Rosie Beswick co-founded and co-led with Leigh Clarke, a successful business ladies network in Shropshire, called Network with Style. Rosie Consulting supported the group during its 13 years, through managing, volunteering and financial contributions. The unfunded, unpaid volunteer led group changed the face of Women’s business networking by being single sex, having no annual members fee, encouraging collaboration and sharing knowledge. This model is now being copied, something which Rosie and her co-leaders are duly proud of.
November’s Extravaganza saw over 80 ladies attending the event at The Lord Hill Hotel, Shrewsbury. The luncheon event saw a rare, special guest appearance from Shropshire raised Claire Austin, daughter of David Austin. The event raised funds for C.R.Y for Matthew.
Despite having over 850 members, it was decided in 2019, to make November’s Charity Extravaganza the last physical event for the group. The volunteer leaders both felt, as now down to 2 leaders from 4, that personal time constraints were not allowing the group to flourish as they would wish. Kelly Mansell and Kay Heald, who co-led stepped away in 2017 due to business pressures.
A matter of pride was the fact that they never paid a single speaker during the 13 years, as all invited believed in the ethos, yet we attracted a diverse range from Mr & Mrs Smith, of Poundland fame through to Adam Partridge the highly respected auctioneer and many more. Rosie said “Seeing our members grow and flourish has been an honour and a privilege. It was with heavy hearts that we stopped, but glad to see that new groups have emerged to continue our ethos from 2020 onwards”.