Skip to content
Essex Business ForumEssex Business Forum
Essex Business Forum
Weekly Business Networking for Essex Businesses
    Menu
    • Home
    • View Members

      View Essex Business Forum Members

      Our membership represents the very best of local business. Our vetting process is thorough; each member must come highly recommended, and remain so by delivering continually outstanding work for members, their contacts, clients and friends.

      Have confidence. Browse our members page and feel free to contact anyone listed.


      If you own or run an outstanding local business, please join us as a guest at one of our meetings. Your first visit is free.

    • About EBF

      Member Testimonials

      Hear from Essex Business Forum members, past and present. Discover how membership has helped their business to grow.

      The EBF Mark of Excellence

      Find out more about the EBF quality assurance scheme and discover local businesses who have been reviewed, tested and are actively recommended by our panel of local experts.

      EBF Synergy Teams

      Synergy Teams are powerful sub-groups within our membership. Designed to bring together collaborative businesses and to help members do better business, together.

      The Essex Business Forum Constitution

      Created for members, by members. The rules and regulations that form the foundation of our professional association.
    • Visitor Information

      How to find our Business Networking Meeting

      Instructions on how to find our venue, and how to find the meeting room once you arrive.

      Meeting Walkthrough

      View a visual walkthrough and explanation of the various parts of our weekly meetings .

      What to bring

      Find out what you should be bringing along with you as a guest at one of our networking meetings

      Frequently Asked Questions

      Read a collection of common questions and answers that our prospective members and guests have asked us
    • Read our Blog

      Our Latest Blog Posts

      Annual Review 2018 / 2019 - our 8 year anniversary

      A review of our 8th year and announcement of the EBF member awards. What a fantastic 8 years it's been....

      Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in...

      It was our eighth Birthday celebration and given the absences for half-term the attendance was excellent with 24 Members and 3 Visitors, one of whom is to become a Member....

      Love was in the air

      Our Valentines Day meeting had a 60 second round suitably themed and it contained both lovers joy and lovers lament. The joy is that it was a beautiful morning and there was a good turnout, 26 members and one visitor....

      QE2 bridge closed; EBF open

      If last week was dull miserable and wet; by contrast but in equal measure this week was windy, 60mph gusts were recorded and the QE2 Bridge was closed.  No such closing for EBF, infact we had an excellent turnout of 26 members and 3 visito...
      Read the Essex Business Forum Business Networking Blog. A roundup of our weekly meetings, as recalled by our chairman Aidan Squire. We welcome any comments you have to make on any of our posts.
    • Contact Us

      Contact Essex Business Forum

      View our main contact information and use our enquiry form to get in touch with us. We'd love to hear from you.

      Register as a guest at one of our meetings

      If you'd like to attend an EBF meeting yourself please complete this form so that we know you are attending.

      Invite a Guest to Essex Business Forum

      If you can think of someone who would benefit from attending an EBF meeting then please use this form to invite them along to one of our meetings for FREE.
    Menu
    • Home
    • View Members

      View Essex Business Forum Members

      Our membership represents the very best of local business. Our vetting process is thorough; each member must come highly recommended, and remain so by delivering continually outstanding work for members, their contacts, clients and friends.

      Have confidence. Browse our members page and feel free to contact anyone listed.


      If you own or run an outstanding local business, please join us as a guest at one of our meetings. Your first visit is free.

    • About EBF

      Member Testimonials

      Hear from Essex Business Forum members, past and present. Discover how membership has helped their business to grow.

      The EBF Mark of Excellence

      Find out more about the EBF quality assurance scheme and discover local businesses who have been reviewed, tested and are actively recommended by our panel of local experts.

      EBF Synergy Teams

      Synergy Teams are powerful sub-groups within our membership. Designed to bring together collaborative businesses and to help members do better business, together.

      The Essex Business Forum Constitution

      Created for members, by members. The rules and regulations that form the foundation of our professional association.
    • Visitor Information

      How to find our Business Networking Meeting

      Instructions on how to find our venue, and how to find the meeting room once you arrive.

      Meeting Walkthrough

      View a visual walkthrough and explanation of the various parts of our weekly meetings .

      What to bring

      Find out what you should be bringing along with you as a guest at one of our networking meetings

      Frequently Asked Questions

      Read a collection of common questions and answers that our prospective members and guests have asked us
    • Read our Blog

      Our Latest Blog Posts

      Annual Review 2018 / 2019 - our 8 year anniversary

      A review of our 8th year and announcement of the EBF member awards. What a fantastic 8 years it's been....

      Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in...

      It was our eighth Birthday celebration and given the absences for half-term the attendance was excellent with 24 Members and 3 Visitors, one of whom is to become a Member....

      Love was in the air

      Our Valentines Day meeting had a 60 second round suitably themed and it contained both lovers joy and lovers lament. The joy is that it was a beautiful morning and there was a good turnout, 26 members and one visitor....

      QE2 bridge closed; EBF open

      If last week was dull miserable and wet; by contrast but in equal measure this week was windy, 60mph gusts were recorded and the QE2 Bridge was closed.  No such closing for EBF, infact we had an excellent turnout of 26 members and 3 visito...
      Read the Essex Business Forum Business Networking Blog. A roundup of our weekly meetings, as recalled by our chairman Aidan Squire. We welcome any comments you have to make on any of our posts.
    • Contact Us

      Contact Essex Business Forum

      View our main contact information and use our enquiry form to get in touch with us. We'd love to hear from you.

      Register as a guest at one of our meetings

      If you'd like to attend an EBF meeting yourself please complete this form so that we know you are attending.

      Invite a Guest to Essex Business Forum

      If you can think of someone who would benefit from attending an EBF meeting then please use this form to invite them along to one of our meetings for FREE.

Brentwood Business Networking Blog 15th December

aidan-squire2Chairman’s Business networking Blog, Thursday 15th December 2016.

At this last meeting of the year we had an altered format to enable us to try and cope with the Brian Painter Experience.

23 Members turned up, all bright eyed and bushy  tailed, sporting festive pullies of various sorts. There were even that ones that flashed all time, helping demonstrate that the Christmas Spirit was alive and well and living in Brentwood, at least between the hours of 6.15 am and 8. 45 am.

Howard Bullock gave us an update on the state of health, both physical and mental of his much dispossessed hound Obi; the waves of sympathy were palpable, at least from the blokes!

In David Plumley’s absence the Education Slot was dispensed with and we went straight into the 60 second round.

Marcelle Saad showed an eye wateringly expensive diamond but even that could not cheer Donna Evans up.  She was a bit Bah Humbug over the whole thing, Christmas that is, but things started warming up when Steve Roach told of a couple of charity live music events for the New Year.  Both of these seem to involve “a sit down curry”  In my view its only worth eating if it makes you sit down.

Most people were looking to wind down.  Not only was this true for Dean Caldon but also for Kevin Brooks, Alan Shaw and Scott Griffiths.  Terry Maylin however intends chasing the bad guys up to the last minute.

The School of Whimsy has been true to its nature to the last.  Not only was Alan Shaw trying to wind down but the whole 60 seconds wound down and away.  Brian Painter has an elderly lady client who is scratching her knees and ankles which apparently is a reaction to her recent divorce.  Nick Cooke was resplendent with a new trim.  Apparently the beard remained unpruned but he certainly looked neat and tidy and could not really be accused of looking like Saint Nick.

Two people produced poems.  The Bard of Hadleigh of course is driven in this regard but Kim Redwood-Lee chipped in with an offering of her own.  As she was awarding the Oscar however, it was not Kevin Radford’s poem that really caught her eye but Mike Rogers who produced a singing Santa who performed the whole of Mike’s 60 seconds.  Mike might find it helpful if he produced said Santa every week.

So with many best wishes being offered for Christmas and the New Year we moved almost straight from the 60 second round to the referrals round, thereby clearing the way for Mr Painter and his band of players.

The referrals round however was in reality the highlight of the meeting.  44 referrals were passed by 23 members and £24,600.00 of business was recorded creating over a 3 meeting month just short of the magical £100,000.00 worth of business recorded.

On the back of these figures we will ride into the New Year, but not before our Pilgrim had produced the live entertainment.

His warm up act was Paul Booth who told a few jokes, did a question and answer session with Mr Painter and then we were into the Quiz.

As usual the Quiz was 20 irritating questions whose answers including a hare, little Jack Horner, the number 9 and burping.  I believe Tina got 12 right and won the prize, a great effort.  The final act performed by Painter and his gang was the Secret Santa present distribution.

Donations for SNAP totalled £185.00 gathered from the meeting which was a tribute to Richard Reed’s tenacity in liaising between EBF and the Charity.

The final EBF act of the year will be the dinner on Friday night at Ask in Billericay High Street, starting at 7pm.

Our next meeting will be our first meeting of January when I hope we pick up where we left off on our regularity of attendance.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • WhatsApp
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr
December 16, 20168 Comments

8 Comments

  1. Scott Griffiths says:
    December 16, 2016 at 12:27 pm

    A lovely meeting to round off an excellent year at EBF. Thanks to all of the members for providing me with so many referrals but also for the advice, friendship and generally good times we have. I hope that all members have a lovely Christmas break and see you all next year.

     Reply
  2. rmkinsurance says:
    December 16, 2016 at 12:33 pm

    An excellent blog once again Aidan and a great Jib-jab from Scott again. I think that most people will recognise how accurate my poetry was in relation to that fiendish quiz. Looking forward to tonight. Happy Christmas to all and thank you for all the business. Its great to be back

     Reply
  3. Richard Reed says:
    December 16, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    It’s always a meeting worthy of our early rise and shine. Good banter, friendship, support and we even produce busines for each other. So much better than those other networking groups.
    Very much looking forward to our EBF Christmas dinner this evening so I will sign off for 2016 by wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.

     Reply
  4. HowardBullock says:
    December 16, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    Thank you all for your support this year (and every year).

    Merry Christmas to the EBF family. See you in the New Year!

     Reply
  5. terrymaylin says:
    December 16, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    Great meeting and well done on the excellent fund raising for SNAP! Looking forward to 2 weeks lie in and back with renewed vigour in the New Year!

     Reply
  6. Brian Painter says:
    December 16, 2016 at 1:43 pm

    A good meeting to round off the year. Next year the singing maggot will be back! Thank you, Aidan, for all the amusing blogs.Looking forward to the EBF dinner tonight. Merry Christmas to all and a plentiful referral New Year.

     Reply
  7. Matty Barry! says:
    December 16, 2016 at 1:57 pm

    Many apologies again for not being able to make the last meeting of the year. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and look forward to many business successes with you all in 2017

     Reply
  8. jill willis says:
    December 19, 2016 at 10:32 am

    Ah sorry to have not been able to make it along! The Crimbo night out was brilliant though, lovely to toast Christmas and the New Year with EBD friends! See you on the other side 🙂

     Reply

Leave us your feedback, ask a question, or add your point of view... Cancel reply

Recent Blog Posts
  • Annual Review 2018 / 2019 – our 8 year anniversary
    February 21, 2019
  • Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in…
    February 21, 2019
  • Love was in the air
    February 14, 2019
  • QE2 bridge closed; EBF open
    February 7, 2019
  • Ben’s addiction to BOOBS left nothing to be desired…
    January 31, 2019
Come along to and EBF meeting

Are you interested in coming along to our networking meetings? If you own or run a local business then attending Essex Business Forum could help you to receive your share of regular referred business.

Our next events: 

  • Weekly Business Networking Meeting on February 28, 2019 6:30 am
  • Weekly Business Networking Meeting on March 7, 2019 6:30 am
About Essex Business Forum

Essex Business Forum is an association of professional business people and owners of established and reputable SMEs based in Essex which represents every trade and profession, and with the addition of an extended network of businesses in highly specialist fields.

We run weekly business networking groups every Thursday morning in Brentwood, plus other regular events and networking meetings.

We're always looking for new members to join, so if you are interested then come along to one of our meetings.

Recent Blog Posts
  • Annual Review 2018 / 2019 – our 8 year anniversary
    February 21, 2019
  • Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in…
    February 21, 2019
  • Love was in the air
    February 14, 2019
  • QE2 bridge closed; EBF open
    February 7, 2019
Get in touch with EBF
» Send us an email: [email protected]
» Call us on 01245 790 390
» Complete our enquiry form
» Invite a guest to an EBF meeting
» Register YOURSELF to attend an EBF meeting
» Membership Application Form

Find us on:

FacebookTwitterRssInstagram
Essex Business Forum

© Copyright Essex Business Forum Ltd 2018 | Website created and managed by Eseyo Web Consulting
Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
This website uses cookies: Find out more.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Accept