Craven Arms Business Fair – a huge success!

What an amazing night we all had! It was great to see 75 business people mingling, catching up with old friends and forming new connections.

Catherine Pybus of Creation chatting with Simon Smith, the Shropshire Chef and Francesca   Biddlecome of Holiday Property Board

The premiere of Des Seal’s promotional commercial of Craven Arms Business was extremely well received and many of those featured in the commercial were present to watch themselves on screen! Indeed, it was quite exciting and inspired that Des was capturing the event on film and interviewing more local business owners to create the culmination of the film itself!

Des Seal and assistant (and star of the film!) Chloe chatting with Paul Dazley of Starline Sales (IDEAS) Ltd

It truly was an evening for new things as we launched a new innovative way of Networking called “Instant Networking” dreamt up by Andrew Corbett of PerfectArc, the Chairman of Craven Arms Biz. It involved taking “Polaroid” type photos of every attendee, placed on a profile card and hung around the room with pegs and string! People were queuing up to have their photos taken.  This idea went down a storm as it was a very relaxed way for people to familiarise themselves with who was in the room and identify those they wanted to talk further with in a very non-intrusive way. A great alternative to the often dreaded (and sometimes repetitive!) “60 second pitch”.

We also had visitors from all over Shropshire who were keen to see what SY7 businesses had to offer. Over 20 local businesses used the opportunity to show their wares and a wide range was evident ranging from Website providers, PerfectArc, to The Land of Lost Content Museum and woodwork from Martin Alpin at Milbury Woodcraft.

Karen Thorne of Hopton House B&B checking out the spirits and liqueurs at the Ludlow Distillery table.

Edward Wood, of Wood Brewery said what he liked about the Business Fair was seeing "People that actually make real things....a better mix of businesses other than just financial consultants and accountants and estate agents."

Andy Gough of the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it trying some of the delightfully yummy cakes from Caryscakes

Andrew Corbett, Chairman of Craven Arms Biz     

shared a few words of wisdom about CA Biz as throngs of people clambered to listen!

Businesses kindly sponsoring the event were:

EPSLimited who loaned us a 50 inch plasma screen and equipment for the video show. Find out more about EPS at www.epslimited.co.uk or by calling 01588 672925.

Ludlow Distillery who provided apple juice and cider. See what they have to offer at http://www.ludlowvineyard.co.uk or by calling 01584 823356.

The Wood Brewery who bought us some beer to drink. Check the brewery out at http://www.woodbrewery.co.uk/ or call them on 01588 672523.

Andrew Corbett, chairman of the network said “I’m really pleased with such a fantastic turn out. This has shown the strength and determination of the Businesses in the SY7 area and we intend to follow this up with some great networking meetings and an interactive website to help the businesses in Craven Arms and surrounding areas to truly connect with each other.”

The Craven Arms Biz committee were out in force and full details of the committee members can be found on the “Meet your committee page”. Take a look and find out what we do and get details of how you can follow us on Twitter.

Ed Moelwyn-Williams of Whittingham Riddell, Michaela Hardwick of Beyond Expectation and Carole Clayton of The Rural Meeting Place display the "Instant Networking" cards whilst Adrew Corbett of PerfectArc shows the CA Biz promotional film. Peter Simmons of Border Contracts and Des Seal of Des Seal TV lurk in the background like naughty schoolboys!

Since the event, we’ve been hearing about a few success stories:

Martin Huszak of This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it in Edgton tells us that he has now found a new supplier for his vehicle repairs in the form of the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it on Stokewood Road, when previously he had been taking his vehicles to Market Drayton!

Indeed, the MOT clinic have secured at least 3 other clients as a result of the fair – including me! You can call them on 01588 673876.

Sarah Bowen from Young Enterprise, Shropshire tells me that she had another 4 people agree to come on board as business volunteers as a result of the Business Fair. Which shows that not only are we great business people in Craven Arms, we're willling to do our bit to give something back too.

I’ve also been hearing “rumours” of other successes whilst I’ve been out and about and it would be great if you could share these with us so we can put them on the website and in the newsletters by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or calling me on 0121 288 6002.

Here’s looking forward to the next event at the end of March – I promise we have something very exciting and useful lined up for you which we’re just finalising. I’ll let you know what it is very soon!