Category: Business News

A CAMPAIGN to keep young people safe on the roads in the Thames Valley will receive a cash boost from Waitrose today (26/09).
The supermarket decided to donate

THURSDAY, October 4, sees the Thame launch of the latest branch of the Athena women only business networking group. Based at Magnolia Park Golf & Country Club, Arncott Road, Boarstall, Bucks, HP18 9XX, tel: 01844 239700, www.magnoliapark.co.uk, from 12 ? 2pm, the Thame Athena launch is the 14th group to launch in the Chilterns and Thames Valley with successful groups already running in Aylesbury, Wendover, High Wycombe, Marlow, Oxford, Amersham, Chesham, Henley on Thames and Beaconsfield.

Regional Director of The Athena Network West Chilterns group Sylvia Baldock says, ?We are in the middle of a networking explosion in the Chilterns and the Thames Valley as more and more women realise that this is by far the most powerful, effective and exciting way to grow their businesses.?

Sylvia continues, ?I have been so impressed by the way that business women in this area have grasped the opportunity to develop their skills and form great business relationships and alliances, which often lead to firm friendships as well. I?m delighted to be able to start a group in Thame and we have a number of membership places already booked.?

A typical group will have members from large corporates, SMEs and sole traders. Ladies should be able to find all the skills they need within each group to help them establish and develop their businesses.

The Athena Network operates a ?one discipline only? policy so once a profession is represented at a local group, all competition is effectively locked out and all business from the group is referred to that one individual. A group normally has 25 members, from 25 ? 60 years on average, and members are able to visit other groups if their profession isn?t already represented.
?For the Thame launch in October we already have a number of business women signed up including an accountant, an interior designer and a business coach. Places are going quickly so Thame business women who want to secure their professional representation should book their places by emailing sylvia@theathenanetwork.com or calling 07909 914815? explains Sylvia.

The Thame Athena group will meet at the same venue once a month on the first Thursday of the month. Sylvia remarks, ?My theory is that women love to go out and meet people but are often put off by the venues. I deliberately chose the Magnolia Park Golf & Country Club for the Thame launch to show how confident we are about the success of this group. From my experience with my other groups, the venue really does make a big difference to the member?s confidence and enjoyment levels.?

Local Amersham business woman Diane Moughton who runs Clutterbugs says ?Since I started networking with Athena, I have been amazed by how much more confident I am and how many people I have met as suppliers and as friends.? Kate Saunders of Stoke Mandeville who runs By Kate communications design agency agrees, ?Joining Athena has really helped me not only to build my customer base but also to deal with the ups and downs of running a small business. There?s always someone who has gone through the same thing and who is willing to help you.?

Athena was founded to provide women who felt uncomfortable with the more traditional male oriented networking groups with the opportunity to meet women from a wide range of industry sectors. Athena regularly runs training courses and workshops to develop member?s business skills. In addition there is an informal network of Cappuccino Connections run throughout the area for ladies who want to see what all the excitement is all about: check out www.theathenanetwork.com for a full list of dates and locations. Five more groups are already planned for the area in Gerrards Cross, Abingdon, Ascot, Twyford and Stoke Poges.

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SPECIAL CONFERENCE FOR BUSINESSES – Oct 31, 2007.
What will climate change mean for local businesses? Have you considered what the climate will be like in five or ten years? time?
What will it feel and look like?
What will it be like to work in a hotter climate with unpredictable extreme weather? Will climate change have a negative financial impact on local business? What are the opportunities and emerging markets?
So many questions!
The programme will include case studies on local businesses who have seized the climate change
opportunity.

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX is the venue.
How to book It is FREE! Please register by October 19th so we know how many to expect. Please email:jo.hamilton@ouce.ox.ac.uk / phone 01865 275 856
Full information about the confer-ence, plus links and further infor-mation about climate change and
businesses in Oxfordshire, is available
online at:
www.climatex.org/business-climates.
Organised by: Didcot Chamber of Commerce.
in association with: Oxford University?s ClimateXChange, Oxford Town Chambers Network,
Rutherford Appleton Labs, Business Link.

There has been a lot of focus on domestic energy saving, waste reduction and recycling recently,
but where do businesses fit into all of this? The aim of this event is to raise awareness of the impacts and
opportunities of climate change to local businesses and SMEs in Oxfordshire.
Through this half day event we will be looking at the local business issues surrounding climate change. There will be time for discussion and networking.

A THAME furniture importer has been fined over

A THAME company that tests the computer network security of companies such as BAA, Orange and Sage, has been taken over by Manchester based IT security firm, NCC Group for

GRANTS of up to

A WEDDING invitation is the perfect way to set the mood and style of your day as it?s the first thing your guests see.

Many couples are now choosing to make their own wedding stationery to add that personal touch to their special day. However for some people who have no experience in paper crafts this can be a bit of a challenge!

Oxfordshire based wedding coordinator Vickie Cook of Weddings By Vickie Ltd faced this challenge with one of her clients who is getting married this year. Laura wanted to create some very special stationery which coordinated with her pink colour scheme but didn?t know where to start.

Vickie partnered with scrapbooking centre A Maze of Memories Ltd and together planned a way of helping couples to create their own designs with all the equipment and expertise on hand when they need it.

Christina and co-owner Jan at A Maze of Memories Ltd created some sample ideas for invitations based on Laura?s colour scheme and then spent some time working with Laura to create the perfect design. Laura then arranged two evenings for some of her family and friends to join her at the centre for a ?stationery workshop? where they made 120 invitations and 240 RSVP and reply cards!

The finished results were fantastic and Laura said ?I really enjoyed the workshops with my friends and family at ?A Maze of Memories?. We took over a few bottles of wine and really enjoyed ourselves! I have now sent all of my invites out and have had so many comments on how lovely and original they are! Not only that ? the final cost of making the invites was a lot lower than buying invites from a shop! I even took my fianc

WHAT a wonderful group of retailers and traders we have in Thame! They were asked to look at ways of reducing the number of plastic bags they use and Thame First, who initiated the campaign, have been overwhelmed by the response.
Many of them have been on to their suppliers to look at alternatives to plastic and in many cases have found them. Already Terry Guest of Petcare is sourcing biodegradable plastic to replace the packaging he currently uses for his pet foods, as well as introducing biodegradable black bin bags for sale to the public, and for use in his shops.

Thame First, formerly Thame Chamber of Commerce, have recently distributed 1000 jute bags through Thame?s retailers and on Thame market to encourage customers to bring their own bags rather than take a plastic one each time. The result is, that it is not only the retailers and traders, but also the shoppers in Thame who have started to say ?No? to plastic bags.

Said shopper, Diane Nials said: ?I didn?t realise that the plastic bag I had in my hand would still be around when my great great children were growing up. Nor that plastic kills so many animals and sea life?.

Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland, France, Switzerland and a number of states in the USA are among the many countries and states which are banning or actively discouraging plastic bags.

Some of the shops in Thame selling jute bags include:
Arts Desire, Bromley Hall, Caaos, Change Hair Design, Charlottes Webb, Clays, Domesco, Elegance, Hebe, Mi Casa, The Book House, Petcare, Riccochet, Sapphire Moon, Thame Trading, The Practice, The Town Hall One Stop Shop, Tickets Anywhere and Togs.

Photo: Claire from Saphire Moon, with David Gould, of the Canby Bag Company, at Thame Market.

AS the Thame business community works towards replacing plastic carrier bags with ‘greener’ alternatives, one business in the town is currenlty helping to test what could become a revolutinary, eco-friendly form of packaging.
Systec Instruments, based in Wenman Road, Thame, are working with the Swedish company, Xylophane AB, who are developing a new film, called Xylophane, made from renewable by-products of corn, straw and wood processing. Packaging made from this new film could be used in the same way as cling film and aluminium to protect food and act as a barrier from grease and smells, but would have the added advantage of being completely biodegradable.
The Thame company is using its oxygen permeation analyer to produce data to enable the new material to be compared to other films used in food packaging.