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

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    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.

Chairman’s Blog, Thursday 1st September 2016

Good turnout, 22 in all.

We inducted the Flying Bee in the guise of Alan Heggie, his first day as a member. Welcome Alan.Aidan Squire

Terry Maylin, still standing in for Scott Griffiths, announced the winner of the Performance League this month and by way of a very pleasant change it was Jill Willis; congratulations  Jill who narrowly pipped Nick Cooke.  Jill was on holiday but Nick was present in his truly biblical self.

Stuart Smallcombe presented the Ed Slot.  As a result of business coaching they now do a 90 day review of how they have done in the previous 90 days and what their plans are for the next 90 days.  It is all about setting targets.  Having goals to aim for.  A well-presented Education Slot.

As usual, with a good turnout, there was a buzz to the meeting which led to a lively 60 second round.

Richard Reed had the offer of a lifetime being a flight to New Zealand and a cruise.  He sought to illustrate the value of the offer by asking Carmel what she would pay only for flights to New Zealand which were the equivalent of the cost of the flight and cruise itself.  He also received support from of all people Alan Shaw. It cost him and his wife over £2,000 each to go on a celebrity cruise.  I didn’t realise that the celebrities had to pay!!!

In the meantime Jo Jones needs help in promoting things through her website and brought up the question of testimonials, this is something for us all to consider.

From the School of Whimsy came some pretty down to earth efforts from Alan Shaw who is looking for building schemes to advise on and Brian Painter who managed in one client to get a panoply (I believe that’s the collective adjective) of phobias.  A lady brought to him her daughter who was basically frightened of everything.  He has dealt with the blood, the snakes and something else I cannot remember.  Next week its injections and lack of confidence.  So far everyone on message.  We were saved however by Nick Cooke; some bloke  wanted to knock a wall down and felt that Nick was the only person to do the job because, from looking at his photograph on the website, he liked the cut of his jib.  I think the plan is to put Nick Cooke’s photograph on everybody’s website.

So much for the School of Whimsy.  The Naughty Table also was back in action and fully stocked.  Howard Bullock is looking for people in their fifties.  Mike Rogers on the other hand told a very interesting and informative story of the pigeon in his garden that had lost its memory.  He picked the pigeon up and stuck it on the fence in the hope that it would remember that in order to get down from the fence it would have to fly.  This apparently didn’t work.  It occurred to me that he might bring it in to our next meeting and give it to Brian.  I assume that pigeons have sub-consciousness; whether its nine tenths of their brain or not remains to be seen but it must be worth a try.

David Plumley declared that he had lots of aunties but he knew the one he liked the best. It was all rather technical for me.

It was Steve Roach to explain that Phoenix FM has 2 birthdays.  I do not know which the official one is but recently it was the 20th for their first broadcast.  Many happy returns.

When Alan Heggie rose to his feet, being last up, I was obviously having difficulty by that time with my hearing.  I am sure he said that he had route called the Whiskey Way.  Maybe that was simply a threat to whisk you away… heaven knows, but he neatly rounded off the 60 second presentation.

Dean Caldon won the Oscar last week but was not around for the end of the 60 second round and the award was made by Kim Redwood-Lee. Kevin Brooks was the recipient, selected for emphasising the importance of proper schedules of work being drawn up for all building jobs.

The ten minute presentation was Matt Barry’s first.  A very well presented, polished performance that gave us a full breakdown of the work that he does both at the high end and the lower end.  We wish him well in Copenhagen, and whilst he is away there should be an opportunity for us to try and find business for him.

And so we moved to the end of what was a very successful meeting.  Unfortunately I will not be with you all next week but I wish you well and look forward to seeing you in 2 weeks time.

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September 2, 20169 Comments

9 Comments

  1. David Plumley says:
    September 2, 2016 at 4:20 pm

    A pro presentation from Matt. High experience and credibility. Can we also take a head count of how many of us want to order a pic of Nick Cooke to aid us in our business credibilty … or maybe just one to hang in our lounges?

     Reply
  2. HowardBullock says:
    September 2, 2016 at 4:44 pm

    Matt has certainly raised the bar. Very well done!

     Reply
  3. Brian Painter says:
    September 2, 2016 at 5:06 pm

    I think I can help with the Jolly Rogers’ pigeon.Clearly it didn’t know whether to jump down on the grass or to fly. Like many of my clients
    It was sitting on the fence! The other problem the young girl had was claustrophobia. Three down two to go.

     Reply
  4. Terry Maylin says:
    September 2, 2016 at 5:18 pm

    Excellent 10 minutes Matt i would expect no less!
    Dont forget my message about compensation for every b2b invoice and interest at 8.5%

     Reply
  5. Jo Jones says:
    September 3, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    Great meeting, yes look out for email from me reminding of testimonials, really enjoyed your presentation Matt or was it Matty ?;o)

     Reply
  6. Blue Serif says:
    September 3, 2016 at 4:25 pm

    Thanks all for the positive feedback. It was nice to get my first 10 mins presentation under my belt. I’ll be sure to have cardboard cut outs of Nick to accompany my next 10mins!

     Reply
  7. jill willis says:
    September 5, 2016 at 10:25 am

    Ah! Can’t believe I missed being top of the league! Back Thursday and determined to keep the top spot 🙂

     Reply
  8. Richard Reed says:
    September 5, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    It was a great meeting with plenty of “buzz” about it. Well done to Jill and praise to Matt for his first, excellent, presentation.

     Reply
  9. paulbooth says:
    September 5, 2016 at 8:20 pm

    Well done Matt and welcome Heggie. We now have 3 Alan’s in the group. Perhaps we need nicknames for Messr’s Shaw and Moller or it could get confusing.

     Reply

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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
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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
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