We all met once again at the Dockers Club near Berkeley on 9th April. I resisted the full breakfast and opted for an apple. Having had one of the ‘dockers full breakfasts’ before, I realised that I would need to lie down outside for the rest of the day after I finished it! Dylan, Val, Kelly and Dave had the DOCKERS FULL and Christine opted for beans on toast. I was quite proud of my willpower. It doesn’t happen often I assure you!

Kelly, Dylan and myself have to make the presentation to BIG (short of the Big Lottery Fund) on 7th May. We’re on at 09.00 at the Radisson, Docklands. We’ll never make it on the day so we’ve booked a hotel nearby for the night before. Our meeting in the Dockers Club was about ‘who does what’ on the day and what presentation materials we can use. These latter are restricted to one A4 sheet and we can use up to an A1 visual. The BBC will be there to film us in our agony. Anyway, we divvied up the 15 minutes we are allowed and I must write my bit ASAP and get it sent round for approval by all of us.

This could very well be one of the most important presentations I have ever made, not just for me but for the Town of Berkeley as well. A lot hinges on this presentation. About 400,000 £ hinges!

Will keep you posted……………………………………………

We met at the Sharpness Dockers Club for our meeting. Nearly all the gang was there. We were served the biggest fry up I have ever seen on a plate. Simply magnificent but not to be repeated too often. How the dockers can still work after one of those I do not know?

Dylan and Kelly were making notes straight on to laptops. Looked very professional. My shabby red & black notebook looked a very poor relation so I might just have to invest in a new one. All of us had made a good start on the Business Plan and the Capital Plan. Luckily for me I have very little to do with the latter but I have lots to do to help complete the Business Plan. But we are on track for the March submission date.

The name of the railway was decided some time ago – Berkeley Vale Railway. For the railway buffs, this is shortened to the  BVR Line. However, for outside consumption and marketing, we will be referring to the Beaver Line. We are adopting a Beaver for our railway for consumer focus and for merchandising. Beavers are industrious and clever builders and worthy of our adoption as our mascot and figurehead. Nearby Slimbridge is considering a plan to reintegrate them into their wetland centre so it is entirely appropriate. We will set about getting an illustration of one of these creatures straight away and so our marketing begins……………………………….

We were all now extremely focused on the deadlines set for our submissions to BIG LOTTERY. By March 3rd we have to submit both our Business Plan and our Capital plan. THIS IS WHAT WE WILL BE JUDGED ON FOR OUR APPLICATION TO OBTAIN £400,000 to get our steam train and Berkeley tourism drive onto the map.

We agreed that our project would be called the BERKSHIRE VALE RAILWAY at our last meeting. I’ve already bought the URL www.berkshirevalerailway.co.uk for our consumer website. This would be a key platform that would advertise not only the steam railway but also the town of Berkeley and it’s many attractions. It would also show train times, take bookings online and issue tickets.

David informed us that we were attracting lots of interest from steam train enthusiasts and they wanted to have a forum where they could find out up to date information, contribute to the debate and be a part of ‘our gang’ here in Berkeley and Sharpness. In other words, they want to join a club. We discussed the many ways we could do this and I demonstrated a web based system that could do all that we wanted – including taking their membership monies. This requires another URL especially for these people who number in their 000’s apparently!

We decided on a name and a URL for this additional site but I’ll keep it for myself for now as we’ve not bought the URL yet. Next time perhaps?

We now have our individual tasks to do to get our submissions in by the due date. Now all we have to do is get on with it!

It’s a funny old world. IQ Marketing, the company I founded in 1990 in the UK, is now owned by the 80+ management and staff in Poland. Nearly 20 years have gone by and something that was once my world has gone from me forever. It’s in a different country and owned by others. Frankly, I’ve not had much to do with it since the early years of this new century and after the first part of my sale agreement; I’ve had literally nothing to do with it. So why am I thinking of it now? Probably because the sale of my other franchise business just went through. Recognition Express Newbury is now owned by Keith Burr. I’ve done all I can to get him up and running and I wish him every success. . Wonder what I’ll do now?

15^th July 2009

A friend of mine pointed me to http://www.bbc.co.uk/villagesos/ this week and I thought I’d go for it. Not sure about the “Village Champions will live in the village for a year if successful” but I’ll think about that later. Sent my application in this morning. Have to do something with my time. I’ll speak to Karen later. She’ll think I’m barmy but it won’t be the first time she’s thought that.

25^th August 2009

Just back from holiday in Portugal and there is a letter from Meredith Chambers and Deborah Perkin. Meredith is an Executive Director and Deborah a Series Producer with the BBC. It says “Your application is very strong and Assistant Producer Mish Evans would like to interview you further. I’ve showed the letter to Karen who is now taking my previous discussions very seriously indeed! I’m sure she thought it would all go away. It hasn’t and we have to decide what we are going to do about it?

1^st September 2009

Chris TT from www.inspirationinc.co.uk has asked if I would like to help him and Emily guide their Digital Marketing Company into growth and be somewhat of a mentor to them both. Hopefully my previous experience as the founder and head of a more traditional marketing business will help me guide them into not making the mistakes that I made? We fix on my new job as Business Development Director and a start date and I sign a consultancy agreement. We move into Donnington Priory, a truly delightful building just 2 miles from home. I tell Chris about Village SOS and he says “so long as you’ve got an internet connection in your village, you’re on the firm”. What a result! Now I’ve got a job and a new hobby that might turn into another job. All this in six months. Now I wonder how I’ll fit it all in!

6^th October 2009

Filled in a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) form and I’m now at the BBC in London to get my passport and details checked and noted by someone in HR.

14^th/15^th November 2009

Well here I am in Manchester for the Village SOS Matchmaking Conference. Karen and I have had our chat and amazingly enough she’s now excited. The final 28 villages are here at the Thistle Manchester and about 30 Village Champions. Both the village representatives and we Champions have completed our choices of who we’d like to meet and Richmond Events have given us lists and a timetable to get around and meet each other over the two days. I was quite chuffed that 25 out of the 28 villages wanted to meet me but Richmond have narrowed these down in their system to less than 10.

The filming and interviews are taking place throughout the proceedings. When the furry sound thing comes within your view you know the camera is lurking nearby and you must resist looking for it or it will ruin the shot. At first your thoughts run dry when this happens but you quickly learn to ignore it.

Whew! I’m matched to Cerne Abbas in Dorset and Berkeley in Gloucester.  I now have two weeks to visit them and make my choice. They too have to choose from me or one of the others that visit them.

28^th/29^th October 2009

Karen and I stayed in the New Inn, Cerne Abbas and met Maddy & Vic Irvine. Lovely weather Saturday morning so we’ve had a good look around. It really is a village straight out of a picture postcard. The giant on the hill really is a giant. In more ways than one! Maddy and Vic are lovely and great fun and we ran though the Mill project.

4^th/5^th November 2009

Here we are in Berkeley and staying at the lovely Berkeley Arms Hotel. Kelly Gibson, an American from Texas and who now lives locally is our guide. He is extremely knowledgeable about the area and the project and his enthusiasm is infectious. We visited every place that formed anything to do with this exciting steam train project. They are very far down the line (excuse the pun) with their planning and even have an OK from Network rail for the link up with the main line and the maintenance of the track. Wow! I’m now really exited. The steam train will bring tourists into Berkeley to visit Berkeley Castle, The Jenner Museum and visit the many shops and attractions of the village itself.

On Sunday I met the Mayor of Berkeley and for the second time (first was in Manchester) I met David Heathcote, the architect of the entire venture. These guys and gals really do have a strong team with a mighty plan. They are only lacking the marketing expertise to communicate all this to an audience that does not know they exist yet. Think I might be just the partner they need?

9^th December 2009

Received an email from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) to confirm I am now wedded to Berkeley for the remainder of the project. And they to me of course. Everyone is going to London on Saturday 12^th and meeting up again. Some of the villages are not linked to Champions yet and it must be kind of nerve wracking. Maddy from Cerne is still looking for a Champion and there is a pang of guilt on my part for not being there for her and Vic.

12^th December 2009

Here we are in a London Conference Centre near Great Portland Tube Station. It’s great to see everyone again and to hear who is linked to whom? Robert Ashton and I became friends in Manchester and it’s good to hear he’s matched to his first choice village called Hilgay in Norfolk. We chew the fat for a while and I see Maddy talking to Anthony Ayre. He’s not matched to anyone either right now so I cross my fingers for both of them.

Our Kelly Gibson is here and I meet our finance expert for the first time. Dylan Griffiths worked for NatWest for 25 years or so and is totally unlike any banker I’ve previously met. He’s witty and great fun to be with for one thing and seems to know what he’s on about so he gets my vote straight off. I won’t hold his banking background against him from here on in!

We hear all the details of what has to happen now. Business Plans, Capital Project plans and all the legal do’s and don’ts are outlined. We learn that newts, badgers and even bats could hold up any capital building project for quite some time. And any Swampy’s who choose to camp underground presumably? We’ll be laying new track for the steam train so this is something that could trip us up too. Blimey! I better pay more attention. Dylan Griffith’s ears prick up at all this so I know he at least is tuned in and on the case. Thank goodness one of us is!

Anthony Ayre is going to Cerne this week so my guilt recedes a bit. Let’s hope they get things sorted between them.

Our final detailed and costed plan needs to be in to BIG by 3^rd March. There will be filming and interviews in Berkeley late January but basically it is now down to us. The Proactive Vision Project (that is the official name) now seems very real and I desperately want us to be one of the final six. I’ve got the hunger for this now and looking forward to getting stuck in. Our first full team meeting is in Berkeley on Thursday 17^th in the morning and no doubt we’ll each have our part to play after that?