Meetings
July 2010 Meeting
There was no set agenda for this meeting, as around 30 Club members were welcomed to an informal social evening at Cotswold Woollen Weavers in Filkins by Richard Martin.
Richard gave a very interesting talk about the history of wool growing in the region and explained how his business started and how it has progressed over the 25 years that it has been at Filkins.
Following Richard’s talk, there was discussion about whether the Club should become involved in controversial issues such as parking or planning applications.
June 2010 Breakfast Meeting
Three new members were welcomed to the Club.
Guest speakers, Adam Baggs and Helen Bassett of Soaring Worldwide, gave a talk about how other businesses/people perceive your business and how to get noticed through PR, newsletters, awards ceremonies and social networking.
The issue of whether or not the Business Club should get involved in and/or take a stance on parking issues and planning applications in the towns was discussed and is something that the Club will consider further.
May 2010 AGM
Two new members were welcomed to the meeting.
The Chair gave his report on the previous year and the Administrator gave the Report for the Financial Year 2009/2010.
The Election of Officers took place:
Chair: Tim Small
Vice Chair: David Fowles
Administrator: Chris Roberts
Steering Group:
Junab Ali, David Fowles, Paul Holden, Rob Jenner, Chris Roberts, Heidi Sear, Tim Small, Jason Smith, Helen Webb.
The Constitution was proposed, seconded and adopted by all.
Guest speaker was Tim Carson of Alton Barns Farm, who gave a very interesting talk about how he made a business out of the crop circles that have regularly appeared on his land since 1990.
There followed a short presentation by Lechlade Cricket Club, who are trying to raise funds by selling advertising space on boards displayed around the cricket pitch.
April 2010 Meeting
This meeting focussed on an interactive workshop involving group activity discussing how member businesses can work together and make links. There was also a discussion about how the Club can develop membership and suggestions for future speakers and meetings.
March 2010 Breakfast Meeting
A full English breakfast was enjoyed by around 25 members whilst listening to Tracy Francksen and Linda Banister from Red Door Coaching and Training Limited speak about the free training that is available to small businesses from the Leadership and Management Advisory Service. There are various criteria to meet to be eligible for up to £1,000 of grant funding. The funding will end in November, so businesses should apply quickly if they want to take advantage of this.
February 2010 Meeting
Riverside House Hotel & Conference Centre kindly hosted the Business Club's February meeting in their Lecture Theatre. Wayne Sheehan, General Manager, told members about the modern and varied facilities available at Riverside House, which is situated at the headquarters of The Colt Car Company. To find out more, visit www.riversidehouse.org.uk. There followed an inspirational talk by Nicola Ménage about how to power up your business with the clarity of your words. Nicola is a motivational hypnotherapist and holds seminars to help people increase their self-belief and self-determination - visit www.nicolamenage.co.uk.
December 2009 Breakfast Meeting
Property developer, the Lakes by yoo, kindly hosted the Business Club's December breakfast meeting in one of the prestigious holiday lodges. Around 30 members were able to appreciate the beauty of the venue with the sun rising over the lake on a dry, sunny morning. Giles Baker, Director of the Raven Group, told members about the site and the properties for sale. Afterwards, members were taken on a tour of the site and had a peek inside one of the show homes.
November 2009 Meeting
Dan Judges, Gloucestershire Market Towns Forum
Dan gave members information about the Economic Taskforce, which has been set up by Gloucestershire First to review and minimise the impact on local businesses of the recession. Since last year, the Taskforce has engaged with over 100 Gloucestershire companies, who are facing insolvency and a reduced working week. Several initiatives have been set up to help businesses and the local economy: the Graduate Challenge, the Response to Redundancy programme and financial support in the way of grants.
Awards Ceremony
It was announced that the 3rd Annual Awards Ceremony will take place on Friday 29 January 2010, venue still to be confirmed.
Deadline to enter is 12 noon on Wednesday 16 December 2009. Download a nomination pack now!
Food & Drink Festival
This is likely to be held over the May Day weekend (1 and 2 May 2010) in Lechlade and either the weekend before or after in Fairford, with a week of gastronomic delights taking place in restaurants, pubs etc during the week between the two weekends. Anyone (member or non-member) wishing to be part of the organising sub-committee, should contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
October 2009 Meeting
Col Ryan Price, RAF Fairford
The US Air Base Commander told members that the airbase is not closing and its task remains the same as a NATO and USAF forward operating base for bombers with Deployed Operational Training and Shuttle diversion. The changes are finance driven, but the base will continue to support RIAT. There will be a big impact on local schools and, of course, local shops, eating establishments and pubs.
Kathryn Limoi, Tetbury Chamber of Commerce
Kathryn gave an inspirational talk about the Tetbury Food & Drink Festival and the ups and downs of organising such an event. It was felt that this is an exciting enterprise for the Fairford & Lechlade Business Club and will counteract the negative impact of the changes at RAF Fairford.
Awards Ceremony
It was announced that the 3rd Annual Awards Ceremony will take place on Friday 29 January 2010, venue yet to be confirmed.
September 2009 Breakfast Meeting
Election of Chair
Tim Small, who owns Lechlade Trout Fisheries, was elected unopposed as the new Chair of the Fairford & Lechlade Business Club following the unexpected resignation of Kevin Symons. Tim announced at the meeting that Peter Whistler had also decided to re-join the Steering Group.
Ripples Magazine
There was a presentation by Adrian Young and Graham Fry on the new Ripples community magazine. The Club will have a whole page about Club matters and will feature small bullet point news articles about member businesses free of charge. Non-member businesses will have to pay a small fee. Distribution will be locally to around 4,500 homes and businesses.
“Any Questions” session
Linda Ivell of Business Link took the floor to answer any questions relating to business that members had. The main questions were concerning funding, grants and apprenticeship schemes. Linda said that there are always updates on legislation on the Business Link website regarding such issues as Employment Law. Businesses can register for “Business Eye”, which is a monthly bulletin on line.
August 2009 Meeting
Business Club Annual Summer BBQ
Instead of a formal Club Meeting, August is the month for the Summer Social held at Bushyleaze Lake, Lechlade courtesy of Club member, Tim Small of Lechlade Trout Fisheries. This is always a very popular event and an ideal opportunity for members to network and get to know each better over a glass or two of wine in a spectacular setting. G&K Catering from Bourton-on-the-Water roasted a pig and provided a wonderful array of salads. Wine was supplied by Two Rivers Wine Company.
This year, the event was open to members of other Business Clubs/Chambers of Commerce and our members were very keen welcome members from Cirencester, Faringdon and Tetbury Chambers of Commerce.
July 2009 Meeting
Election of New Chair
It was decided to postpone the election of a new Chair for the FLBC until the September meeting.
Mike Stutter of Business Link
Mike told the meeting that he was an ex-banker and now works with Business Link to help businesses survive the downturn. There are lots of grants available to businesses but, unfortunately, there are not many available for businesses in Gloucestershire. There is a £500 grant available in the Train to Gain scheme, Government and Regional Finance schemes, Enterprise Finance Guarantee Loan, Secondary Lenders including the Carbon Trust, R&D grants, R&D Tax Relief schemes and the Enterprise Development Fund for start-up business and established businesses.
SWAIN can help businesses find equity – South West Angel Investment Network.
There is lots of guidance on the Business Link website on preparing business plans and drawing up contracts as well as other useful information for businesses.
It was suggested that Business Link could really help businesses by providing a form filling support service. A lot of the forms that need to be completed for grants and finance are too lengthy and too complicated. Business people just do not have the time or sometimes the knowledge to complete these forms and it would be helpful for Business Link to provide such a service.
June 2009 Meeting
MBE and OBE for Club members Chris Roberts and Tim Prince
Fairford & Lechlade Business Club is pleased to announce that two members have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2009.
Chris Roberts was honoured with an MBE for her services to the local community.
Tim Prince was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of the role he played in establishing and supporting the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust.
Chris and Tim will be talking about the experience at the June breakfast meeting on Thursday 25 June.
May 2009 Meeting
Save Money & Save the Planet
Jack, Laura and Tom students at Farmor's School attended the Club meeting on Thursday 23 May held in the Fairford Community Centre.
The students at the school have been participating in the Severn Wye Energy Agency project for schools.
The students report was very well received and provoked much thought. Alison Fielden & Co Solicitors had taken part in the research and it was determined that the company could achieve an immediate £1,000 saving on their fuel bill just by switching to a new tariff more appropriate to their needs. A further cost saving of £750 per annum could be achieved by implementing a few basic changes i.e. change lighting from T12 bulbs to T5 which can provide the same illumination at a greatly reduced cost.
We look forward to receiving the full report, which looked at the business premises of 3 other members and the Club itself will look into ways of consolidating our joint needs to negotiate a new tariff that will benefit all members.
Members can also receive up to 5 days free energy consulting by contacting Mike Bain, Project Manager, on 01594 545367 or e-mail
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April 2009 Meeting
Keep trade local
Mark Coote, Parliamentary Candidate for Cheltenham, spoke at April’s meeting. Mark, for the last two years, has been running a campaign "use them or lose them" to encourage the local community to buy from local shops.
Specifically the campaign consists of a quarterly Newsletter to promote local shops to 45,000 homes. Distribution is provided by volunteers delivering to their local streets. There is also a website www.saveoursmallshops.co.uk. In addition to this, he has produced window stickers for participating shops and a "freepost" card for patrons to complete and return by way of a petition. The petition is to create a local government position to be a champion for small shops. It is believed that creating this position will represent small shops at planning meetings and to look at rent and rates policies.
March 2009 Meeting
Fairford & Lechlade Business Club launch Breakfast meetings
26 March 2009 saw the first breakfast meeting. We plan to hold a breakfast meeting once a quarter in response to requests put forward by our catering members. Catering organisations such as pubs, hoteliers, restaurants etc are customer-facing in the evening and, taking time out to attend Business Club meetings, is not an option for them.
The meeting was very well attended matching numbers to the evening meetings. Our speaker for the meeting was Arthur Thomas, Senior Manager for Lloyds TSB Commercial Division. He told us that lending to businesses was improving and that Lloyds TSB were making record investments into sound businesses.
February 2009 Meeting
The Economy - from the Fund Management and Economist's perspective
We were joined at our 26 February meeting by Andrew Davies, Divisional Director - Asset Management from St James's Place. It was an interesting perspective to hear how fund managers are looking toward derivatives as an option for current wealth management advice. This market tends to increase during periods of unrest and in previous recessions is the market that tends to spark recovery. More money into companies setting up or expanding is a very good investment. His recommendation was to look to make offerings in this area and to invest. By the time recovery and other markets pick up, this market starts to peak.