ANOTHER GOOD YEAR FOR YOUR CLUB
As I approach the end of my second year as Chairman it is again time to reflect on the last 12 months. A period that saw a major change for the club with a change of name from Chorley & South Ribble Business Club to the Central Lancashire Business Club. Our new name reflects more accurately the area from which we draw our members.

We took the opportunity to combine our name change with a brand new image for the club. Thanks to Lisa for all her work in designing what is, I am sure you will agree, a fresh and modern look for the club.

The year saw a very welcome increase in articles being submitted for the newsletter for which I would like to thank all of you who took the time to write articles, please continue to do so as it makes the newsletter so much more interesting, and don’t forget that it is free publicity for your business.

We continued to steadily gain new members throughout the year but not at the rate we hoped our new image and name would achieve. I would like to thank Dea Parkin for her help recently in gaining media publicity for the club, which brought a large increase in the numbers attending the February meeting. All visitors liked what they saw and I am sure that if we can get people through the door, the majority will join. Please do your best to spread the word about the Central Lancashire Business Club.

Despite a good program of speakers through the year, members attending our meetings declined slightly during the summer / autumn period although we maintain a healthy level of regulars.

I would like to briefly review the year’s activities and my thanks go to everyone who has been involved in any way organising these activities.

March 2007 saw our AGM followed by a very entertaining presentation by Chris Maguire, editor of the Chorley Guardian.

In April we were entertained by the magic of Alan Coventry of AC Entertainments. The sight of members plate spinning still clearly remains.

This was followed in May by Eamon Watson of the Best of Preston who covered Google Search Optimisation and at the June meeting South Ribble Borough Council told us how to create an effective disaster plan.

July brought two events with a difference. First of all we held a charity casino night in aid of Mary’s Prayer. Thank you to everyone who helped to make this event a success. Later in July many of our members attended the annual, almost, Power Boating. A special thanks must go to Keith for yet again organising this event. I would have loved to take part, honestly, but a broken foot put paid to that.

After our summer break, meetings resumed in September when we were forced into a late change due to the unavailability of the planned speaker. I repeated my workshop on Excel Filters and my son Alex gave an account of his time merchandising cheese in New York.

In October Donna Hall, Chief Executive of Chorley Borough Council found time in her very busy schedule to give a very enjoyable and informative talk on the workings of a local council and November saw the ever popular wine tasting presented by Brian Wilding. Once again thanks Brian for a very enjoyable, informative and refreshing evening. See you next year!

December brought our members’ presentation evening, when a number of the club members gave 15 minute presentations on their business. This year presentations were given by Paul Ainsworth of Ox Systems, Martyn Tyrer of BBTV, Leigh Keen of Tyres to You and Carol Lumsden who talked about alternative therapies. Thanks to all the presenters for an excellent evening.

Also in December we had our Christmas Dinner. The high numbers attending this event necessitated a change of venue to Leyland Golf Club, which proved to be an excellent venue. I must thank Steve and Ann Ward for, as always, turning a dinner into an event to be remembered, their time and effort really is appreciated.

Our annual ten pin bowling challenge was once again held in January at Mega Bowl in Walton le Dale. Thanks to Phil for successfully organising this event again and to Steve for providing the prizes.

Finally February’s meeting took the form of a web workshop when presentations were given by Jon Neal from Totalscope IT solutions, who talked about the equipment and services that you need to establish a successful web presence, Lisa Thomason from BigHorse.co.uk and Dea Parkin of The Competitive Edge explained how to build an effective web site, Steve Ward of Ad-Options discussed how to successfully market your site and Ross Johnson from Thomas Cole Solutions showed how to achieve web optimisation. The presentations were followed by a lively question and answer session. This event was attended by 35 people, including 7 visiting companies from as far away as Bolton and Southport. Thank you to all who gave their time to present.

So the end of another successful year for your club. Although I have thanked a number of people during this review there are many more who have played equally important parts in ensuring the success of this club and my thanks go to them. We are an organisation many other areas would like to duplicate. Indeed I was recently contacted by Blackpool Council who wish to start a business club in their area and they will be attending our March meeting to see how we operate.
What does the future hold, who knows, but with your input and support I know we are heading for another successful year.