Inaugural B4 Shropshire lunch May 22

Founding Shropshire members were in attendance along with business representatives from B4 Oxfordshire.

The group discussed two topics over lunch, with guests invited to move along a few spaces after the main course to ensure everyone got to mix, chat, and share insights.

The guests with the two ‘best’ comments were rewarded with a bottle of pink champagne from Hencote Vineyard and Restaurant, one of the B4 Shropshire Founding Members.

Guests included:

• Emma Lockwood – Numonde – Leadership coaching, performance mentor.
• Simon Jones – Corstorphine & Wright Architects
• Jessica Powell – Berry’s UK
• Ian White – McLaughlin & Harvey Construction
• Russell Griffin – Samuel Wood Estate Agents
• Olivia Barker and David Wells – Nuffield Health.

The two topics discussed were:

1. Is your business facing difficulties attracting, recruiting, motivating, and training staff and what steps are you taking to overcome this?
2. What has your business stopped doing as a result of the pandemic, and what did you start doing that you are continuing after the pandemic?

The winners of the champagne were Olivia Barker and David Wells, from Nuffield Health and Kate Hudson, Global Systematic Investors LLP.

Olivia and David discussed the difficulties their business is facing attracting clinical staff in the wake of the pandemic and how it has difficulties with other health organisations in the area vying for the same staff. A lot of staff havechosen to leave the industry and they are having to think outside the box when it comes to recruitment.

Kate made some very interesting comments, about barriers facing older generations when it comes to employment or coming back into work/changing careers. She said that businesses needed to take more notice of the skills older generations had built up over their careers.

On the other hand, Russell Griffin, Co-Director at Samuel Wood Estate Agents said his firm had just employed two gentlemen in their late 40s, one who had great experience but was changing career completely. He said succession planning was key.

Most people said that although they were keeping zoom meetings, many people were now wanting to return to the office and a hybrid working pattern on an individual basis was preferred.

It was also the general consensus that creating a clear career path, with incentives and training for staff to improve and be promoted and investing in staff from the outset was key to staff retention.

Some of the comments received by B4 about the event itself included:

“Thank you for the invitation to join you for lunch. A fantastic event, with some valuable points of discussion. It was extremely refreshing to get back to face to face events.” Jessica Powell, Berry’s UK.

“Wonderful event, spent in great company with great food! Wonderful to see old networking friends and to make new connections. Looking forward to getting back to F2F events and being able to do what we all do best!” Olivia Barker, Nuffield Health.

“It was such a refreshing change to zoom meetings to actually meet in person and have interesting discussions about business post pandemic. So well organised and a great group of diverse people made for an excellent luncheon. Thanks for the invite.” Kate Hudson, Global Systematic Investors LLP.

“So nice to be out meeting face to face again at such a well organised event. Well done Victoria Charnley and look forward to seeing everyone again at Hencote next month.” Spencer Taylor, CEO at DALUS Technologies & FinTec Business Solutions.

“Thank you very much for the invite, it was a fantastic event. Great food, a group of lovely diverse people and some excellent informative conversations and discussions. What’s not to like? I’m looking forward to what comes next.” Helen Cowley, Hatchers Solicitors.

“Thank for such a lovely lunch and the possibility of meeting so many interesting people from such diverse industries. Such a refreshing day after Covid.” David Hartland, CMC Business Advisers.

The next event on the B4 Shropshire calendar is on June 21 at Hencote. To find out more, please contact Victoria Charnley, Business Development Manager & B4 Shropshire Area Director, at Victoria@b4-business.com

Full lunch guest list:

• Emma Lockwood – Numonde – Leadership coaching, performance mentor
• Chris Pallet – Bespoke computing – IT services provider
• Dave Hartland – CMC Business Advisers
• Simon Jones – Corstorphine & Wright Architects
• Ian White – McLaughlin & Harvey Construction
• Olivia Barker – Nuffield Health
• David Wells – Nuffield Health
• Emma Burton – Wellness Coach
• Jessica Powell – Berry’s UK – Marketing
• Spencer Taylor – Dalus Technologies & FinTec Business Solutions
• Victoria Bebb – Luxury Travel
• Hugo Evans – Cooper Green Pooks – Commercial
• Helen Cowley – Hatchers Solicitor
• Kate Hudson – Global Systematic Investors LLP
• Russell Griffin – Director Samuel Wood Estate Agent
• Richard Rosser, CEO B4 Oxfordshire
• Victoria Charnley, Regional Director B4 Shropshire
• Elodie Home – Head of Fundraising Severn Hospice
• Catherine Buckley – Catherine Buckley PR
• Lucy Dazell – Freelance Photographer.