Skipton Chamber of Trade & Commerce MINUTES OF MEETING DATE: 23rd September 2014 VENUE: Rendezvous Hotel TIME: 7.30am

PRESENT: Executive: April Chamberlain (AWB Charlesworth), Dave Parker- STC, Hazel Maxfield, (C & H Brown), Liz Preston (Craven Safety Services), Amanda Casey (Rendezvous Hotel), Liz Smith (Nat West Bank), Wendy Lawson (Secretary).

Members: Brett Butler (STC), Katie Davison (Bizzie Lizzie’s), Verner Wheelock (Verner Wheelock Associates & FSB Craven Branch), Jo Metcalfe (Cancer Research), Lyn Creasey (LYNC HR Ltd ), Adam Dutton (Shepherd Partnership), Andrew Spratt (Physiofusion Ltd),

Speaker: Nick Sands, Belgrave Financial Services New member spotlight: Jeff Bond, Midgley Motor Cars

APOLOGIES: Billy Moffat, Interim President/Treasurer (Reid Moffat & Co Ltd), Paul Mason (Pearson and Associates), David Llewellyn (Tyro Training), Angela Cooper (Brooksbank Valves Ltd), Sheila and Michael Cook (TN Cook Ltd), Tracey Weston (Blue Fin Insurance), Roland Wohlrapp Morris Associates Ltd, Joanne Driver and Kelly Dixon (Amelia’s of Skipton), Ann Harding (Carlton House B&B)

The meeting commenced at 7.55am. April brought members’ attention to the minutes of the previous meeting, which had been available on the website since July – and copy was available in the room. She asked that the minutes be approved. Proposed: Dave Parker, Skipton Town Council Seconded: Liz Preston, Craven Safety Services

WELCOME: April Chamberlain opened the meeting and welcomed everyone to the Rendezvous Hotel. She thanked all those present for taking time out to come to the meeting. April mentioned a couple of events being held by members; fundraisers for charity. She made reference to fliers in the room for the two events; Kate Davison (Bizzie Lizzie’s) was to hold a MacMillan Coffee Morning at their premises on Swadford Street on Thursday 25 September between 9 and 11am and Joanne Metcalfe of Cancer Research UK was to hold an event on Friday 17 October at Skipton Rugby Club.

April introduced our speaker of the morning who had kindly volunteered his time. She had taken the opportunity to quickly research a bit about Nick on the internet and informed us that as well as being Financial Advisor and Principal of Gargrave-based Belgrave Financial Services he was a father of four and enjoys paragliding.

NICK SANDS – ‘The Power of Positivity’ Nick started his presentation with a recitation of the poem ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll. Nick went on to explain how, as well as being a bit of nonsense; it was a favourite poem of his, since his early years.

Nick recalled, as a boy of 7/8 years old, he felt that he was a confident and looking for adulation from his peers, mates and mum. He had an entrepreneurial spirit from the get go and from holding 2 paper rounds, he went on to work on a farm, enough to fund a smoking habit he once had. From school he went on to Agricultural College, however, by the end of his course at the College, he explained that he hit a low, as he did not know what it was he wanted to do. He was in a pit, a quandary, a hole!

His brother Julian scooped him up and invited him to live with him in . Nick pictured a city paved in gold and took the opportunity to join his brother in his bedsit. However, two months later, he was in a place where he had no friends, no purpose, no funds and was isolated and alone. Then one day his brother invited him to meet Adriane – she was a soothsayer.

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Nick went along to meet Adriane – thinking that his brother was introducing him to a lady to bond with – in a physical sense, rather than mental sense. However, he was surprised and eventually enlightened by the things she told him. She seemed to know an awful lot of personal things about him. Which at first he felt, his brother had informed her about, however, she knew too many things, which his brother did not. She taught him about energies and auras and gave him food for thought to move forward.

Having met the soothsayer, he took action. Instead of waiting for things to happen to him, he chose to make something happen himself. He rang the gentleman he had been to see about a job. The chap hadn’t remembered him, however, it was one of those calls at the right time, and when Nick was asked how soon he could start – he replied, ‘straightaway’. The job, working in a public house was his, and a year later Nick became Manager and the youngest Licensee in SE London.

He learned how to use ‘choice not chance’ and how to set goals and ‘go for it’.

Over the years he has used these mantras when he gives advice to business people. When they come to him to ask advice about building capital – the questions lead from – ‘Why are you doing this in the first place?’

Nick gave a snippet of advice about using the telephone in business. He explained how one to one calls can be a builder of business, if embraced. Many people find using the phone difficult these days and Nick explained how to break the call activity down into percentage activity as follows:

Cold Calls 30% to identify the right person to speak to 30% make the call to the right person 30% get through to the right person 10% make the appointment

Therefore, if the appointment isn’t achieved, you can view this activity as 90 percent successful. Which makes a person feel far more positive, than focussing on the 10% not achieved.

In conclusion Nick advised that people should make goals. He referred to them as ‘dreams with deadlines’. Make your next goal, make plans to move towards it and be clear about it. Also, thinking about plans without the action to back it up – will not achieve goals. Activity breeds activity.

April thanked Nick for his presentation and opened the room to questions from members present.

1. Q. What made Nick change from being a licensee in SE London to a Financial Adviser? A. Nick explained that when his first child was due, he felt that a pub in London was not the environment to be raising a child. He had grown up knowing a child who was brought up in a public house, and that child had felt shunned, and he didn’t want that to happen to his own children. He’d worked with other companies since leaving the public house trade in Marketing roles in his 25 years leading to his Financial Advisory role.

2. Comment: A member mentioned that she understood the subject being presented, and felt that in the UK there seemed to be an inherent scepticism about harnessing positive energies, which people considered to be belly button gazing. Her own analogy was that of an outboard motor which created a lot of noise in moving people along, as opposed to the small, efficient trim tabs, which steered and governed rudders to move boats through the water and corrected their journey in a positive way.

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A. Nick reiterated his point, that goals set without activity would not achieve results, and putting the plan into action, was the key importance, just as the trim tabs on that boat is doing something.

April thanked Nick on behalf of the Chamber and members, for providing such a positive presentation. She went on to ask new member Jeff Bond of Midgley Motor Cars to come forward to present his ‘spotlight’ about the business.

JEFF BOND – SPOTLIGHT: NEW MEMBER MIDGLEY MOTOR CARS Jeff introduced himself as Sales Manager at Midgley Motor Cars. He was unsure how many people in the room had heard of the business and explained that it was a family run business, which had been established for 70 years in the area. It was founded in , but had for many years been based in Skipton. John Midgley, Chairman and Owner, was still involved in the business, but it was now run by Will Midgley. The company now had a happy band of twenty employees running the day to day operations.

The company are official dealers for Mitsubishi, as well as Isuzu and Ssangyong motors.

Jeff joined the Chamber, to engage with other members and get to know the business community and the people connected with those businesses. For many years Midgley Motors had provided 4 wheel drive vehicles to the farming community, and now that they had diversified into the car, small car, family car, hybrid car markets, it was important to make people aware of that availability within their community. He explained that the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, had been one of the most successful hybrid vehicles since its launch and accounted for 50% of sales for hybrid cars, worldwide.

Jeff explained that the company was involved with village, community and county shows in the area; having been at Pateley Bridge only yesterday, the last of the season and beginning with in May.

April thanked Jeff for introducing us to Midgley Motor Cars and kindly taking up the invitation to spotlight the business at the members’ meeting. She opened the room to questions for Jeff.

1. Q. How is business currently? A. Jeff replied by saying that business was booming. Particularly during the month of September, there was a big demand for the new registration plate in September, which meant an extremely busy time for all members of the team.

2. Q. Does working for a family business make a difference? A. Jeff explained that he had experienced working for a family business before and then for many years had worked for big corporate dealerships. He liked working for a family business, and felt that within a community such as Skipton their customers appreciated that and would come back. However, that also meant keeping the customer service at a level that would meet the expectations of a long-established customer base.

April thanked Jeff for coming along and introducing us to Midgley Motor Cars.

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NEXT MEMBERS’ MEETINGS

Wendy, Secretary, provided dates of forthcoming Chamber meetings as follows: October: Date: Thursday 23rd October, 2014 Venue: Herriots Hotel, Broughton Road, Skipton Time: 7.30am to 9am Speaker: Paul Evans (tbc), BCRP and update on the Business Crime Reduction Partnership

November: Date: Wednesday 19th November, 2014 Venue: Belle Vue Suite, Craven District Council Offices, Belle Vue, Skipton Time: 5.30pm to 7pm Speaker: Paul Ellis, Craven District Council (The Tour De France legacy)

December: Date: Tuesday 16th December (pencilled) Venue: The Rendezvous Hotel, Road, Skipton Time: tbc (pm) Speaker: tbc Tickets will be on sale for this event, being run jointly with FSB Craven branch. A three course meal, raffle and speaker presentation. A celebration of the year 2014 in Skipton. More details soon.

SKIPTON TOWN GUIDE April asked if Dave Parker could explain about the Skipton Town Guide. Dave described the guide, there was a copy available to view. He mentioned that it was the one publication which many felt worked well in Skipton. It was well received, and a good blend of advertising and text put together in partnership with the Craven Herald each year. Forms were available for members to take away and Dave explained that the Craven Herald would be approaching businesses to ask if they would like to be included in the publication for next year. He explained that 55,000 copies were produced and distributed within the town and to outreach areas. Liz Smith asked if advertising was taken up quickly? Dave answered that there had already been some take up and it was one publication that local businesses were happy to be included in, so space would book up quickly.

Contact Secretary, Wendy Lawson for a booking form, email: [email protected]

CHAMBER CHRISTMAS TREES Wendy explained that information would be coming out within the next couple of weeks for Christmas trees, organised by the Chamber. This is organised with the assistance of member, Dave Ferguson, to purchase, erect and dismantle trees and lights for properties each festive season. Wendy mentioned that more information would be coming out soon. April asked how many trees were ordered last year. Wendy informed April that 67 Christmas trees were ordered last year and it was hoped that there would be a similar take up this year.

Q. A member asked if a retailer wanted to purchase a Christmas tree and didn’t have a bracket, would it be possible to use a bracket from an empty shop. A. It was felt that the bracket should not be taken from the empty shop. However, enquiries would be made to find out if permission would be required to put up a new bracket on a property. There were concerns that planning permission might have to be sought. Action: WL to enquire with Skipton Town Council initially to seek advice and report back to members.

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Brett Butler, Skipton Town Manager, mentioned that this year there would be brand new set of lights being made available to the town, funded by Skipton Town Council and the Skipton Town Partnership (formerly BID), including a ceiling of lights over Sheep Street. They had chosen lights with an ambient, warm glow. There would be a switch on event taking place on the last Thursday in November, i.e. 27th November, in front of the Town Hall and in conjunction with the Chamber’s Christmas tree lights switch on, at around 6pm and it was hoped that retailers would stay open for late night shopping that evening. A letter would be sent out to retailers with this information.

AOB EVENTS: April offered a little time to members Katie Davison, Bizzie Lizzie’s and Joanne Metcalfe, Cancer Research UK, to provide further details about their forthcoming events.

Katie explained that Bizzie Lizzie’s were hosting a Coffee Morning as part of the ‘Biggest Coffee Morning in the World’ fundraiser, arranged by charity Macmillan Cancer Support. She asked that members come along to Bizzie Lizzie’s on Swadford Street, on Thursday 25 September, between 9am and 11am. Coffee or Tea and Cake would be available for £3 – which would be donated to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Joanne Metcalfe explained that biannually the Cancer Research UK campaign, ‘Stand Up to Cancer’ would be televised. In support of that campaign, Joanne had put together a fundraising event to be held at Skipton Rugby Club on Friday 17th October, from 7pm. The night would include entertainment by comedian Clive Cope and local band ‘Rehab’ and curry supper for £10 per ticket. More information here: http://www.skiptononline.co.uk/Events/Details/53

Verner Wheelock, Verner Wheelock Associates Ltd and Chairman of FSB Craven branch, mentioned about the FSBs forthcoming meeting on Tuesday 21st October. Supper would be available to attendees and the topic of the month would be ‘Working Together’. He said that it was hoped that organisations could come together with their various ideas. They were looking at suggestions of a System Business awards and were keen to support the ‘Youth Enterprise Initiative’, encouraging pupils to set up their own companies.

Brett Butler announced that there would be a busy year of Skipton events in 2015.

Skipton Car Show – 7th June 2015 A festival of pre-1990’s cars. More information available on their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Skipton-Car-Show/649084795178761

800th Anniversary of Magna Carta Seal. Skipton was included. Integrating the theme with the Skipton Gala event and including displays e.g. medieval jousting

International Puppet Festival – biennial event, is set to return on 25th to 27th September 2015

Sheep Day would return in 2015 on Sunday 5th July 2015

There would also be a Waterways Festival and International Dance Festival.

Brett reminded all present that the Yarndale Festival would be taking place this weekend on 27th and 28th September

April thanked Amanda Casey and Malcolm Weaving for their hospitality in providing the Rendezvous as a venue and refreshments for this month’s meeting and drew the meeting to an early close at 8.45am

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