Maybe the friendliest event of its type I’ve attended in many years, the 10th VCT & EIS Investor Forum at the Leonardo Royal Hotel, Tower Bridge, brought together the movers, the shakers, the hopefuls and the mentors and shuffled them together for a varied and satisfying day.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that Daniel Rodwell, Managing Partner at GrowthInvest, had 3 paper rounds as a youngster and paid other kids to make the deliveries.
I wasn’t alone in approaching the address by Rory Stewart, Independent candidate for Mayor of London, with a healthy helping of cynicism and ending up being surprised and impressed.
There were debates, presentations, keynote speeches and The Advisor School; there was The Discovery Shop featuring innovative food and drink brands, there was the P2P Lending Zone, and there was a roomful of intriguing exhibitors, from a low-cost, long-haul airline servicing South Asia’s second cities to a charity facilitating income-generating home enterprises in some of the world’s poorest areas.
And then there was Blowers.
Whether you’re into cricket or not, you’ll have heard the legendary commentator’s avuncular ramblings across your TV and radio stations for many years.
It was Henry Blofeld himself who wrapped up the proceedings with 20 minutes of reminiscences, many of which weren’t new to those of us who always have time to listen to anything My Dear Old Thing says, but to hear him deliver them in person was a rare treat.
Leaning on a stick as a result of falling down 21 concrete steps at Sheffield University the previous weekend, he brought the house down as usual.
But afterwards, as he waited for his cab in reception, I was able to tell him an anecdote about himself that he’d never heard before.
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