John Freeman, master of mastic and sausage pasta

Dull and drizzly but it could have been described as “light” when I got to the Calcott Hall Farm at 6am this morning.  Lots of cry offs this week, nonetheless we were 21 in total.  With new visitor Toby Acton a business mentor and the return of Syd Barrett and Kelly Walker and I am pleased to announce both have submitted applications for membership, and hopefully by this time next week they can be fully fledged members.

Education Presentation

This week Scott Griffiths took on the obligation of trying to educate us.  His topic was our group’s Mark of Excellence which very few members have and which is available for all members who have been members for one year to apply for and try and meet the criteria.  Scott will be sending around an email that will enable you to access an application form. We would like as many members to apply as possible.

By the time Scott had finished his presentation, it was clear that he was multi-tasking.  He had previously delivered the Performance League details. Paul Booth is the current leader for this month.

The 60 Second Round

Marcelle Saad revealed how she liked to get young men to spill their hearts out to her over how they came to be “about to be” engaged.  All part and parcel of her research to enable her to assist them in selecting the right engagement ring.

Mike Rogers was all statistics and fixed rate deals.  He was, however, boasting a ten year fixed rate that in interest lending terms was mouth-watering.

In the absence of Brian Painter, the School of Whimsy was below par.  Alan Shaw muttered about doing reports and surveys but after reflecting (yes he reflected during his 60 seconds) he decided that the message that he wanted to give us is that he was busy.  Nick Cooke, by contrast, reported a turn of speed in attending a client on the same day as the request, to ensure that a kitchen wall, that was coming down to incorporate the new kitchen, would be safely installed….  Maybe it was all more whimsical than I thought.

Jo Eastwood made the rather disturbing declaration that if it had an “e” in it, it was Irish.  Her illustration of course was whiskey.  My preference as a giveaway is having an “o” in front of the name.

The group does not have a doctor or any medical type person but we do have David Plumley whose theme was “mild infections”…who needs doctors!

Scott Griffiths talked this week about e-learning.  This must be some sort of Irish way of assimilating facts!

It was Kevin Radford who, Bard-like, constructed a ditty to show off the wares of RMK.  Similarly, Vince Goode, with a nice bit of doggerel, extolled the virtues of business cards. His rapturous drooling won him the Oscar.  Although it was Bard-like by his fiendish ploy to leave his name off the members list so as to be added in at the end, it was well deserved.

This weeks statistics and points of note

• 18 Members present
• 3 visitors in attendance
• 21 referrals
• £14,000 worth of business recorded
• Paul Booth ahead in the Performance League for this month
• Vincent Goode was the Oscar winner

10-minute presentation by John “Quick-in-and-out” Freeman

This week was a joy.  John Freemen demonstrated his tools.  The one thing these tools had in common was that they could all be operated with a battery.  No wires for EBF’s  “Odd Job”.  With an array of hand tools and the nifty use of one battery he demonstrated why he is “quick in and out”.  Other gems included the phrase “…what are you like with mastic…”.

All of this followed on from the revelation that he liked cooking sausage pasta.

The presentation in itself was remarkably effective.  John’s dexterity with various tools only served to illustrate his value as our local handyman and his current referral rate perhaps is a reflection of this.