News

David Meredith of Busbys Chartered Accountants provides some insight into the tax proposals for businesses and individuals planned by the main parties, as they vie for your vote at the forthcoming general election.

Wealden women are on the up! This year WBG has seen an intake of three sassy new members, all of whom are successful business women in a range of widely differing industries. First social media specialist Bekka Carter, founder of Writeable Dreams, joined WBG early in the year. With her youth, eclectic enthusiasm and SM expertise, Bekka has pushed the group ...

If, like me, you don’t know your GIFs from your SEOs, or get confused between VLOGs and IG LIVEs, this morning’s Social Media Workshop at Wealden Business Group would have been right up your alley. Our youngest member, Bekka Carter, is an absolute wizz-kid at SM. What she doesn’t know about MEMEs and DMs would hardly ...

I approached the WBG away-day to Lydd Go Karting with a degree of trepidation. It was Friday afternoon. The end of the working week. The petrol-heads among us would be looking to let off steam. Would anyone get hurt? Even worse, would anybody break their shift-knob or – much more worrying – would anyone’s crank put a ...

Was I nervous! Just three months into my chairmanship and we were hosting our first major event to raise funds for our chosen charity, Tenterden Memory Cafe. Would the weather be kind? It might be Summer Solstice, but the recent storms did not bode well. Would we attract enough of a crowd? Would we raise a decent ...

Monica was invited to join Paul Andrews & Sarah-Anne Lucas on the Business Bunker radio show on Tuesday 18th June. You can listen again using the player below – we think she sounded great! More information about the show on this link: http://www.kentbusinessradio.co.uk/show-432 Monica Janssens

For some time now, WBG has been working on a project designed to help young businesses grow and flourish, so today I’m delighted to announce the launch of WBG Springboard. Young businesses face countless challenges; they have to get to grips with endless amounts of admin and regulations coming at them from all directions, while at the same time endeavouring to build ...

Former Chairman Graham Card presents the cheque to Martin Colvin The Pestalozzi International Foundation is a 60-year-old charity which offers scholarship opportunities for gifted students from disadvantaged communities across the globe. The students are supported throughout their A Level studies, and then during university. Armed with the expertise and knowledge this experience bestows on them, they ...

Monica Janssens Monica Janssens of Bespoke Private Tuition has been elected chair of Tenterden-based Wealden Business Group. The Group is a networking organisation for owner/managers of small and medium enterprises, meeting each week at The Little Silver Country Hotel, Tenterden for business referrals over breakfast, with regular guests speaking on business topics, external visits, and social occasions to raise funds for charity. Ms Janssens ...

Stuart Wilkinson More than 60 members and guests today (Wednesday, 17 October) attended the most successful-ever Wealden Business Group Open Day at the Little Silver Country Hotel, Tenterden. The record attendance heard a keynote presentation by Stuart Wilkinson, a successful business entrepreneur who has used his  motivational and performance psychology skills to inspire business owner-managers, as well as setting up ...

Businesses across the Weald of Kent are being given a unique opportunity to hear Stuart Wilkinson, a man who has transferred his nationally recognised talents in sport to the business arena, explain how motivation and purpose are crucial to commercial success. He will be the keynote speaker at the Wealden Business Group’s annual Open Day ...

Wealden Business Group members took a day off from their businesses to visit the Charles Palmer vineyards and winery at Winchelsea. It was the latest in a series of ‘awaydays’ for members of the Tenterden-based business group, part of a programme of activities which includes weekly breakfast networking meetings and charity fundraising. Thirteen members were given a ...

Holly’s Funerals of Cranbrook has won the first Business Edge competition, staged by Wealden Business Group. The Business Edge scheme was designed to help start-up businesses launched in the past three years. Holly’s Funerals wins a year’s membership of the Group, and free one-to-one sessions with its business advisers, including specialists in marketing, finance, law and IT. In ...

The Wealden Business Group Black Tie dinner and charity auction held at The Little Silver Country Hotel, Tenterden on Saturday (17 March) raised more than £4,000. The event, which included a fizz reception, auction of promises and disco was in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The dinner marked the culmination of two years of fundraising ...

The Wealden Business Group are holding a Black Tie dinner and charity auction on Saturday, 17 March at The Little Silver Country Hotel, Tenterden. The event, which will also include a fizz reception, disco and tombola, is in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Wealden Business Group have already raised more than £6,000 for MNDA through ...

Wealden Business Group launches competition to supercharge new business growth Wealden Business Group, the successful professional networking organisation for small and medium sized companies, is launching The Business Edge, an initiative aimed at supercharging the growth of a new or recently-established business. Says Martin Tickner, chairman of the Tenterden-based group: “As owner-managers of small and medium sized ...

Simon Hammond is a big believer in the power of networking. He is a member of a number of networking groups in Kent and London – but says that Wealden Business Group is the best for generating sales leads. “Not just from the members themselves”, he says “but also referrals to their business contacts and clients. ...

Perry Barton has been a professional carpenter for more than 25 years, and has built a reputation for the quality of his work, integrity and reliability. But Perry had his doubts about membership of Wealden Business Group when he applied to join 10 years ago. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure that WBG was for me”, he ...

“For me, the real benefit of being a member of WBG is that while I receive direct and indirect referrals for our accountancy services, I am also building and improving my network of business contacts. “This means that if one of my clients asks if I know someone who can undertake a particular job, I can ...

Report by Bill Ferguson Loyalty program in car wash, 8 stamps get 9th wash free vs 10 stamps with first two already filled in. What do you think happened? Answer at the end… Useful sections are pages 247-249 common communication problems and solutions. Reference guide on pages 285-289 that outlines the book’s contents. “Idea Clinics” illustrate how an idea ...

The Wealden Business Group, the Tenterden-based networking organisation, raised more than £3,000 on Friday (30 June) at a Murder Mystery evening in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. More than 60 guests attended the dinner, held at the Little Silver Country Hotel, as they endeavoured to solve ‘The Curse of the Willoughby Diamond’, which was ...

An evening to die for! Wealden Business Group stages murder mystery dinner for charity The Wealden Business Group is extending an open invitation to one and all to join their Murder Mystery Dinner at the Little Silver Country Hotel, Tenterden on Friday, 30th June. The event is in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the group’s ...

Wealden Business Group members enjoyed an engaging presentation by Laura and Andrew Willan today. Laura and Andrew founded the Wealden Literary Festival in 2016 and were visiting the WBG to present an enticing new programme of events for 2017. A packed programme over the weekend of 15/16 July includes some well known faces such as Nicholas Crane, ...

Tenterden-based independent financial adviser Martin Tickner, principal of Financial Choices, has been elected chair of the Wealden Business Group. The Group is a networking organisation for owner/managers of small and medium enterprises, meeting each week at The Little Silver Country Hotel, Tenterden for business referrals over breakfast, to hear regular guests speaking on business topics, as ...

We asked some of our members to tell us why they found Wealden Business Group so beneficial to their companies. “I have been a member of WBG for about 20 years, and for me, membership has not just been about receiving business referrals – although I’ve had plenty of those – but also the opportunity to ...

Your business is vulnerable to online attack. It’s a crime epidemic, and is growing dramatically. In Kent alone, £10.6 million was lost in fraud to online hackers in the first six months of this financial year, and 69% of the victims were businesses. On Wednesday, 22nd March, Wealden Business Group is staging a two hour workshop at ...

It’s not often you come away from the races with winnings of more than £2,000 – but that’s what happened on Friday! Wealden Business Group, the networking organisation for small and medium sized businesses, staged a Race Night at the Little Silver Country Hotel, Tenterden on Friday (3 February) in aid of their charity-of-the-year, the East ...

Wealden Business Group, the business networking organisation, is staging a charity Race Night at the Little Silver Country Hotel, Tenterden on Friday, 3rd February, starting at 7pm. The evening, held in aid of the East Kent group of the Motor Neurone Disease Association – the current Wealden Business Group charity of the year – is open ...

Join us for LinkedIn masterclass You’re in business. You’re great at what you do. But when it comes to social media, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and the rest might as well be a foreign language. Wealden Business Group believes that everyone in business should have the confidence to run the social media programme which best suits them and ...

Members of the Tenterden-based Wealden Business Group are divided in their opinions on post-Brexit trading conditions, with some seeing opportunity, and others difficulties. A survey of the 28-member organisation, representing businesses from law to personal finance, marketing to building services, and hospitality to office support, asked: “What impact do you think Brexit will have on your ...

It seems hardly a month passes without new updates arriving on our computers, offering new, faster and easier ways to work. Among these is Microsoft Excel which many businesses use as to store and update facts and figures. However, Microsoft Excel has had many new time-saving features and functions added, which make it considerably more efficient ...

The Wealden Business Group, the Tenterden-based networking organisation for owner/managers of small and medium sized businesses, has announced its programme for the coming 12 months. New intiatives include staging four WBG Workshops – two hour sessions for members, guests and potential new members on practical topics. Held quarterly, the first will focus on understanding and managing ...

The Wealden Business Group today (Wednesday, 13th April) presented a cheque for £6,570 to the Ashford branch of Parkinson’s UK – a record sum raised in one year for the Group’s nominated charity. Christine Endersby, vice chair of Parkinson’s UK Ashford branch, thanked WBG members at their weekly breakfast meeting at The Little Silver Hotel, Tenterden, ...

Tenterden-based lawyer and town councillor Justin Nelson, of Nelsons Commercial and Personal Law, has been elected chair of the Wealden Business Group. Justin, 60, has practised law in Tenterden for the past 32 years after gaining early legal experience in London and Brighton. Educated at Hurstpierpoint College and Brighton Hove & East Sussex Grammar School, he is ...

Part of WBG’s offering to members is the annual programme of visits to places of interest. The latest – and particularly relevant with increasing concern being expressed about the UK’s security of power supply – was to Dungeness Power Station. Members learned of the importance of Dungeness as a key component in the nation’s network of power ...

Wealden Business Group, the Tenterden-based networking group for owner/managers of local companies, held its annual charity dinner at the London Beach Hotel on Saturday (6 February), and raised almost £4,000, including a cheque for £2,660 from the owners of the hotel. Together with money raised by the group over the past 12 months, this brings to ...

The Wealden Business Group, the Tenterden-based business networking organisation, is holding its fifth annual charity dinner at the London Beach Hotel, Tenterden, on Saturday, 6 February, and is inviting local people to “join us for a great night out”. The black tie dinner is in aid of the Ashford branch of Parkinson’s UK, and the group ...

The Wealden Business Group raised almost £2,000 on Saturday (21st November) when they staged their first-ever Race Night at the Little Silver Hotel, Tenterden in aid of their nominated charity, the Ashford branch of Parkinsons UK. The evening attracted 66 members and guests, who wagered on a series of videos of horse races, bought raffle tickets, ...

Order, order! Wealden business group visits The Houses of Parliament New laws affecting businesses are announced almost daily, so 20 members and guests of the Wealden Business Group visited the Houses of Parliament, Westminster on Wednesday (11th November) to see where the legislation is framed. Sponsored by Ashford MP Damian Green, the group enjoyed a 90 minute ...

The Wealden Business Group will be on to a winner on Saturday, 21st November when they stage a Race Night at the Little Silver Hotel, Tenterden in aid of their nominated charity, the Ashford branch of Parkinsons UK. There are still a limited number of tickets available for the event, which will feature several videos of ...

Thanks to everyone who came to the Wealden Business Group Open Day. Terrific success!