A NEW networking group for business-people in the Beaconsfield area got underway last month.

The group is part of BRE, Business Referral Exchange, and BRE's regional partner Paul Tierney is hoping to set up similar groups all over Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

BRE is about making friends and picking up business. Mr Tierney said there is plenty of scope for new groups, whose members meet once a week, every week, for breakfast and to exchange ideas and information, extend contacts and generate business leads.

Most businesses get their clients through word of mouth and personal recommendations. Networking groups can make this more effective.

A group might have 20 members, but each member will have many contacts and in business breakfast networks there are potentially hundreds, or thousands, of contacts.

The Beaconsfield group meets in the Old Jordans Hotel every Thursday morning and has 11 members so far.

Membership is restricted to one representative of a particular trade or profession. The reason for this is quite clear locking out the competition.

Other groups are in about to start in Aylesbury, Berkhamsted and Oxford.

Anyone interested can call Paul on 0208 236 7136 or 0771 373 9557, or go to Business Referral Exchange on www.brenet.co.uk