When the darkness finally lifted on our meeting we were greeted with bright sunshine. The mood of our meeting could also be described as bright sunshine as 24 of us greeted a new day. Jon Foster was in attendance following his first visit to us last week and he has applied to join, another reason to be cheerful. The only person who was not cheerful was the Mayor of Gants Hill Village who had lost his bell. I hope I can now make the rest of his day more cheerful with the news that whilst I was packing up the equipment box with my bell, there, nestling amidst the business card box and the referral slips was a second bell, could this be  the missing object which will be ready and available for use next week!
The Performance League
It was  inevitable that those out front will be those who introduced visitors. Scott Griffiths, Leanne Reason and Paul Corrigan were ahead of the game with Scott well out in front with 545 points. The double points award for bringing visitors continues into next month so let’s keep them coming!
Education Presentation
This week it was the rambling Sid Rumpole of the group, Nick Cooke who graced us with a truly ponderous presentation. His theme was the value of the Education Presentation itself. He often forgets education presentations, not always just when he forgets to turn up. An eminently acceptable solution to those of us who lose track and are concerned about doing so, is for there to be a database of Ed slots. He even had a solution as to how this could be achieved. He will be doing it. Watch this or whichever space is applicable!!
Membership Matters
As indicated earlier, Jon Foster has applied for membership and hopefully approval will follow in close order. Great news!
The 60 Second Round
Joshua Ayettey was the first time, first meeting winner of last week’s Oscar and was adjudicating this week as well as inviting us to contact him regarding unlocking the potential of our homes.
Melissa Jackson, for once, had found Companies House dealing too quickly with a matter but no doubt things will settle back to normal for any of her future dealings with them
Stuart Smallcombe has a contract with the Royal Opera House which just keeps on giving. Any other opera houses would be a welcome addition to his portfolio.
Vincent Goode was boasting letter heads whose quality you could feel, which he produced for a property developer and which inspires him to keep his eye open for property developers and agents involved in the property world.
Dave Roberts normally keeps us appraised of the various jobs he has been doing in the week by way of illustration of the sort of clients he is looking for. This week they included; extra lighting, rewiring, installation of car chargers and security lighting. He keeps busy! So does Mike Skinner who has been using artificial intelligence to help create business profiles more quickly.
Ben Golding produced an attractive group of adjectives to describe the various products that Utility Warehouse provide and produced the tagline for the day…….’ Skills to reduce Bills’. Toby Acton also produced a catch phrase that was the equivalent to… ‘it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’  to illustrate the importance of striving and not fearing failure if you are going to achieve. This week he was uncharacteristically short on metaphors. Never mind, there’s always next week! Nick Cooke however stepped into the breach with a simile rather than a metaphor. Like a Cortina that he bought without an MOT that cost him money; buying a house without a structural survey can also prove costly.
It’s always easy on the ear to hear a member devoting his 60 seconds to thanks for the efforts of another member. Neil Bellham was in praise of Matt Barry who gave him free advice and biscuits when he visited his office to discuss a project.
Not unreasonably, we all associate Leann Reason with tarting up our properties to give us pleasure. A departure was reported this week in relation to instruction she has received to transform a 1950s double decker bus into a restaurant.
Blake Hammond referred to recent cold weather and the benefit of purchasing hoodies from him to ward off the cold. Unfortunately he spoiled his presentation by once again mentioning Christmas which he is threatening to do on a weekly basis.
In Paul Booth’s absence Howard Bullock had no one to massage other than clients who he can advise upon investments both traditional and innovative.
James Humphries was understandably proud of special indemnity insurance that he had arranged for a client that enabled him to recoup substantial sums of money and Scott Griffiths was on hand to boast a tool that he has that enables website assessment as to its effectiveness, handing out reports to many of the members on their own individual statuses.
Terry Maylin and myself struck similar themes; making sure that you fully identify the people that you are dealing with. In Terry’s case 3 approaches by an ‘opponent’ who were clearly 3 different people with different e-mail addresses and telephone numbers. My theme was a little closer to home. Make sure you fully identify customers when you contract with them. Get their full names and addresses and clarify whether you are dealing with a limited company or not. Director’s guarantees are available!
Lots of good presentations this week but out front was Paul Corrigan who played us the advertising Jingle for Solitaire.
Meeting Secretaries Report
This week Scott was positively verbose. His references included; don’t forget the Halloween theme for next week’s 60 seconds, Mike Skinner will do your photos next week if you haven’t got one on the website, provide details for your name badges, both for new members and for those of us who have lost ours and finally the lottery syndicate has one or two whose payments have ceased. If you want to be in it to win it reinstate payments.
10-minute presentation by Andy O’Neill
Andy O’Neill was this week’s presenter and it was a very useful presentation at that. He basically told us what he did. The main tools of his trade are a temperature probe, perhaps more suited to a nurse although given its size…… Perhaps not!, a screwdriver and a notepad. The necessity and importance of testing for Legionnaires disease was put into a context that will allow us all to more effectively look for referrals for him.
Good to see an almost full house this morning. Excellent 10 minute from Andy (and not so scary this time). Thank you to Nick for the Ed Slot about Ed Slot
Well deserved Oscar for Tall Paul. I think we should get Ben Ben to sing a new jingle for them:
“If you want a plumber that’s tall, give Solitaire a call”
Ha ha…. Winter, Spring, Autumn and Summer. Call tall Paul if you need a Plumber!
I’d be honoured if Ben wanted to do a jingle for me!
Great busy meeting this morning! Well done on the presentation Andy. I’m not sure any member has made me as paranoid of something so ubiquitous as water!
Also thanks Paul for the new video jingle!
We will be humming that tune for weeks! 😀
Ha ha, apologies!
A very lively meeting this morning. Great presentation from Andy, our water treatment expert, educating us and not scaring us this time.
Thank you Nick for your Ed Slot, talking about Ed Slots and your great idea.
Possibly another new member on the cards! They come for the fun and stay for the business!!
Love it! Come for the fun and stay for the business 😀 xx
Wasn’t it lively! Tall Paul’s jingle was fabulous – as soon as we heard it, we knew none of us would win the Oscar 😀 Thank you to Nick for the seed-sewing and to Andy for his very informative presentation on what his world of water testing entails. Reminds me that I need to find out where our stopcock is too!! x
Ha ha, apologies Jane x
Well done to those of you who made this a very worthwhile meeting. You know who you are. The rest of you….. please do better next week. Regarding “Bell-Gate”, I actually quite enjoyed using the Christmas bells, notwithstanding, I look forward to being reunited with my dinger next week
Great buzz about the meeting today! Well done Andy on toning down your 10 minutes so we don’t all fear dying!!
Great meeting, apologies for putting the annoying “Soliiiitaaaaaiiiirrreee!” in peoples heads!
Looking forward to seeing you all next Thursday!
Great meeting