Insights for a Successful Autumn

Under an overcast sky, members of the Newark Business Club headed to the YMCA for the 7am start of the September meeting.

Chairman Simon Gabbitas welcomed everyone to the meeting and expressed condolences to the family of Sergeant Graham Saville, the Newark police officer who lost his life in the line of duty.

The roving mic was then passed around the room, allowing around 80 business representatives to introduce themselves and their businesses, with or without a catchy slogan. New attendees are always welcome, and it was great to see several new faces in the room.

Physiocare Rehab

In the first presentation, the meeting’s sponsor, Nicola Hunt of Physiocare Rehab, gave us an interesting insight into some less well-known aspects of physiotherapy.

Nicola used to work for the NHS as a respiratory physiotherapist in an intensive care unit where she treated patients on ventilators. In 2003, both of her children were in a paediatric intensive care unit after having heart surgery. This led to a turning point in her life and caused her to move into the area of rehabilitation, specialising in brain injury and neurological rehabilitation.

She didn’t intend to set up her own business, but one referral led to another and, in 2017, she left the NHS after 25 years and began carrying out medical rehabilitation for patients throughout the East Midlands. Subsequently, in 2021, she opened her own physio clinic at the Aura Business Centre in Newark. The services offered at Physiocare Rehab include neurological and vestibular physiotherapy. Vestibular physiotherapy helps people who have problems with their balance.

Nicola has a keen interest in technology and uses specialist rehabilitation tools for therapy, including the NeuroFlex® VR headset, which can be used to retrain the brain after a head injury. Another useful tool is the wobble cushion, which is used in balance training.

Jack Tells all !

After a tea and coffee break, Jack Clark from Reflect Recruitment Group, a Patron Sponsor of Newark Business Club, shared some interesting facts about his company: the senior management team have 70 years of experience between them, and Reflect Recruitment has made 15,000 placements since 2006 from its offices in Newark, Lincoln and Grantham.

Reflect Recruitment provides local jobs for local people. It seeks to understand both its business clients and its candidates through in-depth conversations that uncover information that is not always mentioned in job interviews.

This enables the best candidates for each job vacancy to be identified, thus saving local businesses time because they don’t have to screen potential candidates themselves.

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Hot from Poland

An update on the Action Group’s recent activities followed via a video from its chairman, Michael Hardy who was on a business trip to Poland.

On the subject of transport, Michael encouraged everyone to have their say on the threatened closure of the train ticket offices at Newark’s Northgate and Castle stations. The proposals are currently open for consultation on the LNER and East Midlands Railways websites.

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Fusion powered presentation

In the third presentation, Councillor Keith Girling, Nottinghamshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economic Development and Strategic Asset Management, gave an update on the council’s Nottinghamshire Plan 2021-2031, which is a working document based on the results of residents’ surveys. People are at the heart of the plan, which also includes businesses, infrastructure, digital connectivity, visitor economy and places, such as the regeneration of the town centre.

An exciting new project is the development of STEP fusion, a new low-carbon heat source, which is expected to be up and running by 2040 after the relevant infrastructure is put in place under a £4 billion investment.

Nottinghamshire County Council provides support for businesses in a variety of ways including one-to-one business advice, information on funding opportunities, and sponsorship of business awards, including the new Boots and Beret Awards for veterans who run businesses and companies that employ veterans. If you are looking for business support, you can email BusinessTeam@nottscc.gov.uk

Wordsmith – is this months newbie

Martin Puddifer is a creative communications consultant based in Newark on Trent, with over 18 years’ experience in planning, writing and editing print and digital content.

As an NCTJ-trained journalist, Martin worked his way up from a staff writer to the editor of a national rural lifestyle magazine between 2006 and 2021. He decided to broaden his horizons by going freelance in the summer of 2021 and thus Martin Puddifer Writing was born.

Now working in collaboration with national and regional brands, Martin offers a range of writing and editorial services, including: brochure creation and project management; blog posts; social media posts; newsletters; product descriptions; press releases; case studies; and proofreading and editing services.

Martin’s purpose and passion as a creative writer, backed by significant professional experience, is to bring life to all of the brands that he works with. It is important to Martin that, through his vivid craft, he supports brands to create their unique identity and does so using an authentic tone that puts faces to important names and brings life to products/ services, establishing a common bond between the brand and its customer base.

In his spare time, Martin, like Newark Business Club chairman Simon Gabbitas, is a coach at Newark Brazil FC. He can be found training at PTT in Fernwood and coaching the Coddington Primary School football team during the week. He is also working on lowering his golf handicap, but it’s taking longer than he anticipated.

View further examples of Martin’s work via his portfolio at martinpuddiferwriting.journoportfolio.com
Email: martinpuddiferwriting@gmail.com
Tel: 07766 833022

Who Gives a Book

The new ‘Who gives a book?!’ slot was next. This month, Keith Girling recommended the classic book, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. A business card was drawn at random and the winner of a copy of the book was Sue Breedon of the Utility Warehouse.

Spotlight on Nettl

Nettl are a local one-stop creative agency specialising in delivering beautiful digital and physical marketing solutions including website design, branding, print, SEO, social media, pay per click and PR. They are your local marketing team, but with the support of the over 200-strong national Nettl studio network.

Their team consists of two young, enthusiastic guys that are passionate about creating something that you and your customers will love!

Firstly Dan, who has stepped up to take the reins as Creative Director! Dan is a creative whiz and leads the team. With his Mac whirring away quietly in the background, he excels at crafting dazzling visuals for print projects, marketing communications and websites. You’ll most likely be working with Dan if you engage with them on a website project or rebranding exercise. Dan’s creativity excels here and you’ll leave with a complete package that’s ready to boost your return on marketing investment.

They also have Ashley who you will most likely be working with if you ask us to help with your social media, be it taking one of our packages where we run your accounts for you or if you need a bit of training for your ‘gramming and facebooking. Ashley will also assist with any creative needs that you have to get your projects looking splendid!

If you are looking for marketing solutions that you can be proud of, then look no further than Nettl!

Thank you to Our Patrons & Sponsors

We are delighted to announce the following Patrons for 2023: Gusto Group|Funding Round|Reflect Recruitment|Barcode Warehouse|Motorfinity|PeachyEvents

Next Meeting – YMCA Village Friday 6th October 2023 6.45am

The YMCA catering team offer a range of delicious breakfasts which are available to purchase.

Please Book your tickets online

YMCA Community and Activity Village
Lord Hawke Way
Newark
Nottinghamshire NG24 4FH

For sponsorship opportunities, contact chairman@newarkbusinessclub.co.uk