Maidenhead Chamber Praises Business in Berkshire
The Maidenhead and District Chamber of Commerce held their annual Christmas lunch last week at the Chicago Rock Café in Maidenhead. The event was well attended – in part thanks to Business in Berkshire publicising the event on our weekly events newsletter and also through the Maidenhead Chamber space on the site.

WIN a Christmas Hamper
Windsor Vehicle Leasing is giving away a Christmas Hamper! Just answer the question at the link below and Business in Berkshire’s Jon Davey will pick a winner out of his Santa Hat on Monday 18th December. The winner will be announced in Wednesday’s email and the hamper will be delivered by Friday 22nd, ready for Christmas Day.

Harvard Office Business Centres Join TVEP
Harvard Office Business Centres, who operate The Oriel, the new business centre at Thames Valley Court in Bath Road, Slough, has become the latest organisation to join the Thames Valley Economic Partnership (TVEP), the business network which helps maintain the area as a vibrant and dynamic economic region.

London Clamps Down on Gas Guzzling 'Chelsea Tractors'
London Mayor Ken Livingstone recently announced plans to levy a £25 a day congestion charge against environmentally-unfriendly urban off-roaders. Planned to take effect from 2009, the charge represents the latest move in Mr Livingstone’s was on the gas-guzzling vehicles, often dubbed ‘Chelsea Tractors’.

MPC Holds Interest Rates at 5%
The Bank of England's monetary policy committee has voted to keep interest rates at five per cent for the next month. Described as "a foregone conclusion" by Ray Boulger of John Charcol, the decision was widely anticipated by analysts.

Loans - Do You Really Need One?
Do you really need a loan? We all need extra money at some point in our lives. The first idea that springs to mind is taking out a loan. But before you look around for the best deals, it’s a good idea ask yourself the following two questions: 1. What is the loan for? 2. What alternatives are there available?

Manage Your Budget Over Christmas
Christmas is traditionally the time of year when we’re all prone to over-spending However if you plan your spending wisely, you could save a fortune and not be out of pocket in the New Year. This time of year also can be particularly hard for small businesses. Larger companies may be reluctant to pay out as they have extra costs; the obligatory Christmas party springs to mind. The answer to avoid late payments and unnecessary debts is planning and lots of it!

Christmas Spirit - How Strong is Yours?
According to recent research for the British Heart Foundation (BHF), Christmas Spirit seems to be much stronger in the North than in the South – at least when it comes to sending Christmas cards. The statistics, taken from a survey commissioned by the Charities Advisory Trust (‘Charity Christmas Cards: Who buys them, how many and where from?’), indicate that 13% of southerners sent no Christmas cards at all last year compared to just 7% in the North.

New Look 'On This Day'
Famous People Born On This Day
1503 Nostradamus
1895 King George VI
1960 Chris Waddle
1979 Michael Owen

Famous People Who Died On This Day
1799 George Washington
1861 Prince Albert
1947 Stanley Baldwin

First Group & B in B: Proud Sponsors of the RBWM Awards
On Wednesday 29th November the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead announced the winners of the Community and Business Excellence Awards 2006, at a glittering awards ceremony at Ascot. This year Business in Berkshire partnered with First Group to sponsor the Royal Borough Ambassador Award.

Business in Berkshire Goes Daily
Over recent months we’ve experimented with different layouts and formats, fine-tuning our newsletters to bring you exactly what you tell us you want. Now, owing to popular demand, you will shortly be able to receive a daily Business in Berkshire newsletter from us. The new user-friendly format will give you bite size chunks of news – much shorter than our weekly PR newsletter we publish every Wednesday.