Television presenter Ashley Blake, sentenced to two years in prison after violence flared outside his restaurant, told Burton Business Club that if he was in a similar situation tomorrow he would probably do the same thing again.

“Your own business is like your child. You pour blood, sweat and tears into it, you work 18 hour days and you’d do whatever you could to protect it.”

Mr Blake – speaking at the February meeting of Burton Business Club at the Mercure Hotel, Newton Solney – described how trouble ignited outside his Place 2B restaurant in Sutton Coldfield in January 2009 as an 18^th birthday party ended.

Mr Blake said he went to fetch a pole with the intention of wedging the restaurant’s doors shut against a mob of 25-30 youngsters throwing bottles and ashtrays at him as they tried to re-enter the building. He then swung the pole around his head telling the crowd to get back. A 17-year-old youth was left scarred in the face and the jury found that Mr Blake was responsible for the injury. The court also heard that he tried to cover up evidence by getting rid of the pole – a move he admitted was a massive mistake borne out of panic.

Mr Blake, 42, who served nine months in Winson Green and Stafford prisons for unlawful wounding and attempting to pervert the course of justice, is now rebuilding his life after losing his high-profile BBC job, his restaurant business, his reputation and his long term girlfriend in the wake of his trial and subsequent prison sentence.

“I lost everything – literally,” said Mr Blake who has now written and published a book based on his prison diaries and is developing a concept for a docu-soap about the probation service.

Mr Blake, a former air steward who worked for ITV for five years and the BBC for a further 10, fronting shows like Watchdog, Holiday and Inside Out, said: “Sending me to prison was just a waste of public money. It cost £50,000 to £60,000 to keep me in jail for nine months. I wasn’t a danger to the community, or in need of rehabilitation.”

Mr Blake said he believed that in the wake of last year’s riots – which made the police and the justice system more aware of the needs of business owners to protect their property – he would not be jailed if he was on trial now.

Ashley’s book, Shining Bright Lights in Dark Places, is available through his website – www.ashleyblake.tv

“As a journalist I felt compelled to write down my experiences by keeping a diary in prison. It wasn’t intended to be a book at first – it was my way of trying to make sense of everything that had happened to me. I do believe that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

* The next meeting of Burton Business Club will be on Tuesday March 13, 2012, when business coach Steve Kennedy is guest speaker. 

BBC blog notes

The link above will open a pdf document in a seperate window.

Tony
Webmaster
Burton Business Club 

When you have applied for almost 2,000 jobs, spent £1,200 on stamps, had 400 interviews and you’re still unemployed it might be tempting to give up – especially when some people tell you would be better off living on benefits and forgetting about a career at all.

Instead, Richard Shakespeare – a business management and marketing graduate – was inspired to create his own successful business in 2010 which now sees him travelling throughout Europe as an independent disability consultant showing organisations how to be more aware of the needs of people with disabilities.

Richard has cerebral palsy but does not consider himself to be disabled. When official forms ask “Do you think you have a disability?” he always answers “No”.

“Many of the companies who interviewed me for jobs are now among my clients,” Richard told the January meeting of Burton Business Club. “I was able to show them how they could improve the way they dealt with disabled people, either as staff members or consumers,  and how in some cases they were breaking disability and equality legislation.”

Richard, from Derby, has a diverse portfolio of clients including solicitors, emergency services and hotel chains and is even looking at franchise opportunities.

“The most important thing I’d say to any business who deals with a customer with a disability is to listen to them. They are the expert. Don’t assume YOU know what they want or need.”

Firms who get it wrong can pay heavily. Figures released by the Tribunals Service for 2010 showed that the highest payout in a disability discrimination case that year was £730,000. 

Richard said that 86% of people with disabilities say they have experienced bad service from businesses and service providers. Yet this is a market that spends an estimated £95 billion a year in this country and makes up 27.2% of the UK population.

His company runs a Committed to Equality accreditation scheme, explained at www.richardshakespeare.com.  Businesses that complete a half-day course go on a list of approved suppliers that Richard sends to 22,000 people.

• To enjoy inspiring speakers like Richard, a great meal and excellent business networking visit Burton Business Club. Next meeting is on February 14 at the Newton Park Hotel, Newton Solney. If you would like to attend as a visitor, ring Chairman Lorraine Holden on 07540 413810.

Picture by David Finch of David Finch Photography

Well, I’ve continued to follow the progress of Guardian writer Andrew Wren and entrepreneur and social media guru Glen Allsop as they set up a new blog and took readers through the stages of publicising and monetising it.

So I was delighted when their January update showcased my own Winnie’s Dog Blog as an example of success.

In the packed January update they finally revealed the name and nature of the blog Andrea has been creating – so if you want to know more, visit this page and scroll right down to a section called Geting Involved and Making A Difference where you can read a bit about the success I have had with Winnie’s blog.

Blogs can make a huge difference to niche businesses in terms of helping you engage with your potential customers, build trust and showcase your expertise and your unique selling points.

On a practical level they can also help search engines rank your business higher in search results if you get things set up right.

But for a busy business finding things to keep writing about – and the time to write – can be a chore. So if you want a chat with me about finding some inspiration for subjects to blog about – give me a shout through my Caittom Publishing website – or seem me at a future Burton Business Club meeting.

Happy New Year.

- Elaine Pritchard, Caittom Publishing

- Elaine is a former regional and national newspaper journalist, and award-winning digital director for the Daily Mail group, now running a freelance writing business, working for clients across the UK.

Photo’s have kindly supplied by David Finch Photography (www.davidfinchphotography.co.uk).

Maybe she picked up tips on Neuro Linguistic Programming when she was exposing ‘cons’ on The Real Hustle, but contestant Jessica-Jane Clement showed real flair for overcoming extreme difficulties by thinking positively in the reality show.

A grim bush tucker trial saw Jess suspended horizontally in a sling and lowered into a succession of five trucks containing eels, snakes, fish guts, rats and finally foul-smelling, bug-ridden slime.

Rather than shrieking and shuddering like many contestants, she greeted every truck like a welcome gift, smiling and repeating what it contained in a happy and warm voice.

“Oh! I love snakes!” she said enthusiastically as that truck rolled up.

“Are you mad?” asked Ant McPartlin by way of reply.

A couple of minutes later, faced with another truck, she cooed: “I love rats! They’re just like lovely, cuddly hamsters!”

Now maybe – unusually – she does like these creatures that slithered and scampered over her, but I think she was actually re-programming her mind to make the ordeal less scarey and more bearable.

I tried a similar thing, thanks to advice from an NLP coach, when I had to fly for business earlier this year. To ME, flying was a prospect as bad as ANY bush tucker trial.

I am terrified of flying and had not boarded a plane since well before 9/11. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to get through the 90-minute flight. He advised me to imagine I was playing the part of someone who loved flying. So I slapped a huge smile on my face and constantly repeated in my mind “I LOVE flying. I can’t wait to get on this plane I’m going to love every second of it”.

And it was OK. Really. The fear factor left me.

It’s like the song from The King and I, says: “Make believe you’re brave, and the trick will take you far. You may be as brave as you make believe you are”.

Your next business day might not involve being submerged in trucks of rats and slime – but there’s always some sort of obstacle, or an unwanted task to be tackled.

Next time, try tackling it with a smile on you face  and fill you mind with POSITIVE phrases about it. Don’t ever even THINK negative statements beginning: “I don’t…”, “I can’t…” or “I hate….” and see what a difference it makes.

Elaine Pritchard is a freelance writer and also acts with Burton’s Little Theatre Company

Tutbury EcoPower Needs You

Well, Tutbury EcoPower are in the final 6 medium-sized projects of nearly 1000 community organisations in the Energyshare competition to win £75,000 for solar PV panels to put on community buildings in the community such as the village hall, the old school and the local primary school.  We are currently not in pole position but we have only 5 days until 3 December to vote in this national competition.  So please tell your friends and colleagues to support us by registering and voting on Energyshare’s Website. If you have problem’s, go to our help page

Tutbury EcoPower have the habit for winning as our latest award attests – We won the Special Environmental Award at Trent and Dove Housing Association’s Impact on the Community Awards evening on 11 November.

philgnorris

We will meet for a glass of bubbly in the bar at around 6.30pm and then takes
our seats for a delicious 3 course meal at 7.00pm.  After we have enjoyed
our meal, pulled our crackers and donned our party hats it will be time to put
your brains in gear for our annual quiz…..lots of prizes to be
won!!

The cost is £20.00 to members and £22.95 to guests.

As this is a social event we are happy for partners to come along!  I will
need to give the staff at Newton Park a little more notice on numbers for this
event so can I please ask that you email your menu choices to me at lorraine@inspiresuccessgroup.co.uk by MONDAY, 28th November by 10.00 am
PLEASE!

CHRISTMAS MENU

Parsnip and Apple Soup (v)

or

Warm Goats Cheese and
Caramelised Onion Tart, Topped with Herb Salad and Balsamic Dressing (v)

or

Galia Melon, Watermelon,
Mint and Elderflower Syrup (v)

***********************

Traditional Roast
Turkey, Bacon wrapped Chipolatas, Sage, Chestnut and Apricot Stuffing with
Cranberry Sauce

or

Roast Sirloin of Beef
with Red Wine Jus and Yorkshire Pudding

or

Winter Roasted Vegetables
with Basil Cous Cous (v)

**************

Traditional Christmas
Pudding with Brandy Sauce

or

Cranberry and Orange
Torte

***********************

Coffee and Mint

I look forward to seeing you then and……….HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

Lorraine Holden

Chair of Burton Business Club

Dawn started by telling the assembled business people a bit about herself, starting 16 years ago in the East Staffordshire CAB working her way up from being a worker in the office to Chief Executive; on the way, covering just about all the jobs.

Dawn then went on to give details on the history and some current statistics on the organisation.  The CAB is a national body that had its roots in 1939 helping victims of the long-lasting recession at that time to get back onto their feet with work and to manage their debts.  It was offered then, as now, as a free, confidential, independent and impartial service.  Plus cą change it would seem as their help is needed more than ever in these current recessionary times.  The profile of the people coming to them for help however, includes far more professional people who perhaps for the first time in their lives, are struggling to pay their debts and coming to terms with losing their current lifestyles and support.

It is clear that the Burton CAB do a grand job as a recent national survey revealed.  97% of people have heard of the CAB, 25 million people have used CAB at some point in their lives and 96% of those who did use the CAB say they were happy with the service received.

Dawn revealed that it can often take time to look after people and resolve problems as they often come with one problem and it is soon apparent that other problems are the real issue.  The CAB staff and volunteers offer a structured service that starts with their ‘Gateway’ service which may take around 9 minutes on the telephone, followed by longer face-to-face sessions.

To keep in touch the modern CAB uses email and social media, which is much more efficient.  This,inevitably, is the way forward to enable the staff to deal with more people and problems. However, there is always someone on reception who will speak to these people seeking help.  This shows in the statistic that the current waiting list is of approximately 3 weeks for specialist advice, whereas a few years ago, this used to be 10 weeks.  Currently, professional advice delivered by volunteers is worth around £200,000 per annum in the Burton Office.   It is not generally known, but the CAB provide training & skills development for young people to get back into work.

Dawn then revealed that they too are in uncertain times with their funding.  As to the future, life for the CAB will be challenging with finding funds becoming even more of a preoccupation and a possible crisis is approaching.  They are looking at other fundraising options such as charity shops etc and apprenticeship schemes.  It is not generally realised that the CAB is a registered charity and funding has been and continues to be obtained from a mixture of grants from the local authorities and European Funds.   Currently Burton CAB employs the services of 13 staff and some 65 volunteers working out of their offices in Anson Court off Horninglow Street, Burton.

Following her presentation, Dawn then took questions and it was clear from the large number in her audience, that she had generated a lot of interest.  Chairman Lorraine then warmly thanked Dawn for providing so much food for thought and remarked that some her messages were possibly close to home for members or their families.    She then went on to ask for volunteers to man Derek’s Tree and said that the rota now on website.  Also a sponsorship form was passed around to support those doing the YMCA Sleepout on Friday, 11 November 2011.  She also mentioned the Christmas Social coming up next month!

Written by philgnorris