Alan Moller saw a house lit up and Ben Golding lit up his piggy

It was a half term day which creates certain inevitable absences for those with children of school age.  Although this was true of today there was nonetheless good attendance with 21 members present and 3 visitors.

The Performance League

This is the fifth and final meeting of the month of May 2018 and Saj Sreedharan is the current leader and with numbers 2 & 3 both being on holiday his chances of coming out on the top for the whole month seem very good.

Education Presentation

David Plumley returns after a few weeks away in C….., no not Chile, Canada.  He even had a red baseball cap to prove it.  He personally delivered the Education Slot this week where he emphasised the importance of the “being there”. The importance of this was not only that this was the title of the last film that Peter Sellers made but that it is also a very significant reminder of the importance of attendance in our day to day business dealings and in particular in relation to EBF meetings.  As always, emphasising the importance of attendance tends to be preaching to the converted if it is delivered to the group who are sitting in front of you at the breakfast meeting.  Nonetheless the point is well made.

The 60 Second Round

Marcelle, unusually, kicked off today with an acronym – CAT. This stands for Computer Aided Technology and in the jewellery business this enables the production of 3D illustrations of how jewellery can be made up.

Ben Golding was next up and as well as lighting up his piggy, he was able to herald the award to Utility Warehouse of Utility Company of the Year.

The School of Whimsy was in attendance in full force.  Alan Shaw has been rushing around this week and still seems flustered.  A particular job, where he had submitted plans to the planners, he needed to alter them and get them back to the planners at very short notice.  He sat down with a look of exhaustion on his face.  Nick Cooke was much more chipper. Back from his sojourn in Mexico, he was reinvigorated enough to explain the importance of structural inspections and his reporting of this to clients.  Brian Painter told us of his ability to help people to control their weight; a client could not keep his hands or mouth off the chocolate.  He apparently tapped on the fellows meridian parts and now he apparently does not like chocolate at all.

Finally, the new recruit Allan Moller looked at a house with lots of lots of lights in its garden.  He as unimpressed, “less is more” he said. He was more in favour of subtle but as his strapline is “don’t be in the dark call a spark” surely he cannot really be complaining about “bling lighting” around the whole of the house.  Anyway, the Whimseys performed collectively very well I think you will agree.

The Naughty Corner depleted by Messrs Booth and Caldon was represented by Stuart Smallcombe and Howard Bullock.  Apart from Howard Bullock looking a bit dodgy was sporting black-rimmed young gangster glasses and atrociously coloured socks he was very much on message, explaining the importance of life and critical illness cover in financial planning and Stuart Smallcombe assailed us with good quality salesmanship. Mobile phones from two or more for company clients either with phones or Sim only deals was a positive sales pitch was absolutely bang on.

Of peripheral but important interest came from Richard Read who has been unfairly bad-mouthed in Google Reviews which requires us to respond with further Google Reviews in support, let’s get those reviews in.  Tina Walker was the other off-piste contribution.  She is lucky enough to be invited to a speed awareness course and appeared either apprehensive or bored by the prospect. Fear not Tina, you are in for a real treat.  First of all you are not alone, most of us have been to one and secondly the ones that I have been to, yes two in number, have been very informative and helpful.

The Mayor of Gants Hill Village, to wit Vince Goode, demonstrated packaging and made reference to brides favours.  It sounds like his office brings with it seigneurial rights over the local brides in that neck of the woods.

The tightest 60 second came from Mike Rogers who stood up and told us precisely who he was and what he did.  This took 20 seconds.  He then repeated the message two further times.  Jo Eastwood at least appreciated a positive and simple message and awarded him the Oscar.

This weeks statistics and points of note

• 21 Members present
• 3 Visitors
• 20 Referrals made
• Mike Rogers won the Oscar

10-minute presentation

There was no 10 minute presentation this week but the usual substitution of a question and answer session produces lively and positive interaction between members which can be very illuminating and indeed was on this occasion.