Chairman’s blog Thursday 4th August 2022

Despite bright sunshine we were riven by the holidays of various members. We accordingly only mustered 17 members and one return visitor from last week, David Simberg. Our venue was similarly affected by holiday absence and accordingly a takeaway Greggs breakfast was organised by Paul Booth.

Education Presentation

It was our education officer in charge of this week’s presentation which had a theme of how to make the most out of your 60 second presentation. He produced tips as to how to supercharge what we put before our fellow members. This included; making eye contact, producing vocal variety, keeping the speed of delivery down, being prepared properly, making the subject matter different each week and practising including recording yourself to see how you come over. let’s see how many of us take this to heart for next week.

New Member Induction & Existing Member Renewal

Neil Bellham’s application to renew his membership for another year has been approved. Hopefully this year will be the year of the chilli jam launch.

The 60 Second Round

Mike Rogers was in the adjudicator’s chair this week and spent this weeks 60 seconds and 56 of next weeks in explaining the effect awards can have on you; starting with his first award as a wolf cub at the age of 8. By the way, he also does mortgages.

John Freeman Googled the definition of handyman which amongst other things described him as a fixer. I think all of those who have used him will stick with this definition.

Toby Acton, mindful of the Ed Slot reduced his speed of delivery from 100 miles per hour to 75. Going forward this approach should make his deep dives less likely to make him susceptible to the bends.

James Humphries used his time to warn us in relation to property insurance being underinsured. Paul Booth also wanted us as possibly self-employed business owners to make sure that we were making sufficient contributions to maximise our State Pension. Get a forecast was his urging.

Nick Cooke did not tell of designs of steel beams but told of getting a builder to capitulate following a report on a badly constructed retaining wall.

As to members who were offering help, Ben Golding saved a new customer £200 per month; Brian Painter got a lady through her driving test after 162 lessons but having passed she will need his further help in giving her the confidence to go out onto the road and drive on her own. For the safety of all of us Brian, let well be!! Terry Maylin have details of how the change to remove no fault notice to terminate a tenancy will work through the extension of the list of matters that would be regarded as fault. Possession proceedings are difficult, they are going to get more difficult going forward.

Mike Rogers showed excellent judgement in awarding the Oscar to myself. Something to do with mentioning Ric Parfitt.

Meeting Secretaries Report

Terry Maylin reported that we had topped the £100,000 mark for last month. Almost inevitably this week was a slow start to the new month

10-minute presentation by Mike Skinner

This week it was the turn of Mike Skinner. He managed to produce a television screen and then went on to use it very effectively to show how colour can affect the tone of a video. This was an excellent demonstration of not only what he does but how he does it. Very professional!

Referrals and Testimonials

The passing of some good referrals coma the demonstration from looking at past referrals of how well they are taken up and the winning of the speakers prize by Neil Bellham brought matters to a close.