Saffron Walden Town Football Club played host to its first evening of business networking at the Catons Lane clubhouse on Monday night.

Organised by CornerstoneBNI, a networking group in Saffron Walden, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), sole traders and some of the club’s sponsors came together to generate conversations, new contacts and new business.

The evening, attended by more than 45 business people and representatives from both Saffron Walden Town Council and Uttlesford District Council, was aimed at building interest in the networking group BNI, an organisation with over 13,000 members in the UK alone.

Last year, the Saffron Walden group generated more than £310,000 in business passed between its members.

Chris Gooch from iDentity Creative, who is a member of CornerstoneBNI, also helped with the re-vamp of the football club’s logo, now being worn by all players from four years old, right up to the first team.

The group has recently moved the weekly meeting to SWTFC signaling their support of the newly formed Community Benefit Scheme, which runs the club.

Vice-chairman of the club, Martin Johnson said: “We really appreciate the CornerstoneBNI using our refurbished facilities to host their weekly networking group. We are a community club and working in conjunction with them we hope to establish the club firmly within the business community and become a focus for other such events.

“With potentially over 15,000 people visiting the club every season it’s a great place to gain exposure for local SMEs, sole traders and Big Business.”

The BNI group meets at 6.30am every Wednesday at Catons Lane. To join, call membership co-ordinator Steve Cass on 07964 180091.