Perthshire Business Women

ASB Awards reminder

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:42:38 +0000

The ASB awards are coming soon, if you would like full details you can get more information on this post…….. ASB Awards 2012

Meeting review – April 2012

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:40:07 +0000

APRIL REVIEW

The weather outside may not have been wonderful on 25 April but the Vespa Lounge in McEwen’s Food Hall brought a touch of Italian sunshine into our lives with their food, wines and hospitality.

A truly relaxing venue with hugely comfy sofas and chairs in which to find an exciting and superb range of Scottish and continental foods, meats, wines, oils and chocolates. If you need any information or advice, just ask the staff who are so knowledgeable and passionate about the products on offer.

Chef Andreas Fehrle was also on hand to demonstrate his culinary skills by cooking supper for us whilst answering our questions. How easy it all looked and the meal tasted delicious.

Our thanks to Georgina Bullough from McEwens, Andreas and all his staff for being our hosts and to McEwens and The Highland Chocolatier for the “goodies”.

PBN was also delighted to welcome as their guest, Alison Elphinstone, Chair of PUSH which has been PBN’s nominated charity for 2011 – 2012. Throughout the year PBN has been raising funds for PUSH which works for inclusion for people with learning disabilities and Simone Bett, PBN Chair, presented Alison with a cheque for £1,291.

ASB 2012 Awards

admin — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:24:02 +0000

ASB 2012 AWARDS

It’s “Awards” time again! The ASB Awards for 2012 are now open for applications. Each year, the ASB recognises women in business who have made a difference - to their business, their employer and their community. It’s a great opportunity to raise your profile, review your business and present it to others.

As many of you will already know, these awards are intended to support the members of our local clubs and women in the business and professional worlds.

There are many businesses in our individual clubs who are worthy of being recognised at national level so nominations are welcome from women, not only those running their own businesses, but employees and those working with charities & social enterprises too.

The Awards’ categories are:

ASB Outstanding Contribution to Business Award

ASB Young Business of the Year Award

ASB Best Business-Charity Partnership Award

ASB Employee of the Year Award

ASB Most Enterprising Business Award – you enter by applying to your own club initially so we would encourage PBN members to consider entering for this award. We shall advise members shortly of the date by which entries should be received along with details of the assessment process as arranged by the PBN Committee. Your Committee will review the entries and select one as their winner who will then be PBN’s finalist for the regional judging stage. The ASB will then select the overall winner from all regional finalists. To download the entry form for this award click here.

The schedule for this year’s Awards is:

Applications due: Monday, 25 June, 2012 (excluding ASB Most Enterprising Business Award, see previous paragraph)

Finalists notified (where required): 9 July 2012.

Interviews (where appropriate): late July – early August 2012. Interviews are held for the Most Enterprising Business, Outstanding Contribution to Business and Young Business of the Year.

Awards Conference & Dinner: Friday 14 September 2012, Edinburgh, venue to be announced.

Several of the awards are open to both members and non-members of ASB clubs. Where this is the case, for non-members there is an application fee of £25.

Guidelines, deadlines and Application Forms for each of the above Awards are online at http://www.asb-scotland.org/awards-2012.cfm

The ASB likes to support each region as much as possible by moving the events round Scotland and in recent years has been in Aviemore, Aberdeen and before that Perth and Glasgow. This year we are heading back to Edinburgh for the ASB Conference and Awards on Friday, 14 September so put the date in your diary now.

Meeting Review – 29th February 2012

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:16:19 +0000

Sandra Ralston, Administrator at Perth Festival of the Arts was the guest speaker at PBN’s networking lunch held in Opus One, Perth.
The Festival is now in its 41st year and during that time has moved from its classical and opera roots to embrace all forms of the arts, bringing world-renowned stars to Perth. The “behind the scenes” insight was as interesting as the history of the event itself and definitely eye-opening. I think we’ve all heard of “riders” but didn’t quite appreciate the extent of some of them — even, at times, including those for the accompanying dog!
Sandra’s work preparing for the Festival is on-going throughout the year and she’s just about to see the culmination of all this when this year’s Festival opens on 17 May and runs through until 27 May. Tickets will go on sale from 26 March. To view the programme of events, log on to www.perthfestivalofthearts.co.uk.
Congratulations to Donna Holden from HSBC who was the winner of the raffle and won a £70 voucher for Crieff Hydro Hotel. The raffle raised £90 for our charity PUSH.

Meeting Review – 25th January 2012

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:32:25 +0000

AN AUDIENCE WITH CHARLIE TAYLOR
The first meeting of the New Year saw a wonderful turnout of members and guests at a new venue for PBN, the Mercure Hotel in Perth. Our thanks to Mercure Hotel, Perth for sponsoring our January meeting which helped to raise a further £200 for our charity PUSH.
Charlie has been a loyal member and supporter of PBN since its early days and with a number of new members and guests since she last spoke at one of our meetings, this was a marvellous opportunity for them to hear first-hand from a successful entrepreneur and businesswoman and also to ask any questions.
From starting in the hairdressing industry at 15 years old, working in London for three – four years for Trevor Sorbie, returning to Perth and setting up her business which now employs around 65 staff in her four salons, Charlie’s hairdressing career has taken her all over the world working with global brands such as Wella and currently with Schwarzkopf. She now acts as a judge on international Hairdresser of the Year competitions and was the hair stylist for the UK’s entry Blue, and Republic of Ireland’s, Jedward, in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.
Sound business advice on how she has dealt with previous and the current recession, the introduction of new ideas to the business and important and essential elements, such as training and quality of customer service were all covered. Charlie’s family comes first but she shows that a business can be started and developed into a successful brand while combining it with a family life.
Leah Gourley was lucky enough to be chosen from the audience for a make-up and styling session during the evening with Amanda and Anya from Charlie’s salon.
Charlie also touched on the use of social media in business. She uses Twitter more than Facebook for her business and helped spread the word about PBN by posting tweets during the evening which brought about a number of responses from new followers – so why not join them! Tweet to @PBNperth.

Upcoming Meeting – 30th November 2011

admin — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 21:18:33 +0000

LADIES SPARKLING EVENING

With Alex Cairncross at Methven Castle

Wednesday, 30 November 2011, 6.30pm – 7.45pm

Alex is hosting a Ladies’ Sparkling Evening at Methven Castle providing PBN with the opportunity to view a new range of diamond jewellery for Christmas as well as her range of silver gifts, jewellery and pearls. She has teamed up with McEwens of Perth, The Highland Chocolatier and Whisper Lingerie to give us all we need for a Christmas to remember! Open to her clients, business associates and friends, ladies can browse her range, do some Christmas shopping and create a “wish list” for partners who attend the following evening. We will enjoy a glass of bubbly while we shop before going on for supper at Chatni in Methven where a two course Indian buffet will be served at 8pm.

Please also invite your partners to join Alex on Thursday, 1 December for her Gent’s Shopping Evening between 5.30pm and 8pm. With your wish list in hand, a glass of Santa’s Swallie from Inveralmond Brewery in the other, friendly company and a lingerie model providing the eye candy, Christmas shopping will never have been easier!

Methven Castle is located between Almondbank and Methven on the Crieff Road, approximately 3 miles from Dobbies and just before the double bends. White painted stones mark the entrance on the right-hand side. Parking is available but limited so PBN members are encouraged to travel together if possible.

Alex Cairncross, Silver Gifts

Tel: 01738 842844; Email: alex@alexcairncross.co.uk

www.alexcairncross.co.uk

www.truthcharmjewellery.com

www.man-silver.com

Meeting Review – 25th October 2011

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:10:24 +0000

OCTOBER NETWORKING LUNCH

The Mustard Seed Café, a new venue for PBN, was the location for our October meeting where a light informal lunch was enjoyed. We welcomed a number of new faces too, including members from Women Ahead and Fife Women in Business, which along with PBN, are businesswomen’s networking organisations affiliated to the ASB. The “Take the Floor” spots provided us with an insight and update into how businesses can change and develop as and when opportunities come along.

Meeting Review – Sept 28th 2011

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:36:35 +0000

SIX STEPS TO GREAT MARKETING AND GREAT SEX: A HUMOROUS LOOK AT EFFECTIVE MARKETING

The topic of Six Steps To Great Marketing And Great Sex presented by Ruth McKay at PBN’s September meeting certainly had us wondering on the connection and how the two were related but having heard Ruth’s presentation, it now makes complete sense!
Members and a number of guests enjoyed an informative presentation with lots of humour from Ruth of UNIQ, The Academy for Entrepreneurs. Study notes from the meeting are being provided by Ruth to all those who attended and will be sent to you shortly.
Our thanks also to Sheila Hogan, ASB Vice-President, who gave an update on The Association of Scottish Businesswomen and its activities which will be covered in next month’s newsletter.

Weight Loss Challenge

admin — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 14:24:58 +0000

The first Weight Loss Challenge supported by PBN will start on Wednesday, 7th September. This has been put in place to raise funds for PBN’s nominated charity this year, PUSH, and all participation fees and individual sponsorship (less nominal overheads) will be donated to the charity. Members of PBN and PUSH staff and volunteers along with friends, family and colleagues will be welcome (males too). To find out more and register please contact Anne on 07866 475502, annebunting@hotmail.com or info@perthshirebusinesswomen.co.uk. The class will be limited to a maximum of 20 places so book early to guarantee your place.

May 2011 – Monthly Meeting Review

admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:47:52 +0000

PBN has visited all of the local distilleries over the years but this was the first ever tour of a brewery where we were welcomed by Fergus Clark, Managing Director, who showed us around the Perth based Inveralmond Brewery and let us hear how their range of beers with such iconic names as “Ossian” and “Thrappledouser” are brewed.

Tasting was an essential part of the evening so we started off with different flavours of malted barley and of course ended the process with the beers themselves served by Mine Host Fergus. Favourites on the night were “Sunburst”, a Pilsner-style lager with “Lia Fail”, a dark, robust, full bodied beer with a deep malty taste, smooth texture and hoppy aroma, in second place. As we all had our “carry-out” orders too, those left at home were not forgotten!
Our thanks to Fergus for being such a wonderful host and to Sandra Kinloch for providing a superb buffet. Apologies, also, to Fergus for the impressive number of empty glasses left behind but that just goes to show how good Inveralmond’s beers and lager really are!