19 members and 2 visitors stood firm in the face of government announcements in relation to COVID. Based on what appeared to be alarming statistics regarding the speed and numbers of infections of the recent strain that appears now to be well and truly amongst us. Probably it was the attraction of the 10-minute presentation by auntie Jane Malyon that brought us all out if only in the anticipation of samples.
The Performance League
We were berated by Scott Griffiths for the paucity of referrals and recorded business passed last week. None the less massively out in the lead is Stuart Smallcombe. It was all anticipation therefore as to how this week would pan out.
Education Presentation
Paul Booth was at it again, still on the subject of referrals. He emphasised that referrals and activity forms also give an opportunity to provide a testimonial, particularly through Google.
Membership Matters
Melissa Jackson has made an application to join to occupy the category of insolvency practitioner and subject to the usual formalities we look forward to welcoming her to the group.
The 60 Second Round
Tina Walker was the holder of the Oscar from last week and after delivering her 60 seconds she settled down to be the judge and jury for this week’s Oscar award
The three Mikes lined up in a row and Mike “grumble guts” Rogers was the first Mike to present. He complained about it being too cold and considered himself more at risk than from COVID. He was however still able to claim to ‘do’ mortgages.
Not only were there 3 Mikes but there were 2 Johns. We were pleased to welcome back John Freeman from his sojourn in Tenerife. He liked it so much he’s going back there towards the end of the month. He is only available for minor commissions until he’s back for the beginning of February 2022
Matt Barry proudly showed off his involvement in re branding of “On the Market”. He disclaimed any involvement with the TV advert with the stupid looking bloke in it. He seemed quite rightly very pleased with himself and his team.
Sarah Steele asked us to follow her on LinkedIn. When she took over the business in 2020 she had 40 followers, it is now up to 880. Help her get to 1000 and if you are the thousandth, you’ll get a prize
We have a potential confusion over there being 3 Mikes and also in relation to the 2 Johns. What I did not anticipate was the similarity between Brian and Ryan but we still, we got them out of the way at the same time. Ryan was keen to follow in his predecessors footsteps by using a prop which had become seriously damaged and could have burnt the house down that he was attending. He seems to have captured the essence of Alan Muller by producing a prop that left me wondering where it should be fitted
Colin O’Connor made the interesting suggestion that if the 16 million pounds that would be saved by their being no health and safety problems in the country the government would have more money to play with if they could get their hands on this saving.
Stuart Smallcombe was topical in that he picked up on the current government guidance to ask people to work from home if possible. You should have set yourself up already through Stuart and if you haven’t you can do so now
Toby Acton recommends a new year businesses plan. To plan ahead; first plan your holidays and family time, secondly what you want to do in your personal life and so on. It is only after all of these considerations have been thought through that you plan how your business will fund these ambitions…… hopefully without revising down any of your initial desires
Vincent Goode did his piece to music. A Christmas carol provided the backdrop to his pitch for providing Christmas cards
Scott Griffiths is still getting his website hands dirty in dealing with toilets and similar such areas of business. More enticing or fragrant would be welcome!
Jane Malyon produces 26 different teas including one named after her great grandfather Henry who not only had been awarded the CBE, but his name has been linked to a tea It’s the rhyming again,. It apparently smells of tobacco and other earthy things that are synonymous with an aged relative. Of this you will learn more from later in the meeting
Neil Bellham is still trying to shift the sweets he had mentioned to us three weeks previous. His lack of success this prompted him to fill up containers with sweets and deliver them to hospitals et cetera Such charitable Christmas intentions left him as Tina’s obvious candidate for the Oscar
Meeting Secretaries Report
This found Scott Griffiths in far better humour. We had rallied from last week and showed recorded business of £17,250 with referrals that finished up around the 20 mark.
10-minute presentation by Jane Malyon
This week was the week for the much-anticipated scone tasting event. Auntie Jane took centre stage declared herself the ‘scone gnome’, which kind of settles the dispute over how you pronounce it. The whole 10 minutes was a cornucopia of Christmas cheer as produced by the English Cream Tea Company. There was talk of Jane splitting her trousers making them look like cowboy chaps, there was the declaration that afternoon tea could save the world and she showed us shortbread with chocolate snowflakes. She cast herself in the role of fairy godmother and described the book she had written and the talk she had given. She explained about all of her wares including Pub Quiz hampers, Turkey and Cranberry mayonnaise and the Guinness Book of records award for the largest Essex cream tea party. She enlisted volunteers to make the perfect scone with strawberry jam and cream… or was it cream and strawberry jam. We finally got to sniff various teas including Henry’s rather masculine flavoured beverage with other flavours including chocolate and orange. Sarah Steele seemed to be the scone preparer of the day, if for no other reason than her scones contained twice as much cream and jam as any of the other efforts. A memorable 10 minutes but definitely not part of a calorie-controlled diet. Thank you, Jane, for bringing a little luxury into our lives in these difficult times.
Referrals and Testimonials Round
Almost as tasty as Jane’s scones, this round reflected the numbers of referrals and business recorded and certainly more than made up four last week’s shortcomings.
Sounds like I missed a good meeting !
Well done Neil on your charitable deed!
Great 10 min by Jane & thanks for the brownies x.
Merry Christmas all, i’ll see you in the new year x.
Thank you Jane for letting me have yet another scone tasting (Mrs G and I went to Cornwall in the summer specifically for that reason). A lively presentation, and I look forward to seeing you next week for the Christmas meeting
What a full-on presentation from our black belt lady, fantastico! During the afternoon, milk should go in first so that the hot tea does not crack the delicate bone china cups. I hope Neil has some elves to help distribute all those sweets, a noble effort my man, may your cup always be full. Welcome to our new member. Good meeting, enjoy the weekend.
Aww thank you for your very tasty blog Aidan! Well done everyone – no tomatoes were thrown during the 10 mins which is the main thing! 😀
Cant’t believe i missed jane’s scones! Looking forward to seeing you all next week.
Superb blog. As erudite and articulate as ever. Thank you Aidan. And I can see I missed yet another great meeting with my business buddies and not least of all the 10 minute presentation by our Scone Gnome. Looking forward to a catch up at the meeting next week.
Great 10 minutes Jane and thank you for the brownies. see you all on Thursday.