Well initially it looked like it was just going to be myself and copywriter Eileen MacCallum in an extremely small networking meeting! But luckily we had lots of late arrivals so there were ten of us in the end.

Still a small meeting of course, but as tends to be the way with these smaller meetings, they turn out to be just as much fun, and just as productive as the larger events, just in a different way.

So we had what turned out to be a wonderful group exchange, with a particular focus on a couple of the business people there. One was Marcus Greve, a dynamic Dutchman who speaks six languages and has recently set up a fruit and vegetable stall in Brentford, as well as a delivery service for homes and restaurants, with a focus on quality and freshness combined with lower than supermarket prices. Marcus would like to set up a similar stall in West Hampstead so the group was looking at the viability of that (can you believe – one year is the average time it takes to get a license for a market stall?).

Also present were Lynne and Chris Carr. Chris is from the family who set up Carr Biscuits and he himself set up Merrydown Cider, but now he’s retired he works with his wife on her Life Alignment Coaching practice which sounds fabulous. Since the 2008 recession she has focused particularly on working with small business owners to help them overcome obstacles to success.

Regular member Katharine Locke of The Herbal Human had brought along her new business cards – great little mini fold out cards which I’m tempted to pinch as an idea as they doubled up as flyers!

Publisher Loulou Brown, business strategist Sima Awad, and HR consultant and local councillor Gillian Russo-Gill were also present. Gillian has set up a new initiative to bring West Hampstead businesses together to take action on local business issues. They have already organised a Christmas fair for next weekend – 30 stalls on West End Green so look out for that.

Marcia MacLeod, copywriter and editor of Your Allotment magazine was the final member present. Your Allotment is a great information resource for allotment holders in North London so do check it out if you are into grow your own.

Please note that there is no West Hampstead meeting in January, so the next meeting is 6 February 2012 @ 12.30pm.

The next Muswell Hill meeting is 12 December 2012 @12.30pm and will be a combination of networking, masterminding and tables selling christmas gifts.