History of Surrey Business Club

Surrey Business Club (SBC) was established in 1986 by Surrey Business Enterprise Agency Ltd. (SBE), now called Surrey Business Advice Ltd. SBE was supported by various large corporations who were interested in developing the range of consultants available to them as suppliers. It was a time of change for many as large numbers of people were being made redundant from full-time work and were having to cope with being self-employed consultants. Surrey Business Club was to set-up to provide continuing support and information for SBE's business start-up 'clients'. Many of the other Enterprise Agencies across the country also set-up similar clubs, so you'll find other Clubs of a similar nature in other areas. Changes in government policy led to the Business Links being set-up, creating new problems for the enterprise agencies (which are all independent organisations). Whilst SBE continued to provide help for business people, it decided that it was unable to continue running Surrey Business Club. Thus in 1996 the Club became independent from SBE, and has since been developing its services to members. In 2006 it will be able to boast 20 years of service under the careful stewardship of its successive chairmen.

Not a lot is known of the early history of the club, but apparently it was chaired by at least 3 successive people on secondment from big-business supporters of SBE. This went on until 1990 when Mike Instone became Managing Director of Surrey Business Enterprise. When he took over at SBE he was told that there were over a hundred SBC members, but it transpired that only 35 odd were paid-up! Mike developed the club, securing many high-flying speakers at venues in Ewell and Guildford. Mike Instone also edited the Club's newsletter, and as now, meetings had good food and a friendly atmosphere. At that time, the subscription was a mere £25, helping many small-business people to find their feet among friends.

When Surrey Business Club became independent of SBE in 1996, Adrian Lovett took over as chairman. Apart from updating the constitution, subs were raised to £30 per annum, and Raina Spencer was taken on as Club Secretary. David Rigby became editor of the newsletter, thus continuing the important task of keeping members informed. During this period we moved our east Surrey venue from NESCOT in Ewell to W.S. Atkins in Epsom, but kept our Sanofi Winthrop (as it was then) venue in Guildford.

David Rigby took over chairmanship in 1998, and with the 'chair' found he had some tough decisions to make. After much discussion, the committee decided we needed to raise subscriptions to £60 in order to cover our costs. This had a negative effect on our numbers, and there were doubts as to whether the right decision had been made. However, the Club survived and we started to develop the Club's services, introducing our first website, and producing lapel badges for meetings. The newsletter was now being edited and designed by Stephen Lewis, and the website was developed and maintained by Linda and Deryck Svensson. We also had our first 'summer social' event - a barbecue in David Rigby's garden!

Tony Greenman took over as chairman in October 2000, who once elected, explained that he wanted to double the membership from 60 to 120 people. Many were doubtful that this could be achieved, but we did it in two and a half years! Stephen Lewis and Bill Blackie took over the website development, which by now was bringing us perhaps 90% of our new members. Our new Membership Secretary, Elaine Wright, was managing our increasing numbers and sending-out our newly introduced Membership Pack to prospective members. We also widened our range of venues, meeting in Weybridge and Farnham, as well as moving to UniSdirect at Guildford University.

All this change inevitably brought us more costs, and so yet again we had to bite the bullet. Looking round, we observed that most other business clubs were £100+ per year, so in 2002 we took the brave decision to increase subs to £120. Most members saw the value of continuing their membership, and so we lived to see another year. Apart from this, we introduced the adverts section into the newsletter, looked into starting a 'Business Development Group', and initiated the networking sessions at the start of our meetings. We also started extra-curricular events, such as our Leisure Circle (golf and bowling) and Spring visits to places of interest.

Stephen Lewis became chairman in November 2003, adding to his roles as newsletter editor and webmaster. The committee introduced the 'HeadStart' scheme to help people starting-up in business, and initiated the 'Speed Network 100' event to encourage networking between members and other businesspeople in the county. We also held the "Leading the field" event, funded by the European Social Fund, and this also proved to be a great success. Above all, we worked hard to strengthen core services whilst developing new ideas to offer members even more for their money.

December 2005 heralded the investment of our newest chairman, Keith Grover. With the change in leadership we have decided to change our newsletter from a paper publication to being a web-based news feature, with E-mail updates sent to members to remind them about meetings and news on the website. The website design is also changing to provide a more lively and up to date source of information for businesspeople in Surrey. We plan to build on the success of our special events and to encourage members to induct new people into the club.

Surrey Business Club is managed by a committee of up to eight people, and has several non-committee support 'staff', including our Membership Secretary. We have an AGM once a year in the autumn, but this is largely a formality. Above all, we are a group of friendly businesses people, prepared to give each other help and advice when asked. Our membership covers a wide range of businesses: some are sole traders, some are directors of small limited companies and others are in partnerships. We are sure that whoever you are, you will find a place in our Club if you do business in Surrey.