It seems incredible that my year as Chairman is almost at an end, I can’t believe how fast it has gone. I am delighted to look back on what I hope you will agree has been another successful year for our club and I am relieved to have been able to at least come close to the excellent record of my predecessors.
I look back on a year of events that proved to be both entertaining and informative.

Last March, following the AGM, we had a presentation from Steve Brewer who gave us all excellent advice on How to market a small business.

Our April meeting certainly saw a high level of audience participation when Rivca Rubin’s presentation ‘Communication or Conflict’ certainly gave us all considerable food for thought – not to mention pink elephants.

May saw John Allan telling us all about the benefits to be obtained from joining the Federation of Small Businesses.

June’s speaker was Malcolm Ashton who had served as scorer to the England cricket team for 22 years. Listening to his Experiences around the cricket grounds of the World was nothing short of fascinating. We even allowed him a few minutes to explain his day job.

In July Karl Ciz of Improving Futures educated us all in How to benefit most from marketing on Ebay.

September brought us a presentation by one of our own members, Martin Tyrer of BBTV who gave a talk on Internet Threats. Not only was Martin’s talk packed with sensible advice it also proved that discussing viruses can be very humorous indeed.

Onto October when Dave Swanton of Sale Sharks and Radio Lancashire was our guest. Dave gave a fascinating talk on a life full of interesting experiences. Some of the management techniques he explained he uses were unconventional but very effective.

November means Wine tasting and our annual presentation by club member Brain Wilding from Chordale Wines. As always Brian’s talk was extremely informative and the product samples were, as ever, enjoyed by all. I wonder why we had no trouble getting people into the room for a prompt start!!!

December was our regular Members’ presentations and I thank all those who were brave enough to stand up and make what turned out to be a set of varied, humorous, informative and entertaining presentations. Never before have I played ‘Pass The Pen’!

Into 2007and February we had a presentation on How to manage business debt from Simon Robinson of Kevills Solicitors. Simon made what is essentially not the liveliest of subjects into an entertaining and very informative evening and I am sure his advice will be of help to us all should we be faced with a client who is reluctant to pay.

During the year we went on the road three times. In November we experienced a Behind the scenes tour of Radio Lancashire in the very capable hands of our guide Gary Scott. It proved to be a fascinating visit and hopefully we can arrange similar visits in the future.

December was our Christmas meal at Farrington Lodge and an excellent evening it turned out to be. Sadly, as it was my first time attending, I knew nothing about the dress code but watch out next year!

January brought our Annual bowling tournament which, as usual, was very well attended and a most enjoyable and for some very productive evening.

And now the year turns full circle back to the AGM. Our speaker was Chris MacGuire, the Editor of the Chorley Guardian. Having met Chris I can promise you a very entertaining evening and an excellent start to 2007s events.

To those of you who are reading this but who have not attended a meeting recently I hope you now realise what you are missing. Why not join us at a meeting in the very near future? You will be made very welcome.

So one year ends and another begins. I am sure we can all look forward to even more success for our club. Do make sure that you are an active member, the more you put in, the more you are likely to get out.

You can use our newletter archive to read more on any of these meetings.