Chairman’s blog Thursday 13th March 2025

We were 23 in all today. And we arrived full of anticipation as always buoyed by the fact that through the good offices of Paul Dulieu we have two podcasts out there, the first as a general EBF introduction and the second to celebrate International Women’s Day. We currently have 3 Pauls in the group whose surnames helpfully begin with the letters B, C and D. More helpfully however was an informal baptism of Celebrant Paul Dulieu. Hereafter he will be known as ‘Podcast Paul’

The Performance League

After the first week of the month we can announce Toby Acton in 3rd place, Paul Dulieu in second but up front on 120 points is Matt Barry.

Education Presentation

Toby Acton was presenter today and his message was contained in the epithet ‘will it make the boat go faster?’. It works for business just as it works for sport. Is what you are doing productive, will it deliver meaningful results.

New Member Induction & Existing Member Renewal

Renewals-unfortunately Andy O’Neill has not renewed his membership, business pressures being a likely reason.

Mark of excellence-Terry Maylin rattled off a number of members who are eligible to apply and he urged them to do so.

The 60 Second Round

Matt Barry was last week’s winner and set the ball rolling with a confirmation that he is available for all small and medium sized businesses to help promote their brand.

Kory Martin was next up, flashing his new business cards. Very smart they are too!

Animal welfare job of the week must be Jon Foster attending a vets in Takeley to help unlock a medication safe!

If EBF celebrated International Women’s Day with a podcast, Toby Acton went one stage further and delivered a presentation to women about the action day and picked up several clients in the light of this.

Linguistic highlight of the day was a presentation in French, delivered with a Gants Hill Village accent by Vincent Goode supplemented by the assistance of Paul Booth by subtitles. It was perhaps unnecessary given the multilingual nature of our group. John Hammond was later in the round to acknowledge that his first tongue is Brummy, his second English and of course he travels quite a bit on the continent for his business. Such as the international nature of our group. He was even talking about the traditional English chip although even that has been slightly watered down by French fries….. Enough!

From a more nationalistic point of view Jane Malyon inquired about the English cup of tea, whether we use teabags or not. She in particular asked if we used them as a rule., probably both for measuring and underlining. It makes a change from our national drink. Anyway, she’s got a Sale on including some exotic brands. Tea lovers, take her up and help her clear unwanted stock.

Important warning of the day came from Stuart Smallcome. 14th October 2026 is the day that Microsoft withdraws support for Windows 10. Consult him if you have any perceived problems.

Definition of the week came from Nick Cooke. A Structural Engineer is someone who makes sure that gravity does not win. If that defines Nick, what defines Ben Golding and Utility Warehouse…. of course is the Bill Busting Boost.

Terry Maylin often gives the impression that he likes suing people. In fact he much prefers getting the money for people and he explained that there were alternative methods of proceeding, not least mediation.

Dave Moore produced interesting product of the week, ‘mats for dogs’. Visit him on his stall in Brentwood High Street on a Saturday if you want to find out more.

None of the above worthy entries won the Oscar. Paul Corrigan won the award for confirming a successful 10th anniversary of being corporate with effectively his new team in a local hostelry.

This weeks statistics and points of note

This week produced 13 new referrals and £13,000 worth of business. Scott Griffiths then handed over to Podcast Paul who explained this week’s activities and more importantly, invited us to contact him to arrange for more, both specific as to your business but also as to relevant events that might affect businesses generally.

10-minute presentation by Paul Booth

This week it was Paul Booth who gave us a rundown of his business at present but also engaged in a three question quiz which puzzled most of us but also emphasised one important point, namely you need a good accountant and for that you should go to Paul and/or recommend other people to do so