Newark Business Club Does Countdown

Welcoming around 80 businesspeople to Newark Business Club’s October meeting, chairman Simon Gabbitas shared some fascinating facts about autumn. Did you know that you’re more likely to live to 100 if you have an autumn birthday? Or that the word ‘fall’ was originally a British English word? It’s not an Americanism at all!

The roving mic moved around the room, giving everyone the opportunity to introduce themselves and their businesses.

Leave A Legacy

Today’s meeting was sponsored by Beaumond House Hospice Care. In the first presentation, Matt Colbourne, Head of Fundraising and Communications, shared some figures – £2.2 million is the amount required to run Beaumond House this year. Of that, £1.7 million must come from fundraising. This means that Beaumond House needs to raise a staggering £4,640 per day to continue to provide much-needed hospice-at-home and day therapy care.

At the same time, the worst funding crisis in twenty years is affecting hospices all over the country. Increases in costs, including energy costs, have caused hospices to make redundancies and reduce their services.

Against this backdrop, fundraising is more difficult than ever. One way in which people can support Beaumond House is to leave a gift in their will. In fact, the funds raised from legacies allowed one in four patients to be cared for in 2023/24. To facilitate this, Beaumond House has partnered with five local solicitors to provide a free will writing service.

Becky & Jade from the hospice-at-home team related some heartbreaking yet positive stories of patients who had received end-of-life support in comforting surroundings. Beaumond House’s hospice-at-home staff alleviate the burden on family members, helping patients and their families to make the most of the time they have left.

Every donation, including legacies, makes a difference. Legacy donations are a wonderful way of making a difference to others, even if you are not able to donate at the moment. If you would like to include a donation to Beaumond House in your will, you can find out more about the free will writing service here: https://beaumondhouse.co.uk/support-us/legacy

Business Card Draws

In this month’s business card draw, the winners of a write-up each were James Uppal of Reuseabox, a first-time visitor, and Simon Shaw of Duncan & Toplis, finally being picked out the bowl after 23 years.

Table Networking followed, with each attendee speaking about their business to everyone on their table and circulating business cards.

Two business books were recommended this month. Melanie Oliver from Barclays Bank won a copy of Leadership 101: Don’t Be A D**k by Andy Nisevic while the winner of Atomic Habits by James Clear was Keith Girling of Nottinghamshire County Council.

Member Spotlight – Reuseabox

At Reuseabox, we provide a better way for you to buy cardboard boxes by reducing your costs and your environmental impact. As a certified B Corp, we are on a mission to inspire companies to reuse cardboard boxes before they are recycled while investing in the planet to create a better future.

We partner with manufacturers who produce lots (and we mean lots!) of cardboard boxes every single day. Instead of sending them to be recycled, we bring them to our warehouse, quality-check them, and then distribute them to companies that ship goods worldwide.

By doing this, we help our customers save up to 50% on their packaging, as there are no manufacturing costs.

In addition, by keeping cardboard in use longer, we’re reducing waste, protecting the environment, and contributing to a more circular economy. We know this because, in partnership with the University of Lincoln, we developed a first-of-its-kind environmental calculator tool that shows exactly how many trees, carbon, water and energy are saved when you reuse boxes instead of recycling.

That’s why with every order of our used boxes – whether you order 25 or 25,000 boxes – you’ll receive a free reuse impact report straight to your inbox detailing how you’re helping the planet… one box at a time.

Join the Reuseabox community today and make a difference: http://reuseabox.co.uk/

Reflecting On Recruitment

Ellen Rayworth and Sarah Woulds gave us an interesting insight into Reflect Recruitment Group’s history, operations, and customer care. Reflect’s recruitment consultants take time to listen and learn about each client and their business. Clients always deal with the same dedicated consultant who ensures that both their current and future staffing requirements are met.

Founded by Cameron Ford in 2006, Reflect Recruitment Group has made over 17,000 placements from its three offices in Newark, Grantham and Lincoln. Their consultants take time to find and recruit the best person for each vacancy, providing the best possible return on investment for their clients. Their excellent customer service is reflected in their rating of 4.9 out of five on the independent customer review platform, Feefo.

The Member Spotlight is a new section of the club’s meetings. Each month, all the attendees booking a ticket before 5pm on the Wednesday before the meeting are included in a ‘wheel of fortune’ style spin.

The first winner was Wendy Gouldingay of Gouldingays Family Law and Mediation on Castle Gate in Newark. Wendy thanked other members of the Newark Business Club for helping her to grow her business over the years. She spoke about the benefits of mediation, which can lead to faster resolutions of family disputes than court cases.

Action Group Update

Michael Hardy presented his action group update by video on a whistle-stop tour of Newark. This month, the action group has been speaking with Newark & Sherwood District Council about planning issues. These include adequate parking and suitable refuse collections for new residential developments in the town centre, as well as ensuring that the proposed conversion of the Homebase store into a Sainsbury’s does not exacerbate Newark’s traffic and parking challenges.

The Action Group has also been speaking with LNER to ensure that the current high-speed train services from Newark Northgate to stations on the London to Edinburgh line are retained.

If you are interested in getting involved in campaigning for action on these and other issues that affect the local community, come along to the next Action Group meeting on 28 October at 6pm in the Organ Grinder pub.

Among the closing announcements were Beaumond House’s Winter Ball, which will take place on 13th December at Newark Showground’s Lady Eastwood Hall.

Another date for the diary is 16th December when Newark Business Club will host an Evening at Harlaxton Manor in association with Grantham Business Club. Tickets will be on sale soon.

Forthcoming business networking events include People, Planet, Pastry on 16th October at Gusto House in Collingham for all small business owners interested in sustainability.

Lincoln Dining Club, a networking event organized by Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce and Nicholsons Chartered Accountants, will meet at the Sessions Restaurant at Lincoln College on 30th October.

Last but by no means least, this year’s Dragon Boat Race raised a staggering £48,660 for Beaumond House and the Children’s Bereavement Centre. A big thank you to all sponsors, volunteers, and everyone else involved for helping to increase the amount raised for the fifth year in a row.

Finally, you can catch the latest episode of the Newark Business Club podcast on Radio Newark YouTube page here.

Newark Business Club’s next meeting will be on November 1st at 7am at the YMCA Community and Activity Village in Newark. Doors open 6:45am for open networking.

By Roz Andrews, RA Writers For Hire Ltd

Thank you to Our Patrons & Sponsors

We are delighted to announce the following Patrons for 2024: Gusto Group|Funding Round|Reflect Recruitment|Barcode Warehouse|Motorfinity|PeachyEvents|Radio Newark

Next Meeting – YMCA Village Friday 1st November 2024 @ 7am

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