Stansted Lunch Club
Established and Run by Alastair Richardson
An Introduction
In 1997 Alastair Richardson, at that time a member of the Stansted Mountfitchet Parish Council, founded Stansted Lunch Club, as a forum in which the Council could meet and maintain a dialogue with the local business community; as a powerful networking opportunity for local businesses; and as a pleasant interlude in congenial and stimulating company. In the event, networking and the pleasant interlude have become the dominant features and 'local' has come to mean more or less anywhere within an hour's drive of Stansted. The Club is all the richer for the diversity that this brings to its events.
On most occasions members are seated for lunch and are randomly placed at tables of eight or ten, unless they specifically request that they sit with their guests. This generally means that they meet seven or eight different members on each occasion, so ensuring varied and lively conversation and good networking opportunities.
The Club is open to all local business people, both active and retired, so harnessing the wisdom of those who have 'been there, done that'. Lunches are held every couple of months, usually on a Wednesday at 1300 hrs for 1330 hrs in a local hostelry or, when fortune shines, on the premises of a member. Rules are few:
- Behave no worse than the Chairman
- Abuse not the Chairman
- Attend lunches or send apologies (a year of silence brings rustication)
In November 2007 the Club entered its second decade with a membership in excess of 250 and with attendances at lunches regularly ranging between 60 and 80 with a comparable number of apologies on each occasion. By early 2009 membership had increased to around 400.
The Club issues informal newsletters from time to time under the title 'The Lunch Times' in which can be found the dates of future lunches.
Bookings
An invitation / notification is sent out about four weeks in advance of each lunch and includes a booking form. Booking arrangements are as follows:
- Bookings will not be accepted without payment in advance of a lunch
- Payment must be by cheque, internet transfer or, I hope, credit card in due course
- Guest lists will include only those members that have paid and will be finalised immediately after close of play on the Friday before a lunch
- No refunds can be allowed after the Guest list is finalised.
Sponsorship
Each lunch is normally sponsored by a member of the Club at two different levels:
First, there is a compulsory fee which earns the privileges of being warmly thanked; of generally being treated with respect; of having literature distributed with invitations; of speaking lightly and humorously on some topic associated with the member's business. But no overt sales pitches are allowed
Second , there is an optional contribution towards the cost of lunch which is a direct subsidy of the cost of each member's lunch; for this the sponsor earns even warmer thanks and respect, the temperature of the thanks being directly proportionate to the amount of subsidy (the level of subsidy ranges between £5 and £10 per member attending a lunch)
Occasionally a charity, for example The Lords Taverners in May or St Clare Hospice in July 2008, will be sponsored by a group of members who will each contribute to the cost of the sponsorship. Members wishing to participate in this way should contact Alastair Richardson (see below).
Past Sponsors Include
AGN Shipleys (2004), Andrew Cohen Associates (2005), NLP Solutions (2003), Pothecary & Barratt (2000, 2004), Anglia Business Resources, Auditel (2008), Bada Bing! (2008), Barclays, Stansted (2002)City & Country Group (2006)Copyzone (2008),Copyzone Archiving (2008), Daniel Robinson & Sons (2007, 2008, 2009), DC Poulton & Sons (2000), D Honour & Son (2002),East Anglian Debt Management (2008),Essex Bloodstock (2007)GE Sworder & Sons (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008), Innovations Unlimited (2000, 2003, 2004), KUA Consulting (2006), Liz Lake Associates (2005), Lloyds TSB (2008), Manor of Groves Hotel and Country Club(2008), Martin and Mortimer (2008), Martin West Associates (1998, 1999), NatWest, Bishop’s Stortford (2001), Nigel Holland and Jim Barrie (2001), Nockolds (2002, 2008), North & West Essex Community College (2003), Popcorn Web Design (1999, 2005), Price Bailey (2009), Savills (2009), Savvy Business Community (2009), Stansted Parish Council (2001), Stansted Stort Valley Rotary Club, The Bareham Overy Partnership (1998, 2004), The Bishop's Stortford Chamber of Commerce (2006), The Bishop’s Stortford High School (2007), The Cricketers’ Arms Rickling Green (1999), The Radisson SAS Hotel Stansted Airport (2006), The Stansted Hall Cricket Club (2008), The St James’s Place Partnership (2007), The Village Music Club (2004), The Wellness Chiropractic Centre, Ware (2001), Uttlesford Crossroads (2004), Weston Business Centres (2003, 2005, 2008, 2009), Weston Homes (2000).
Further information can be obtained from Alastair Richardson:
T: 07850 295109
F: 01279 815518
E: amg.richardson@gmail.com
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The Seventy-Fourth Lunch
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Pearse House, Parsonage Lane, Bishops Stortford, CM23 5BQ.
1300 hrs for 1330 hrs
Generously sponsored by Bishop’s Stortford and Stansted Stort Valley Rotary Clubs
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