Last week, Mike Wright and I travelled to Birmingham for The 500 Club – the first event after a short summer break.

Pleasantly surprised to be greeted by sunshine, having not seen much of it during that ‘summer’ break, we enjoyed an afternoon of client meetings before heading to Vagabond on Colmore Row. It was great to have the chance to catch up with our co-hosts, Roger Dugan of Asertis and Tony Sweeney of CAPA, before the event started. Despite seeing each other many times during the year, we are usually too busy chatting to our guests to have time for any meaningful conversations between the hosts.

With all of us arriving early, we were able to start discussing plans for 2025’s schedule, as well as the next few events coming up this year. The early arrival also gave us the opportunity to get to grips with the self-pour draught beer machines. Unfortunately, that was something we never completely mastered – even by the end of the evening! I’m pleased to say that the staff at Vagabond had both the skill and patience needed to make sure that wasn’t an issue. And we did make an effort to direct people to the much easier self-pour bottles of wine as the event got busier.

We had a fantastic turnout in Birmingham, with plenty of 500 Club ‘regulars’ in attendance, as well as many new faces. Alongside our usual combination of litigators, insolvency practitioners and insolvency lawyers, it was really nice to welcome a few solicitors specialising in other areas of law, including family and real estate. A good mix of people – familiar and new, from different professions, sectors and specialisms – is exactly what we aim for to create an engaging and useful event for everyone involved.

Birmingham provided us with a very enjoyable evening to kickstart the second half of The 500 Club’s year of events. We are looking forward to being back for the last event of 2024 on Thursday 28^th November. Please do get in touch if you would like to join us then. In the meantime, Mike and I will both be in Birmingham next week, on Tuesday 24^th and Thursday 26^th, respectively. If you would like to meet for a coffee, let me or Mike know.

This was the first of 3 events on consecutive Thursdays. Tomorrow, The 500 Club lands in Scotland for our first ever Edinburgh event. Malcolm Jones will be hosting for ESA Risk. On the 26^th, we are back round to London for the first of 2 events there before the end of the year.

Our aim at these events is to bring together likeminded professionals from the insolvency, finance, legal, and related fields to network and connect in an informal setting.

The 500 Club regularly takes place across the UK, in cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and Liverpool. Check the full 2024 calendar and learn more about The 500 Club.

Join The 500 Club community online and stay informed about event updates throughout the year on our LinkedIn page.

Email events@the500club.co.uk to get your name on the invite list.