THE 
second Thoroughly Thurrock, held on Monday 7th April, proved to be another successful twilight networking event with more than 75 businesses attending. Held by Essex Chambers of Commerce in partnership with Orsett Hall and Heart Radio, it’s guest speakers were Colin Rate of RatesFord and Nick Themistocleous of Ford UK. Between them they turned the event into a spectacular showcase of Ford’s finest vehicles as the RatesFord staff expertly drove and valeted five cars into the Orsett Hall Pavilion, including the newest addition to the fleet, a completely electric Ford Focus.
The audience, many from the car industry, were pleased to hear Nick speak about the Ford strategy for bringing cars to market with a record ten being introduced in the next year. He also described the challenge of manufacturing an affordable green car for today’s price conscious consumer and discussed the thorny issue of how green an electric car was with recycling considerations. Colin Rate, Chairman of RatesFord also spoke at the event and easily demonstrated why RatesFord are such a successful Ford dealership not just locally but nationally as they place innovation and customer care at the heart of their business. It perhaps then unsurprising to learn they had won the Ford Chairman’s Award for customer service for 9 consecutive years and are one of only 5 dealerships in the UK to running the Quick Lane scheme using the latest equipment and technology available.
The cars sparkled under the professional lighting provided by Lighting and Production company DPL Ltd and provided a great back drop to the networking that followed the presentations. In true Chamber of Commerce style hands were shook and business was done.
Paul Cunningham Commercial Director of Fix Auto Dagenham was very pleased with the event saying, “Orsett Hall really is a lovely place and is perfect in terms of setting and location. I thought the presentations from Nick and Colin were extremely good, as I am in the motor trade the presentations were extremely relevant and informative for my business. I genuinely thought having the vehicles there was a masterstroke, it got everyone engaging and really was an excellent icebreaker. Lastly in terms of business and meeting people it also proved a very successful event for me.”
Client Services Manager, Jonathan Key of PracticalHR commented on the event, “I thought the Thoroughly Thurrock event was truly excellent. It was very well organised and hosted and I found both Colin and Nick’s speeches fascinating. I am not surprised these events attract such high calibre professional people and look forward to the next one.”
The next Thoroughly Thurrock returns to Orsett Hall on Monday 2nd June with further information and booking details available at www.thoroughlythurrock.com
