Waistcoats are to be this winter’s fashion statement

This week there was a comfortable buzz about the room prior to breakfast that is always present when we have more than 23 in attendance.  The actual total was 24.

Jill Willis’s husband Richard was the guest, a previous member of the group before Jill took over. Even the newer members made the connection…..  It was the name Willis that was the giveaway.

On a sartorial note, waistcoats were in evidence.  This harbinger of winter also gives the blokes a chance to make a style statement.  Kevin Brookes, back from a hard few weeks holidaying, sported a very fetching garb that was beautifully set off with his brown wool look waistcoat.  Not to be outdone Terry Maylin, with blue suit, sported a red waistcoat that lit up the room.

The Performance League

This month’s is 3 weeks old. The current leader is Kevin Radford with 240 points; absent from today’s proceedings there is a chance for others to overhaul him – watch this space next week.

Education Presentation

David Plumley’s message this week was given through a series of examples to demonstrate what was not a referral and then finished off by clarifying exactly how a good referral would come about.Not exactly rocket science but it goes to the heart of what our group is about and how we should be giving referrals to each other.

The 60 Second Round

Mike Rogers was last weeks Oscar winner and had the duty of adjudicating this week.  Accordingly he was first up.  He set out before us many mortgage queries.  He did not answer any of these but indicated that he knew the answers and we should refer people to him in order that they could be appropriately enlightened.

There was a Halloween theme this week, Scott Griffiths had suggested it and then carefully absented himself on holiday.

Anna Marie needs a new laptop.  This one let her down when she was seeking to illustrate how she can tap into “the essential you” when producing her photographs.  Our bellman Dean was suitably patient and was well rewarded with photographs before and after of Ellen Beckenham in a mask and then her real self.

Nick Cooke told of how he was approached by a lady who had come to him three years ago for a report and told him that the cracks had reappeared. Once he had dug out his report, and his insurance policy, he realised that he had recommended certain trees be taken down and she had not complied with this requirement. Hence the lady appeared fully aware of her failures and did, in reality, acknowledge why the cracks were appearing.  Apparently she “just wanted to hear you say it”… beguiling!

Kevin Bookes, complete with waistcoat, rose to tell of why he wants to move upmarket from Wanstead to Hampstead.  A meeting with architects convinced him of exactly, what “high end” really is.

Jill Willis, to the tune of Ghostbusters asked the question several times “… who ya gona call? Attract and Engage”…. again electronic music and a good pitch.

Not only did Ben Golding then arise and sing the virtues of Utility Warehouse but enlisted the help of the piggy.  Things seemed to be getting back to normal.

John Freeman’s clarion call remains “small, quick in and out”.  We should all know this by now and indeed that’s the whole purpose of repeating it.

Vincent, Mayor of Gants Hill, illustrated a multipurpose bin.  You can stand on it, you can sit on it, you can pull it and it can be part of a display.  As with Jill Willis and John Freeman, repetition is everything.

Ellen Beckenham is now a fully accredited UCAS operator, congratulations Ellen.

As for the School of Whimsy , NiCK Cooke as explained above had not been entirely whimsical but Brian Painter was.  His client had a fear of falling down in the street and people laughing at her! Nothing was discovered in her murky past so the solution was simple, get her to actually fall down and see if people laughed at her.  This she did a couple of times in Bluewater and nobody laughed.  Having failed as a fall down comedienne she now feels she can earn sympathy by falling down in public places and feel good about herself.  Visitors to Bluewater might come to curse our Pilgrim but he certainly held his whimsical end up, as it were.

What of the Naughty Corner.  Well Stuart Smallcombe demonstrated a 50 second wait while trying to speak to a Mr Smith and suggested that there was silences whilst you wait for people to come to the phone that can be very effectively used for advertising.  Howard Bullock is helping a divorcee with her pension entitlement from the divorce and he is looking for more, divorcees that is. Presumably to qualify they need to be acquiring an interest in their husband’s pension.

Allan Moller, recent recruit to the School of Whimsey was rejoicing in the clocks going back this weekend.  Longer dark nights when burglars will do their worst unless there is some outside lighting to illuminate the potential victims premises.  Its nice to know the up coming winter is being met by someone with a degree of cheerfulness.

And who did old grumble guts award the Oscar to?  Saj Sreedharan of course. He played music, the “X files” introduction and showed pictures of pumpkins as part of floral  displays.  You can even eat it afterwards!!

This weeks statistics and points of note

• 23 Members 1 visitor
• £10,000.00 worth of business recorded
• 17 referrals
• Kevin Radford is the Performance League Leader
• Saj Sreedharan won the Oscar.

10-minute presentation by Ellen Beckenham

By now the sun was shining and this was coupled with an upbeat presentation from Ellen Beckenham who proved us with a slide show and warned us if the dangers of asbestos. She also produced a quiz which everybody seemed to win by getting all ten questions right apart from Ben Golding who owned up to only getting nine, but seemed pleased enough with himself over that performance. It’s probably because he didn’t cheat,  whereas the rest of us did.

Footnote

A foot note was Brian Painter’s declaration that he now had collected all the deposits and there were indeed 30 people booked us for the Christmas Dinner.

Well Done Brian!!!