Dorset Grill Club. The networking event for business and pleasure that informs, entertains and stretches the mind!
Weymouth resident David Selves has been running the London Grill Club, www.thelondongrillclub.co.uk since conceiving it in 2009 so the formula is tried, tested and successful. It’s a simple format, the audience enjoy a mixed grill for lunch, or vegetarian alternative, and the guest then answers questions from the audience with David challenging them on the answers. The audience submit their questions in advance to create a flow of topics and ask them directly from the floor themselves.
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David Sidwick - 21st February 2024
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Your Say - 7th May 2024
The Dorset Grill Club, sponsored by www.imabi.co, held its first YOUR SAY on the 7th of May in the Royal Dorset Yacht Club, which it has now adopted as its home. After an excellent mixed grill from Brown Goose, David Selves posed some of the issues which people had raised in the bar before lunch. Starting, following the MOD’s announcement that morning that its payroll records had been hacked, and China was believed to be behind it, with asking if we are complacent about our use of IT, can we trust it? Is the IT threat greater than the old fashioned military threat? Views varied and we all learned much about the dark web and how apparently insignificant pieces of information come together in alarming fashion with potential threat to us all. The conversation morph naturally into the concern raised by many before lunch, Chinese influence. The overwhelming view was our involvement with China needed to be limited to the extent than even a modern tractor contained parts from China that could be spying on us! There was a heartfelt discussion on the BBC and the way it operates. Much of the blame for its current situation was laid at the door of the former Director General John Birt, particularly by those who had worked at the BBC. Concern was expressed at the handling of news and current affairs, but praise was heaped on the other aspects of the BBC including it's drama programmes and things like David Attenborough’s programmes. The most contentious issue raised before lunch was immigration and so it proved in discussion. One member felt that Islam was taking over the UK and was concerned how we should deal with it. Whilst others were less strident and some disagreed, reference was made to a question posed to the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner, David Sidwick, at our last meeting, concerning crime resulting from the Bibby Stockholm and that those fears had proved largely unfounded. The mood lightened when talking about the disparity of ULEZ charges, particularly between Bath and Bristol, but the consensus was whilst cleaner air was essential, that it was largely a tax raising exercise because more and more cars had lower emissions and we're therefore not charged a ULEZ fee and given the move towards hybrid and electric cars, reducing the excise duty from petrol and diesel, it was accepted that at some point a new tax would be needed to replace the loss of current revenue. The final issue concerned the Weymouth Harbour Master charging 20% VAT on electricity supplied to leisure boats, whereas the private Marina was only charging 5% and the new buildings on the Peninsula for the fisherman. Not many had seen the buildings, but although David declared an interest in the development of the Peninsula, those that had seen them thought they were unsightly and not a good advert for Weymouth. Mention was made of drone footage being on Facebook taken from the Nothe and that back in the day when Howard Holdings were promoting their proposals for the Peninsula, two areas of general concern were the visual impact from the Nothe and the clocktower. |
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Nick & Grace Capaldi - 24th July 2024
The Dorset Grill Club's last guest before the summer break was Dorchester musician Nick Capaldi and his wife Grace. It was a lively talk with many questions from the audience. Nick talked about where the inspiration for the songs come from and Grace spoke about their dream and realisation of building a fully accessible music studio in their garden. Watch the video here: vimeo.com/989692829 |
