bristol junior chamber november 2013 bugle

7/27/2019 Bristol Junior Chamber November 2013 Bugle

1/4

www.bristoljuniorchamber.co.uk

Design and Print by Ardentwww.ardentcommunications.co.uk

0117 923 9784

Bristol

Junior

Chamber

Dates for your DiaryNOVEMBER MEMBERS MEETING

Guest Speaker:James Monk, Business West

Date: Tuesday 12 November

Venue: Rivergate Centre, BristolTemple Quarter Enterprise Zone

PRIVATE MEMBERS DINNER WITH

MAYOR OF BRISTOL

Guest Speakers: George Ferguson,Mayor of Bristol and Zoe Sear,Head of Mayoral Partnerships andInitiatives

Date: Tuesday 19 November

Venue: TBC

Limited to 15 guests on a rst comerst served basis (with three seatsbeing kept back for rafe basedallocation to members on waitinglist) RSVP to Darren Jones at darren.

[email protected]

BJC CHRISTMAS DINNER

Date: Monday 2 December

Venue: Hotel Du Vin

RSVP to Mark Langmead at [email protected]

When did you join BJC?In October 2012 I contacted BJC after an acquaintancesuggested that I look into joining the Junior Chamber ofCommerce. I did research online and decided that BJCwas convenient in location, personal and still able tooffer what I was looking for.

Why did you join?Primarily, I wanted to meet interesting people fromoutside of my own profession and broaden my socialhorizons. BJC is an excellent networking platform andis rich in highly driven people from a wide variety ofbackgrounds and expertise. After all, it really is who

you know. I hope it is mutually benecial.

What has been your best

moment as a BJC member so far?It is difcult to pick one particular moment amidst thenumerous drinks events, fabulous dinner dances andexciting trips, although I was particularly pleased toget my name on the tail n of the Bloodhound SSC inpreparation for the land speed record, so that one daysoon I can ofcially say that Lara Cron has travelled at1,000mph. In contrast, I felt privileged to participatein the Bristol Leadership Programme and the schoolinterviews, from which I learnt as much as the teenagersdid. The best thing however, has been the informalmoments of fun created through developing friendships.

What areas of The BJC interest you most?I am interested in using BJC as a means of accessto people and places that one would normally notget to encounter otherwise. Membership providesa way of getting straight to the source, for example,the opportunity to meet an MP face to face or havea private view of a building that would typically beclosed to the public.

What is your day job?I am an architect, a career choice that I made ten yearsago upon reading Ayn Rands The Fountain Head.During my time in practice I have worked in a varietyof sectors including residential, education, commercial,military (MOD), healthcare and sports and leisure.

Last year I was involved in some major local projectsincluding the proposal for Bristol Rovers footballstadium, redevelopment of Gloucestershire CountyCricket Club and the refurbishment of Bristol RoyalInrmary. Earlier this year I set up my own business sothat I could take control over projects and work myown hours in order to facilitate other pursuits, however,I still freelance from time to time and may consideremployment again in the future, should the rightopportunity come along. I am also an ar tist, exhibitingmy work with a number of galleries, including Saatchiand I am currently studying for an MA at UWE inafliation with the BBC.

Members InterviewLaraCron

Future leaders of Bristolmentored by the BJC on theBristol Leadership ProgrammeIn July 2013 Vice President Karl Brownagain organised for BJC volunteersto act as mentors on the BristolLeadership Programme (BLP)education initiative. The students onthe BLP were from disadvantagedbackgrounds but showed talent andhigh aspirations.

The BLP was launched with greatfanfare by the Bristol Mayor GeorgeFerguson, who discussed hisbackground and also what it takes tolead a city as Mayor. The launch bythe Bristol Mayor was featured in thePost. The BLP students then attendedan intense course of seminars overtwo weeks, ranging from topics suchas Women in Politics to Leadingthe Economy. The guest speakers/

lecturers in addition to the BristolMayor ranged from John Savage ofBusiness West to local MP KerryMcCarthy.

The BLP organisers were deliberatein impressing on the students thatthey should aim high to be leaders inbusiness or public life. Karl commentedthat it was remarkable and rewardingto see students, who at the start of theBLP were shy and nervous, transformedinto condent young adults able topresent seminars and to speak toprominent local persons. The BLP willbe run again next year and the BJC willonce again be a core part in making theBLP a success.

Karl Brown, Vice President

BJC Schools Interviews Programme Autumn 2013

Name of school Date of mock interviews BJC contact

St Mary Redcliffe 23rd October Alex Wong

Merchants Academy 6th November Ed Chapman

Bedminster Down 28th November Robert Barnes

In August as part of the BJCs Heritage and Culture Programme,BJC members headed off for a night at Bath Racecourse.

Off to the Races

BJC members gathered on a Fridayevening to enjoy a glass (or two!)

of cider with the best of the SouthWest at Bath Racecourse. On arrival,form was deliberated at greatlength however the breadth of ourexperience soon became apparent,with comedy horse names and jerseycolours summing up the tactics.

The bets came thick and fast, withkeen eyes on the odds and keenereyes on the nish line. After 7 racesand despite collectively betting onnearly every horse in the last race, anoverall loss was a resounding theme.

However, congratulations go toAbigail Stamp who went home 11.30

up... perhaps some of this luck couldrub off at the investment forum.

After sampling a few more ciderswith all in high spirits, the nightended with a chorus of Ooh arr ooharr to The Wurzels.

Many thanks to fellow memberKate Cook at Bath Races, forproviding such an exclusiveopportunity to members.

Gareth Mason, Chair of Heritageand Culture


2/4

BJCBugleBristol

Junior

Chamber

Issue Nineteen Autumn 2013


I cant believe that we are already halfway through BJCs 65th year and I amdelighted to see how vibrant BJC is withmore members than ever. A lot has

been happening: from dinner with theBank of England, presentations fromDestination Bristol and UKTI, visits fromHannover and Oman, trips to Bordeaux,Bristol Port, Bristol Airport and theNational Composite Centre, to winningon the softball eld. Former PresidentSavita Custead even brought back theEuropean Green Capital Award 2015. Butthis is just the rst six months, there is ofcourse much more to come!

My aims continue to be to build on therelevance and value of BJC to you, yourcompany and to Bristol, continuing todiversify membership and supportingcity stakeholders such as the Mayor, LEPand Business West, while balancing this

business focus with a full social calendar.Upcoming events include dinnerwith the Mayor, hosting the highcommissioner of Mozambique, ourmock interview schools programmefor 16 year olds, visiting parliament,CSR work with Ujima Radio and theglitzy, not to be missed, AnnualDinner in March.

This is your BJC and I urge you toget involved. Thank you to all thoseinvolved in bringing these events toreality and as ever, please do feel freeto contact me if you have any questions,comments or ideas.

[email protected]

Hannover Junior Chamber visit Bristol

On Friday 30th May we welcomed our guests fromHannover Junior Chamber with glorious blue skies,a few drinks overlooking Avon Gorge and then areception at the Lord Mayors Residence. It was afabulous start to a very enjoyable weekend.

On the Saturday morning we were treated to a tour ofBristol from BJC member Andie Spragg, before visitingthe oldest building in Bristol, St James Priory near thebus station. BJC members then treated our Germanguests to various British pastimes such as eating

sh and chips, an induction into the game of rugby(over a few beers whilst watching the latest Lionsgame) and pub crawls. In the evening we took tothe water, enjoying a boat cruise around the harbourwhilst showcasing the local pork cuisine, courtesy ofGrillstock. Although the evening nished late we allmade it to Bordeaux Quay for a farewell breakfast thenext morning before whisking our guests back to theairport. All involved had a memorable weekend.

Andrew Venner

Every year the BJC celebrates the twinning with Hannover with an exchange trip withHannover Junior Chamber. This year it was our turn to host the exchange.

From the President

We were delighted to be joined by over 60 membersand guests at the BJC Balloon Fiesta tent one of thehighlights of our calendar.

BJC at Bristol Balloon Fiesta

We were treated to a VIP area allowing guests an excellentvantage point of the night glow and access to the take off site.The weather held, the Pimms and conversations owed. Currentand potential members were joined by several past memberswho came along to enjoy the fun. Past President and FiestaOrganiser Ben Hardy even found time to stop in for a drink anda catch up. The Fiesta is a great opportunity for us to showcasethe BJC and all it has to offer. Three members signed up directlyas a result of the event and has introduced us to a number of

prospective members. With thanks to Bond Dickinson for theirkind sponsorship of the event. Oli Brown


3/4


AvonmouthPort Tour

As part of the Business andEnterprise programme of eventsmembers of Bristol Junior Chamberenjoyed an afternoon tour ofAvonmouth Port in July.

David Brown, Director of Operationsfor the port, provided members with aninformative and detailed discussion on itshistory and its main current businesses,which ranged from car import andexport, importing aluminium ingots fromSouth Africa, and importing 90% of allthe Orange Juice for UK supermarkets.

The second part of the tour was alook at the new home of BloodhoundSSC. Bloodhound SSC (the worlds onlypotential, 1000mph car) had their ofcialopening earlier in the day when DavidWilletts, Science Minister, had openedthe centre and had promised a further1m toward the projects educationprogramme. Tony Parraman, the projectsCommercial Director, gave a presentationon the projects progress, history andcurrent stage of development. Memberswere then shown the chassis shell whichwas being built, as well as the jet engineand recently completed nose cone,which had partially been made using 3Dprinting. At the end, everyone on the tourgave 10 to have their name on the tail nwith a launch date of Spring 2015.

Mike Holder,Chair of Business and Enterprise

On a sunny Sunday morning in early June, a crack team of elite BJC athletes assembled onCumberland Road for the 2013 Rotary Club of Bristol Breakfast Dragon Boating Festival.

Base camp was established in front of the RotaryClub marquee and BJCers busily assembled thegazebo, BBQ and seating for the day. As the BJC crewprepared themselves for action, the air was lled withan intoxicating blend of Lynx Africa and Piz Buin. In anod to the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour, our teamwas named Coeur des Lions and our uniform for theday was completed in splendid fashion by the (nowlegendary) face painting girls. Assembled from allfour corners of the British Isles, the girls created anuber-efcient production line and applied waterproofface paint Lion masks to the crew. We were ready todo battle.

Steady improvement in the heats saw our coursetime fall from 62.23 seconds to 60.16 by heat three.

Unfortunately our average time in the heats left usagonisingly short of qualication for the knock outstages, 0.75 seconds quicker would have seen team BJCthrough to the knocks. However, Coeur des Lions exitfrom the competition at the group stages allowed usto concentrate on the most important parts of the day;namely the BBQ, charity fundraising and supportingphoto calls with President Tom Selway and variousBristol celebrities.

Coeur des Lions nished the day in a very respectable9th place from 34 teams, representing the great andgood of Bristols corporate and charity sectors. TeamBJC will certainly be returning in 2014 aiming to reachthe knock-out stages, BBQ more meat and raise fundsfor worthy causes. Ben St Quintin

On Friday 9 August Vice President Karl Brown was interviewed onUjima Radio on the show Cruising with Mistri by DJ Jules aka Mistri.

Vice President Karl Brown on the Airwaves

The purpose of the interview was to discuss the BJC andKarls position on the BJC, in particular because he is the

rst black Vice President of the BJC and will become therst black President next year.

Ujima Radio is based in St Pauls and its target audience iscommunities based in central Bristol areas. When askedabout what the BJC is, Karl responded by noting thatwe are young business leaders under the age of 40 who

work with major stakeholders in the city to promoteBristol. Karl emphasised that the ethos of the BJC is to

give back to Bristol for example through our educationinitiatives. When asked what inspires him Karl mentionedhis favourite quote from George Bernard Shaw.

The interview was a success and resulted in great proleraising for the BJC and the opportunity to get future BJCprojects promoted on Ujima Radio.

Dragon Boat Racing - BJC Coeurdes Lions ercely competitive


4/4


In July BJC members were given the opportunity to have a question andanswer session with Stephen Collins, the Bank of Englands representativefor the South West region over dinner at Hotel Du Vin.

Membershipstatistics - as at1st October 2013

BJC Membership is currently made up of thefollowing sectors; Legal, Surveying, PR, Marketingand Events, Planning and Development, Investment,Accounting, Engineering, Entrepreneurs, Hospitality,Banking, Charities, Publishing, Sport, Insurance,Education, Environmental, IT, Government andthe Arts.

In the last few months we have managed tosuccessfully continue our efforts to diversitymembership and now have members who workin the arts and Local Government, we have alsoboosted representation from education institutionsand the world of sport.

If youre interested in joining contact MembershipSecretary Rob Barnes at [email protected]

Stephen Collins provided some interestinginsights about the latest performance of the UKeconomy highlighting key forecasts and chartsfrom the May 2013 Ination Report. The economywas seemingly on a recovery path by the thirdquarter of the year. Stephens presentation

showed that the Bank predicts some slow butpositive growth in economic output and return tolower ination within several years ahead.

The subsequent lively discussion was opened byBJC Vice-President, Karl Brown, with a questionabout whether the Bank of England took intoaccount structural changes in the economy.Stephen thought the industrial restructuringwould take quite a long time to manifest.Andie Spragg, Lloyds TSB, asked about the Banksopinion onthe governments Funding for Lendingand Help to Buy schemes nanced by taxpayersmoney and widely expected to create a secondhousing bubble; to which he replied that therewas, indeed, a possibility that these could affectthe housing prices.

Zifa Sadriyeva, Zeta Economics, askedwhether the Bank of Englands past successesin keeping the ination within the settarget as well as dampening the effects of theeconomic recession by monetary instruments,such as Quantitative Easing, made the UK

Government more reliant on the Bank andless imaginative in supporting the economicrestructuring to increase the countryscompetitiveness. Stephen replied stating thatthe Government was doing a good job trying torestructure the British Economy.

BJCs Treasurer, Rob Nye, Barclays, asked aboutStephens thoughts on the Bristol Pound. Stephenanswered that it was an interesting concept anda potentially good way to promote the localeconomy; however, his view was that it was nota true currency and was more akin to gift tokens.BJC members were very grateful for Stephensexcellent presentation and the great debate thatfollowed, and would be very keen to hear hisupdates next year. Zifa Sadriyeva

Over 160 BJC Members and guests attendedSpring Drinks at the RWA.

Many thanks to Averys, Papadeli, The Bristol BeerFactory, SXS Events and the RWA for supporting

the event which was a huge success.

Spring Drinksat RWA

In June I was asked to attend the Young Enterprise

South West Company of the year awards at theWills Memorial Building in Bristol University.

YoungEnterpriseSouth West

The awards celebrated the achievements of 8 groupsfrom schools in the SW area, who had over the past

year set up, run and created prot from their ownoriginal business ideas.

At the awards I was asked to judge the regionalsemi-nalists during a daylong gruelling dragons denstyle event. The students had to produce companyreports, create a business stand, withstand a grillingfrom myself and 3 other judges and nally present toa room full of 200 business people as they dined inthe ceremonial hall. I was incredibly impressed withthe calibre of students, their condence and abilityto create innovative and successful businesses. Aswell as selecting the overall winner, awards weregiven to for the best company reports, to the best

managing director and many more; each winner wasincredibly hard to select with the standard beingso high!

Our unanimous overall winner was Swapplications;a group of students from Cirencester Sixth FormCollege, who had created a smartphone applicationfor schools, colleges and universities that wouldrevolutionise the student experience. They thencontinued to the national nals in London torepresent the South West.

This event marked 50 years of Young Enterprise; anorganisation which has helped thousands of studentsfrom ages 4 to 22 experience the world of business,be introduced to mentors and gain skills which theywill never forget as they begin their lives as youngprofessionals.

Georgie Baxter, Chair of Education and Skills

BJC Membership total: 121

32 new members since April 2013

Membership: 48% Female and 52% Male

Bank of England Dinner

bristol junior chamber november 2013 bugle

Documents