Minutes: November 04 Committee Meeting
[Date: 11 December 2004]
Present
Siobhan Hitchings Rope Assemblies
James Helliwell H J Helliwell & Sons
Peter Swallow
Roger Flack Gold Financial
Garry Throw Business Link
Sue Nattrass Business Link
Pam Barnsdale Bolham Manor
Pam Hardy The IT Men Ltd
Apologies
James Pinchbeck Streets
Coleen Edwards Scope Security
Review of last meeting
Due to a very heavy working schedule Coleen Edwards was unable to send minutes to all committee members – apologies for this given by Siobhan. Need to establish if Coleen is able to carry on being Secretary – if not Pam Hardy to take over. Pam H spoke to Coleen on Fri 12/11/04 afternoon – Coleen to discuss with Siobhan possibly on Wed 17/11/04.
Garry said he had the “purpose” details of Retford Business Club available. We have decided not to call this a “mission statement”, but favour “purpose” instead. It is to improve business life for the business community in Retford and surrounding district. Aims and objectives read out by Garry also – these were lengthy so Garry will e-mail these to Committee Members.
ACTION POINT- Garry to e-mail this to all committee members along with Aims and Objectives.(Please see all members e-mail addresses at the end of these minutes).
We have 8 members on the Committee at present, nobody from retail as yet.
ACTION POINT – Siobhan to try to get someone from Retail sector for next
meeting.
Roger raised the point of having a quorum – what is minimum number of Committee members required to carry a vote? We all agreed 5 – James Pinchbeck or Coleen/Pam H to be one of the 5.
Sue has actively promoted Retford Business Club and has complied a list. Sue gave this list to Pam H but we need to establish if Coleen is to remain Secretary – if so, Pam H will pass these details on to Coleen. If not, Pam H will contact these people to invite them to the next quarterly meeting on 14/1/04. Interested parties so far are:
John Parkin from Sherwood Financial Solutions in Retford,
Louise Copcutt from The Bay Tree café/restaurant, Retford,
Sue Bass or Helen Terry, Lantern Printing, Worksop,
Wendy Leighton, The Learning Zone, Boughton,
Avril Breheny, Destinations Property Marketing, Retford.
ACTION POINT - Pam H to call Coleen by Thurs 16/11/04 to establish
Secretary position.
Funding and Legality issues/Registration as a Club
James Pinchbeck has generously said Streets will help with Website costs, which has been warmly received by the Committee – thank you, Streets! Garry and James P are to liaise regarding the legalities required before we can open a Bank Account, and also at possibility of any other funding available for website or anything else we need regarding our registration as a Business Club.
ACTION POINT - Garry to liaise with James P and update Committee at
next Committee Meeting in December.
Website
Discussed Committee members paying £10.00 per annum for this. We need to be careful regarding the security and how we make the website available – eg members of public need to access – we may need to keep a certain area for members only. If we have any other organisations linked to the site we need to ensure their purpose is for business and does not compromise any orgainsations using it, or who have contributed financially to it.
The site address will be “.com” and not “.co.uk” – we feel this would be more beneficial for all the people who want to use and access it. It will need a database behind it which will cost time and money. Peter may host this website on his Server. Streets to help financially with sponsorship – thanks again! We discussed the possibility of the site being easily accessible from Google – Peter will update us with this at the next Committee Meeting in December.
Content of website would generally include:
Log in for members
Front page – possibly for the Company who sponsored the site that particular month.
Resources/Weblinks to other organisations eg, Business Link, Bassetlaw District
Council, Notts County Council, etc.
Premium Services for Companies wishing to promote their business
Diary of Events.
Editorial Page.
Gallery – pictures of members – if they want this.
Business Directory – you can search companies for information of their name, size, number of employees, turnover, etc.
A “Did you know” page for any general information.
This is not in a particular order of appearance and it will be a working progress to get all this information onto the site.
ACTION POINT - Peter to manage the website. Peter and James H to work on website content as a joint project.
Logo for Retford Business Club
Peter and James H have been working hard on possibilities for logos. After much discussion, we feel the logo must have a professional image with some reference to Retford, eg, as Market Town Status, the river or maybe a scroll. We would like a modern type of logo. We decided to stay away from a Robin Hood theme as many people associate this with Nottingham, not necessarily Retford. Much talk about colours too – we felt green or blue would be suitable.
Items for next quarterly meeting on 14/1/05
BEST lorry – this is an environmental funded group sponsored via EMDA – it advises Companies on their responsibilities regarding waste disposal and recycle issues. This will be parked on Churchgate Car Park on the date of the next quartlery meeting – Friday 14/1/05. Mary Burt from BEST will give a 20 min speak at the next quarterly meeting followed by a 10 minute presentation by Dr Mike Huxley. The details of the BEST lorry and the quarterly meeting on 14/1/05 will go into the Retford Times and the Retford Guardian nearer the time.
ACTION POINT - Siobhan to speak to both papers.
Siobhan to invite Graham Hobbs from Retford Guardian
to the meeting on 14/1/05.
Also discussed possibility of Mike Quigley from Bassetlaw Council and the Mayor to be present at the next quarterly meeting on 14/1/05.
ACTION POINT - Siobhan to invite both to the next meeting on 14/1/05.
Roger Ranson may well be the person to represent Bassetlaw Council on 14/1/05.
ACTION POINT - Siobhan to invite Roger.
Other publicity for Retford Business Club will be available from Sue at Business Link (BL) who will post the 14/1/05 meeting details onto the BL website under the “Backing Business in Bassetlaw” banner.
ACTION POINT- Siobhan to let Keith Garside from Newark Business Club
Know about this.
Name badges will be available upon arrival on 14/1/05. Please also remember to have your business cards available should anyone wish to take one.
ACTION POINT - Sue to bring blank cards and badge holders on 14/1/05.
The meeting on 14/1/05 will have tea and coffee upon arrival and bacon cobs will be brought into the meeting at the interval point. Nominal cost of £2.00 per person for the bacon cobs will be charged upon registration at the quarterly meeting on 14/1/05.
ACTION POINT - Sue to arrange tea and coffee and access to Town Hall from
7am on 14/1/05.
Siobhan to arrange bacon cobs.
A.O.B
Pam B said there may be funding available for businesses from the Local Area Forum.
ACTION POINT- Pam B to find out what is available and let us know at next
Committee Meeting.
Pam B announced that Experience Nottinghamshire are holding a meeting on Wed 18/11/04 at Retford Town Hall – 10am – 12 noon. This is for anyone to go and see what they are all about. If you want to book a place, speak to Rachel Stewart at Experience Nottinghamshire – direct line – 0115 962 8303 – or general landline number is 0115 962 8300. I do not know if there is a cost to attend this meeting as Rachel was unavailable to speak to when I called her Mon 15/11/04 am.
ACTION POINT- Pam B to let Sue have some details by e-mail.
Pam B also mentioned Nottinghamshire Tourist Association will meet on 23/11/04 at Ollerton Watermill at 7pm – 9pm. No charge as far as we are aware.
Also mentioned – St Switherns Church, Canon Square, Retford are holding a Christmas Tree Festival on 3/12, 4/12, 5/12 and 7/12. 25 local businesses will be decorating trees in the Church.
Siobhan mentioned that the Christmas Market is sponsored by the Bassetlaw Hospice on 7/12/04.
Streets are holding a Business over Breakfast meeting on Wed 14/11/04 at Ye Olde Belle, 7.45am until 9.15am. Streets are sponsoring this event as well – thank you Streets! This meeting will cover the subject of Tax! To book this you need to call Katie Johnson on 01777 869955 or e-mail her at kjohnson@streetsweb.co.uk
Sue handed out information on Renaissance South Yorkshire – newly formed in January 04 created by “Yorkshire Forward” which is the Objective 1 Programme for South Yorkshire and Local Authorities from Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster and Sheffield. It outlines its scheme called Buy local which encourages local businesses to source goods and services from other local businesses. Any company interested can post their information onto the Renaissance South Yorkshire website free of charge. The website address is – www.surprising-sy.com and you can also contact them on 01709 766 500. They are based at Renaissence House, Adwick Park, Wath Upon Dearne, Rotherham, S63 5NB. If anyone wants to see the handout I am sure Sue will be able to send a copy to you.
Sue handed out the Enterprising Women event details for their Business Luncheon on Friday 26/11/04 12 noon – 2pm. Cost £25.00 per person and to be held at Park Plaza, 41 Maid Marion Way, Nottingham, NG1 6GD. To book call Rebecca Fry on 0115 985 6612, fax 0115 962 9648 or e-mail rfry@nottschamber.co.uk
Sue also announced Worksop Business Club – next meeting is 12.30pm – 2pm at The Lion Hotel, Worksop. Cost £9.00 per person for a 2 course meal. This is the second meeting and Pam H and Roger attended the first one. Both felt the time of the meeting was very inconvenient – taking 3 hours out of a business day! Shuldham and Calverly are giving a presentation about Finningley airport. Pam H will be attending to see if she can influence the time of the meeting???!!
ACTION POINT - Pam H to let Committee know the outcome of this on next
Committee meeting.
Garry said DEFRA have some information where local farming businesses can help other farming businesses with best practices. Garry did not have full details but encouraged James H to call Nottingham DEFRA for more information.
USEFUL E-MAIL ADDRESSES
Siobhan Hitchen Siobhan@ropeassemblies.co.uk
Pam Barnsdale pamandbutch@bolham-manor.com
James Helliwell james@helliwellfarming.com
Peter Swallow peter.swallow@gmail.com
Roger Flack roger@goldfinancialgroup.com
Coleen Edwards sales@scopesecurity.f9.co.uk
James Pinchbeck jpinchbeck@streetsweb.co.uk
Pam Hardy pam@itmen.co.uk
Garry Throw gthrow1944@aol.com
Sue Nattrass snattrass@blnotts.com
DATE & VENUE OF NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday 16/12/04 – meet at 8.30am for a breakfast meeting
ACTION POINT - Siobhan to cook and let us know cost of breakfast
DATE & VENUE OF NEXT QUARTERLY MEETING
Friday 14/1/05 – 7.15am for 7.30am. £2.00 per person for bacon cobs
Thanks and see you all on Thurs 16/12 – Pam H!
Pam Hardy, The IT Men Ltd, tel 0870 240 8882.
