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In The Limelight

At the end of a well-attended September meeting of the Burton Business Club at Branston Golf and Country Club, Chairman Derek Liddle announced from this year, that the popular Burton Christmas charity, Derek’s Tree is to be under the wing of the Business Club.  Derek, who has been backed by his wife Janet, Pamela Anderson MBE and friends for the last 15v years to bring Christmas cheer to needy children in the Burton Area, said that he is delighted that his efforts will now continue for years to come as a charity run by the Burton Business Club.

The meeting’s theme this month was “In the Limelight”, a popular Club hardy annual event where 3 members sit on a brains trust panel chaired for the first time by Anna Allen.  Colin Butt of Baclog Solutions, a defence consultant was first into the fray who revealed he advises military establishments and companies world-wide in weapons system procurement.  He was attracted to the Business Club last September through Derek’s Tree.  He informed members that the notoriously bureaucratic MOD procurement activities in the UK, with 40% cost overruns as the norm, are about to undergo a big overhaul. Afghanistan equipment problems have been a major factor in prompting this overhaul.  His services are clearly in demand as he does not need to market his services.

Jonathan Fryatt the owner of TECHclean, a young company that specialises in Office IT cleaning, revealed that there is 5 times more bacteria on a keyboard than on a typical toilet seat!   Jonathan is from a high pressure car sales background and he bought TECHclean last year so as to see more of his family and he also inherited his father-in-law as an employee.  His tips to members are; to be aware of personal hygiene in the workplace as even modern anti-viral sprays will not kill off Swine Flu, and to be alert to not carrying all one’s eggs in one business basket in these credit crunch times.  Lastly he revealed that Computer projector bulbs last up to twice as long if they are kept clean and cleaning office IT equipment is becoming a must do rather than a nice to do.

The Third panel member was Ian Page, boss of PC Problems, a specialist company that repairs IT equipment and systems for small businesses and individuals.  Ian revealed that he is easily bored and is constantly looking for new challenges.  Likewise in his business, the nature of IT repairs is rapidly changing with new technology coming in at an ever increasing rate.  As an example, self repairing software such as Vista is coming in along with remote web based programmes known as Cloud Storage.  In 10 years Ian sees himself sitting on a beach in Barbados with his business working round the clock for him.

Chairman Derek thanked the panel for contributing to such a lively and informative evening and to remind members that the Club’s website www.burtonbusinessclub.co.uk is undergoing a radical change under new management and it relies on members to contribute with articles, advertising links etc.