30th May 2012 – 10th anniversary of the formation of AFC Wimbledon

I (as WISA Press Officer) wrote this early in June 2002 following various Wimbledon Independent Supporter Association meetings after the Three Man FA Commission sanctioned the theft of Wimbledon FC on the 28th May 2002. Two days later on the 30th May 2002 a huge meeting took place at Wimbledon Community Centre, and now 10 years later, we can look back at what was achieved by so few for so many – sounds very Churchillian.

The original with spelling mistakes can be found here: http://www.wisa.org.uk/cgi/l/articles/index.cgi?action=show&id=124
I am sure you will find others too and some grammamtical errors for good measure!

WISA Wimbledon News Article

WISA Article Thursday 6th June 2002 By Laurence Lowne

28th May 2002 will go down as the day that Wimbledon FC Ltd was removed from the conscious mind of Wimbledon supporters.
30th May 2002 will go down as the day Wimbledon supporters reclaimed their heritage.

On Thursday the 30th May almost 1,000 Wimbledon fans packed into the WISA agm at Wimbledon Community Centre. After much passionate debate lasting over 2 hours, the members agreed to create a club called AFC Wimbledon and to make an application to the Ryman League to join Division Two in time for this coming season.

In the space of 48 hours, despair has been replaced with hope.

It is intended to initially groundshare with a team local to Merton, create a team with a forward thinking manager and harness the disenfranchised fanbase that follows Wimbledon.

This is a massive opportunity for supporters, businesses, the media and local government to be in at the start of a revolution as the fans reclaim the game that has been disastrously treated during recent years. This is the opportunity to build a club of the community.

Right now the priority for AFC Wimbledon is to raise £20,000 which is a commitment to the cause and must be in place by the 12th June 2002. Supporters are being asked to pay £200-00 as a Season Ticket advance – many are contributing more. This will ensure sufficient funds are in place to pay for the groundshare, registration fees and licence to play during the first year.

Once the funds are in place, an application will be made to the Ryman League to join the reorganised Division Two on the 17th June 2002, which is 25 years to the day since Wimbledon FC were elected to Division Four of the Football League – poignant or what?

Within 4 years AFC Wimbledon could be promoted to Division Three of the Football League – we have done it once before, we can do it again. And we are going to have great fun attempting it – the excitement is infectious.

Kris Stewart (WISA Chair) commented: ‘This is the opportunity for the fans to demonstrate their love for the name Wimbledon. We call upon every person who has a connection with the name of Wimbledon to stand up and play their part today, tomorrow and forever. You could have the skills we need, please get in touch.’

WISA and The Dons Trust are bringing a team together to make this happen, but it is vital that people with experience and knowledge of non-league football are brought in to act as a guiding hand. There are a surprisingly large number of people within the Dons ranks who have retained connections with non-league football and these business-people will have a vital role to play in the formation of AFC Wimbledon.

It is not possible just now to confirm which ground we will be sharing, but we can assure all supporters that the facilities will be excellent.

So what can you do right now?
· Invest £200-00 or more in a Season ticket advance (see Dons Trust column for details)
· Help spread the word about AFC Wimbledon
· Volunteer your services – please either call 020 8540 7396 or send an email to afc@wisa.org.uk – there is a lot a to do
· Attend all events being organised – Dons Trust at Mitcham Carnival this Saturday
· Write letters, send emails and call the phone-ins relating to the theft of the shell of our Club by the MK Imposters (if you need addresses, please send a request and a large sae to WISA PO Box 32923, London SW19 4FN)
· Display a poster in your shop window

The £20,000 being raised right now by the 12th June 2002 will be used to secure the groundshare, pay for registration and the licence to play.

It is the first stage of fundraising – there will be further requests and a need for funds. There will be a number of Dons Trust events during the summer. One for all supporters comes on the 17th June, when we shall celebrate 25 years to the day our election to the Football League Division Four. That could become a double celebration, since it is the date that the Ryman League hold their AGM and consider our application for membership. Clear indications are that following their reorganisation they would welcome us (they didn’t – editor)

This is an exciting time for Wimbledon supporters; it provides a focus for our energies, but do not for one second think that we have given up the fight to retain our name, badge and history.

WISA will be following a two pronged attack.
1) to work towards the solid creation of AFC Wimbledon
2) to fight the MK impostors for what is rightfully ours

An information release will soon be in the hands of members outlining our plans for the next few months and will include an application for membership. Please renew and ask three other supporters top join as well. Your membership is needed more today than ever before, and if you can renew early that would be fantastic, and a donation too – even better.

In closing I would like to pay tribute to Kris Stewart, Ivor Heller, Marc Jones and Trevor Williams, who have worked really hard over the last 10 days putting this together – as Kris says: ‘sleep is for wimps’. I can tell you sleep has been at a premium for a quite a number of people recently and will be even more so over the next few weeks.

Premonitions of the Fall (in temperature)

Reblogged from Watts Up With That?:

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Guest post by David Archibald

The first prediction of the current climatic minimum was made by Hubbert Lamb in 1970 in a report (Weiss and Lamb) for the German Navy. He did it by making a reconstructed record of the average frequency of south-westerly surface winds in England since 1340. Quoting Lamb “We sense a cycle or periodicity of close to 200 years in length.” and “There may be a valuable indication of the origin of this apparent 200 year recurrence tendency, in that the sharp declines of the south-westerly wind indicated in the late 1300s, 1560s, 1740s-1770s and now, in each case fell at about the end of a sequence of sunspot cycles which built up to periods of exceptionally great solar disturbance (around 1360-80, the 1570s, the 1770s, the 1950s and more recently).

Read more… 782 more words

so are we about see a fall in global temperatures?

Telecom plus Plc year end results

When I joined in Telecom plus 1997, I had no idea, where the decision would take me, and the latest results shows that decision was so justified in such a positive way.

Please read on:

Here’s the Telecom plus annual results, posted to the London Stock Exchange today (Wednesday 23 May 2012).

This will confirm the ongoing strength of the business and encourage others to join. There is no time to sit on the fence; this unstoppable train is moving with force. Doubters; GUPTRs and imitators are being swept aside.

For more information about the business opportunity please click here: Future-Biz

Highlights:

· Revenue up 12.6% to £471.5m (2011: £418.8m)

· Profit before tax up 11.8% to £30.7m (2011: £27.5m)

· EPS up 12.3% to 33.8p (2011: 30.1p)

· Full year dividend up 23% to 27p per share (2011: 22p)

· Strong cash generation, with a net inflow of £14.1m (2011: £15.6m outflow)

· Positive year end net cash balance of £0.9m (2011: net debt of £13.1m) after £6.6m purchase of freehold property in period

Operating Highlights:

· Further accelerating organic growth

· Number of services supplied up by 18% (2011: 12%) to 1,381,023

· Customer base now exceeds 415,000 (2011: 371,000)

· Continuing improvement in customer quality

· Doubling in proportion of new customers taking 4 + services

· Lower churn

Performance

Overall performance for the year has been extremely encouraging in a number of key respects:

· faster organic growth with service numbers up by 18.0% (2011: 12.1%)

· significant improvement in customer quality – lower churn – lower delinquency – increase in number of services taken

· strong cash generation

Charles Wigoder said:   “Our improvement in organic growth has been driven by continuing high levels of confidence amongst our distributors in our brand and financial strength, the good value provided by our services, and our commitment to delivering a consistently first class customer service experience.

We are also benefiting from the continuing difficult economic climate, which makes both our value-based customer proposition and part-time earning opportunity look increasingly attractive against the background of a broader economy where working hours are being cut, wages are being frozen, part-time jobs are less readily available and disposable incomes are under pressure.”

Go to: http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205230700168916D

A Bad Week To Be In The Networking Business!

Reblogged from Wyn N. Davies | Davies International | The Sales Experts:

It seems as if everybody is jumping on the “Networking is a Waste of Time” bandwagon!  LinkedIn and other media are filled with articles about how Networking just doesn’t deliver business! The same media who have been promoting networking as the solution for the past two years!

This is an interesting shift from December when I published, “Why Real Businesses Don’t Join Networking Groups”

Read more… 591 more words

Wyn makes some interesting points on this subject, and rather aligned to my own, when it comes to networking, since it is so important to go to an event with a purpose, not simply to attend for the sake of being there.

TWC – 10th Birthday Celebration – Tuesday 19th June 2012

Just Do It Conference and Gala Dinner – Tuesday 19 June 2012

How would you celebrate your 10th year of business?

A big party and invite all your friends, or perhaps a conference too and celebrate successful business women.

Well why not combine the two, throw in some excellent speakers, raise money for a charity that is doing some amazing work, plus a venue, which provides some of the best cuisine in London and has done for a number of years?

It seems that is what Jackie Groundsell of The Womens Company is doing on Tuesday 19 June 2012 at Quaglinos in Bury Street, London.

There is an array of talent, speaking during the day plus experts to give one-to-one guidance, two master classes, an expo too, for those wish to parade their wares, then in the evening a gala dinner with entertainment and Andy Lopata will be speaking as well, no doubt with a mention or two of Charlton Athletic following their Championship winning season and promotion.

It gets better, since I have also been able to arrange a 10% discount as well – but you will need to drop me an email to find out how. Please send to info@combyne.co.uk together with your name, business name and contact number.

and the charity, Ovacome. Jackie tells me: ‘For the past 5 years 1230 TWC has been proud to support Ovacome the support network supporting those affected by ovarian cancer. This year we are supporting them with a Fabulous Raffle.’

“Just Do It!” is an exciting and powerful Conference for Today’s Business Women, whilst the Gala Dinner in the evening see the guys n gals welcome in their finery.

Full details and booking can be found here: http://www.1230jdi.co.uk/ - don’t forget your email, if you would like to secure your 10% discount before ordering.

Double Dip Recession – land of opportunities

The headlines screamed out this week that the UK economy had re-entered recession after two negative quarters back to back.

There are many of us who believe the economy has been in recession constantly since early 2008.

It does however, throw up marvellous opportunities for those of us with large databases of customers and contacts built over previous years.

The key to any business success is keeping ahead of the game, and being aware of what is out there ……. newsletter subscriptions are a great way of learning more, and there are plenty of people offering them! Choose carefully.

Also why not consider Joint Ventures? There are loads of non-competing businesses, who would like to do so. Even Combyne Group do Joint Ventures.

Or how about adding an income stream by selling new services or products to your database of clients? Please do ask, since we have a scheme, which will do exactly that.

Or create a Plan B as an extra income stream over and above your salary, where you have not seen a pay rise in three years? Here is an example of one that works – please click here It is an award winning business, with full training and support, and five hours a week will be a great starting point. And it can be offered to existing customers too.

Your present customers and contacts already ….. Know, Like and Trust You, so why go through the hassle of finding new customers, when you already have them?

Many experts talk about re-inventing yourself and your business as a marketing ploy – you do not have to go that far, certainly freshen up your image, and keep your website (& blogs) updated, use all the tools to hand including twitter and other social media, plus regularly produce a newsletter, both as a thank you for customers and as a way of opening up new dialogue.

And even better, why not ask your customers, what they want to buy, and then source it for them? A simple survey via say surveymonkey will do the trick.

Both Jonathan Jay and Robert Craven promote this as a profitable way forward. What have you got to lose by trying this out at minimal risk?

Of course your systems are in place already to ensure you can handle the extra business. They are, aren’t they? If not, please address this issue, which is often the real cause of failure before progressing. Combyne Group provides UK based call handling solutions on a part time, some time or full time basis.

So here are a few ideas to help you grow your business, and I am happy to chew over others as and when.

Double glazing sales people, bank managers and estate agents

Who is worse in your opinion?

That is often the collective view, but I have friends within each profession – I like them, they like me (well I believe so), and I enjoy their company.

Does that make me strange?

However, is my opinion about to change, since these last two months, I have had some less than happy experiences with one sector.

I shall report further soon, and perhaps in the next two weeks my faith will be restored?

Social Media – a pain or a boon?

I enjoy social media, whether it is via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, or any other of myriad of sites that have appeared over the last few years.

As luck would have it, I am an early adopter, and will often involve myself, probably too much, on these various websites.

The question that always arises: ‘Do you get any business from them?’

Yes, I do and often from the most unlikely source. My attitude is, if you don’t try, you don’t know, so I am happy to give each website a go, and see what happens – it is how I started blogging too.

Anyone involved in business, must adopt social media – it is not going to go away, so far better to be involved. Plan your activity, and ensure it does not take over your life. You still have to do business to make money and profit.

There are plenty of experts out there, but make sure you find a real hands on expert to help you  understand the power of social media.

166,000 newly self employed in the UK

Click to enlarge

I noticed two articles in the paper on Wednesday
(28/12/11), one which highlighted the fact that
there were an extra 166,000 (according to the
Office for National Statistics) joining the ranks
of the self employed between August and
October 2011, taking the total in the UK to
4.1 million, and the second (see below)
covering the increase in unemployment.

There are suggestions though many have become self employed to avoid the stigma of claiming benefit, whilst others are earning lots less that they need to survive in our inflation ridden country.

I have been self employed since 1988, and admit at times it has been tough, especially working on commission only in 2001, when the company I was representing suffered its own financial downturn. I learnt my lesson and soon diversified, creating many income streams, the latest this year, when I joined with NABO Networking.

So what has been your experience of running your own  business, and what tips would you offer?

Conversely the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) forecasts that the unemployed will reach 2.85 million in 2012 as opposed to 2.65 milion in 2011. Eventually reaching 2.9 million in 2013 – this being the highest figure since 1991.

Certainly, I have seen many more out of work than previously amongst my contacts, and likewise, I have seen many more join one of my businesses on a self employed basis too and starting to build themselves a future with Utility Warehouse – information here: www.future-biz.co.uk

So what has been your experience, whether going self employed or being made redundant?

Epsom Festive Networking

Had a very pleasant evening with Surrey Chambers of Commerce at an event hosted by City Skyline at their Global House Business Centre in Epsom last evening (Tuesday 6/12/11). James Hale, MD of City Skyline was mine host together with Andy Willmott of the Chamber.

Saw a number of friends including the delovely Carolyne Taylor (Surrey Markets Ltd), soon to be married (this Saturday) and in fine form, plus made a number of new acquaintances too.

Picked up a number of leads, and was encouraged by the openess of the attendees.

Thank you to Andy and James, and I shall return soon.