it was professional and informative – very well done.
Some excellent 60 seconds also this week – the bar does keep getting higher. Notably from Kevin Radford and Vince – you guys were robbed.
P.S. I’m available for adoption, very loving and kind. Good families only to apply.
Good to hear from Alan Sure 🙂 sorry to miss the meet today guys, trying to help another EBF member out 🙂 hope to see you all next week
The liveliest meeting of all lively meetings! Never thought recruitment was that involved or as interesting, great presentation, Simon. If Howard had kept his romantic novel until next week he would have won the Oscar. Tough on The Bard and the Mare, both would have been worthy winners, Oscar is hiding his face! Behave whilst i’m away!
I’m already working on next week’s 60 seconds. Onwards and upwards. Well done to Brian Panter on winning the Oscar, I’ll let the other members say how well deserved it was. Bitter? Moi? 😇. Simon Essex, be sure to tell your dad David how much you enjoy the group. And I’m your brother Joey would like to come along to see what it’s all about…
Another great meeting with some seriously funny 60 seconds! And a seriously good 10 minutes from Simon – poised and professional… I am still amused/aghast at the email that the candidate sent!
Hi all. I appreciate all the feedback. I think the nerves took hold because I thought I might bore you guys. Thanks for the response though, I soon relaxed when I started and you made me feel calm. I have to say I really enjoy the group and find it a huge asset for my business. See you all next week and Saj cant wait to see you do a full flower arrangement in-front of us. I like blue and white flowers.
Simon great 10 minutes (you little cutie lol) great to hear from Alan Shaw too. See you all next week.
An accomplished presentation for Simon. What a great 60 second round! Makes it really difficult to pick a winner. Let’s hope that the judging doesn’t go the same way as Eurovision!
Good to be back after missing last week, a great meeting and an outstanding 60 second round! Well done with your presentation Simon – thoroughly enjoyable, well put together and professionally presented. See you all next week.
What a great ‘lively’ meeting and excellent presentation from Simon! I’ve missed having a sausage sandwich the last few weeks, though glad my complexion is looking better ha ha!!
Looking forward to seeing you all next week! 😀
Great 10 minutes and Simon has already been able to help me with my recruitment!
The 60 seconds have been amazing. Howard is a natural with all his stories.
All the best everyone.