Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Alina was then back in touch with me after her return from Russia. She joined The Home Club as Brand Ambassador for Luxury. As Alina hadn’t been able to attend my lunch with George and Villa, I asked her to meet with Henry at the Royal Exchange in the City of London, where we had tea and discussed my plans for The Home Club . Henry and Alina exchanged contact details, and I looked forward to attending her future event at Morton’s private members club in Mayfair, to be held in its basement and filled with interesting characters in various sectors from ‘jets’ to ‘properties’, and everything in between.
The event soon ensured that I was soon introduced to Elena Kheifitz, also Russian, who told me that she held a part-time faculty position at Ca' Foscari University in Venice, which focused on culture and communications, and was the founder and managing director of Allegris Events.
I arranged to meet again with Elena at Maroush in Earls Court, where I used to meet with Katarina. We discussed The Home Club and I was asked whether Elena could take a position as a Brand Ambassador. I already had the four main headings covered but decided to have a tiered system where Elena could become a ‘Brand Ambassador in waiting’ or ‘Associate’ under the heading of FF&E, due to her fine furnishings experience. I sent her a contract and hoped that she would consider it after supplying me with her biography and proof of identification.
Elena Kheifitz pictured left
It seemed that at every turn there were industry professionals looking to take senior positions with The Home Club bringing their contacts with them for consideration with respect to registration, either joining as an individual Member or as an Affiliate brand.
Next to meet with me was Ria Ntelianidou, who at that same time was working for a Russian interior professional. I initially met with Ria at The Orange Tree pub in Richmond upon Thames, where we discussed the same ‘Associate’ opportunities in the Property Professionals category. It wasn’t long before Ria delivered her references and joined The Home Club.
I soon received a message to contact Ria, as she wanted to meet me for dinner and drinks in Old York Road in Wandsworth (pictured left). Ria was a fun character: Greek in origin and with the olive skin and long dark hair to match. She was up for anything and I often felt this was her opportunity to take time out from her home life looking after her husband, who worked in a shop making signs, and bringing up their son.
I liked Ria and had a lot of time for her. In an additional attempt to spend time around an exciting period in the development of The Home Club Ria asked me if I would play tennis with her.
In my quest for new techies, I was pleased to meet up with Anthony Godley, who lived in Nottingham after a period in London and who claimed to be a platform and website expert.
I listened to all the talk and promises of delivery from Anthony and was at first sight impressed with him and his company, Synergy Media.
We concluded the meeting with the promise of conducting further communication via emails and to recover the domains from Echo, so that he could at least put up a basic website for both myself and The Home Club .
At this time, I received a call from Mei Sim inviting me to attend an event of hers at the London Capital Club (which later became the Gresham Club). The occasion was to hear an interview with Lieutenant General David Leakey, who was then ‘Black Rod’ at the Houses of Parliament - Westminster.
I thought to invite Az to this event, as he was interested in The Home Club and my wider connections. We enjoyed drinks whilst David spoke candidly about his life and family, the military and some of his funny and as you can see, some embarassing stories.
After which, I invited him, Mei Sim and a handful of approximately six guests to dinner, one of which was Miss Wenny Geng, who was client relations for the South Asia Division at London Capital Asset Management.
We all had a great dinner and decided to take the party upstairs, where David joined Az and I at the bar for some fine Remy Martin Louis XIII Cognac, whilst Mei Sim, Wenny and the other guests sat at a round table in the corner of the bar area, with some other members of the Club.
Pictured Left to Right, Darren Bolger, David Leakey (then as Black Rod), Mei Sim Lai, Unkown, Unknown, Wenny Geng, Simon Harris, Az Hakeem.
After a short while, Mei Sim invited us to join them. This is the moment I first met with Lord Michael Buckmaster-Brown. The introduction made by Lord Buckmaster-Brown was odd in that in order to verify himself and amuse his guests, he asked around the table for a five-pound note. He would turn the note around to the side that had a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill and say, ‘Notice any resemblance?’ before adding, ‘I am a direct relation of Sir Winston Churchill and I have an esteemed military career as an officer’.
He went on to say, ‘I’m also from a family of aristocrats and high-ranking military officers. I’m a graduate of Sandhurst and went into business following a successful career with the Army and government services, working closely with the United Nations and NATO.’
Lord Buckmaster-Brown then went on to list a number of his other positions including Group CEO of Emblem Group, a specialist newspaper and magazine distribution group, president of various building corporations across different specialities (including hotels and racecourses) and his involvement in GRC Dazzeon, a world leading nanotechnology company. This was all very impressive: surely any relation of Sir Winston Churchill, a Lord in the peerage and business leader was an interesting person to know.
Michael, as he wanted to be known, also mentioned that he carried out all the global security services and protection logistics for the Saudi and Chinese Royal Families, and other high net-worth individuals, from his company based in Dubai, namely: Emerald Solutions. He also carried out all the logistics for City AM, as he was a close, friend of Lawson Muncaster, the owner of this City of London daily newspaper.
Pictured Left to Right, Mei Sim Lai (unknown behind her), Darren Bolger, Simon Harris (Manager of London Capital Club), Lord Michael Buckmaster Brown, Wenny Geng.
Click on picture to hear Lord Buckmaster-Brown's party trick (with the £5 note-verification-trick)
Michael asked me what I did for a living. I explained that I owned The Home Club Ltd: a trusted community of executives, entrepreneurs and the social elite. I told him I had some interesting contacts that I was bringing together in a single trusted community to engage and enjoy each other’s company, both online and at stunning exclusive events, and to receive first-look access to new products and services. I saw Michael’s eyes light up as he asked me where I was going for my next event. I told him that I had been invited to the Sanderson Hotel to attend a fashion show with Gomez Grazia.
Wenny looked up and enquired, ‘Are you able to bring guests, as I love fashion?’
Michael and the rest of the males at the table were also waiting for my answer, which was,
‘I don’t, but I’m sure these gentlemen wouldn’t mind if I asked to squeeze you in.’
Reluctantly, they all acknowledged my respectful response and Wenny was immediately on the VIP guest list with me.
Az was also impressed and invited me to dinner with him at Soho House in Dean Street, which I accepted.
Whilst my own social media was growing, I came across another Russian girl, named Daria Gonciarenko on Facebook, who had worked at the Barakat Gallery and was a budding artist. I decided to contact her: as she only lived a few minutes from my home, so we met for drinks at the Star and Garter pub in Putney. We had a great connection and openly discussed anything and everything.
Daria also worked for a PR agency that hosted events at 12 Hay Hill private members club in Mayfair. On hearing about The Home Club she invited me to meet with the Russian Prince Rostislav Romanov at an intimate discussion about his life as one of the last of the Romanov’s and about the nation’s art during the Russian Revolution. I was intrigued and agreed.
I was still receiving many ‘likes’ on my social media from Nicola at the Guild and so I asked if she would like to meet up to discuss The Home Club . Nicola was someone that I thought could give some stability and guidance to the rest of the team, whilst I hadn’t originally imagined a role for her. I invented the position of Senior Brand Ambassador, just for her. We met up and I asked Nicola many questions about her beliefs, especially about her understanding of diversity, equality and trust. She seemed to have a grip of the essentials, but not quite, to the degree I required. I could help her with developing the ‘trust’ elements, I decided, and so asked her to join The Home Club as Senior Brand Ambassador, for which she later sent me the following message after spending a short time in the role,
‘It is seldom that a business opportunity presents itself, particularly at the senior end of one’s career, that is such a unique fit for one’s CV and life purpose, but Darren Payne’s vision for The Home Club is one I ardently share, and am committed to help him to realise it.
Darren ’s journey from humble beginnings, working his way to success through some of life’s more unpleasant challenges along the path, has moulded this extraordinary man and given him the fuel to aspire to giving back to others in a number of tangible objectives, and to offer thereby a unique opportunity to showcase a multi-faceted business concept.
In these days of increasing automation and de-personalised service, a membership organisation that strives to go back to its roots and provide members with the highest level of bespoke service and opportunities, will necessarily stand out as something special.
Furthermore, having the opportunity through membership and participation in the vision, to give back to society in very real and practical ways; through entrepreneurial apprenticeship opportunities to a wide range of individuals across the global community and charitable donations to City of London institutions, is one that opens doors to the most exciting and innovative possibilities for a diverse sector of talented and aspirational individuals from all walks of life.’
The Home Club had its Senior Brand Ambassador, four other Brand Ambassadors, and some of its Associates. I wanted someone with legal knowledge, but not working as a solicitor or barrister: my preference was instead for a barristers’ clerk. I found Richard Knights, previously of 4 Stone Buildings Chambers in London.
Richard had his own agenda as he was setting up an alternative business structures (ABS) law firm: he saw The Home Club as a means of gaining a client base for the new law firm.
The only problem was he had no money and even less contacts of the necessary calibre. Richard asked me to fund his venture; whilst I considered the proposal, he became the ‘Associate’ under the Financial sub-heading.
Wenny had heard about the excitement surrounding The Home Club and, like me, was looking forward to attending the fashion event as my guest. We had front seats at what turned out to be a great event.
Afterwards we enjoyed a couple of drinks before she drove me home. She asked me what I did for fun and I replied that, other than my family and creating new contacts and business, I spent time playing tennis. Wenny asked to join me for a hit at TWC, which I agreed would be fun. I asked Wenny if she would like to take the position of Associate for The Home Club under the Financial sub-heading. She said she would be delighted to do so.
Just when I thought that The Home Club had most of its full team in place, Alina created some drama at 5 Hertford Street private members club in Mayfair and I had to let her go. Although this was a shame, once I have seen issue to take a course of action, there is no going back. My gut feeling was right. Alina had been posting defamatory material about me on my social media, which were seen by Kaja Wunder. Kaja took screenshots and forwarded them on to me immediately. Via her actions, Kaja was then ‘trusted’ and took Alina’s place straightaway as the Brand Ambassador for Luxury with The Home Club.
The time was approaching when I wanted everyone to meet in one place for proper introductions. Before this could happen, I still needed someone for ‘Associate’ positions in Travel and Fashion & Tailoring. I called an old friend, Jeremy Sutton, and asked if he wanted to become Associate for Travel. After I had considered all of his documents, he agreed and as with all the others, signed a contract.
I arranged an AGM at View94 Restaurant on Point Pleasant, (pictured left) close to my home. In attendance were: Anthony Godley, Az Hakeem, Kaja Wunder, Barbara Tomic (a model and friend of Kaja’s who wanted to take up the vacant Associate position in Fashion & Tailoring), Rick Miller, Villa Sliazaite, Wenny Geng, Ria Ntelianidou, Richard Knights, Nicola Manning, and myself. The other members of the group made apologies for their absence. Everyone had signed up to be part of The Home Club team. I also introduced them all via email, for those that had not made connections previously. These were exciting times and I felt that The Home Club was sure to be a success.
Az also wanted to help in designing the logo offering colours and Ria offered to design some styles. As I beamed with pride at how The Home Club was being received, I still had dark thoughts about how collusion in the past had affected my life. As I looked around the table, I had an irrational bad feeling that was surely paranoia: I thought that connecting these people wouldn’t cause another negative outcome. The question lingered for a while, leaving me pondering for a moment.
Henry was being oddly evasive. I thought he perhaps felt embarrassed by his negligence, so I thought to remind him of my forgiveness. I also forwarded him the business plan and proposals of the proposed law firm and decided to meet with Wenny, collecting her from her Home, to take her for some tennis that I felt I had earned.
As we left her Battersea apartment block, she pointed out of the window and explained that HRH Prince George was about to start attending the same school as her son and that very few people knew this. Whilst this was an interesting point, I thought about how loose conversations like this can cause sensitive information to leak and drift around, potentially affecting the security of other people and breach their privacy. This off-the-cuff comment gave me a light-bulb moment: I began to trial a series of barrier tests that would give The Home Club platform its greatest security protection.
After tennis, we had lunch and discussed our chance meeting at the London Capital Club. I also recalled, whilst laughing, Lord Buckmaster-Brown’s grandiose introduction and how important and interesting he felt his aristocratic ancestry was and his introductory references to looking like his ancestor, Sir Winston Churchill.
Wenny’s only reply was, ‘Oh, he’s a bit of a leech and makes me feel uneasy. I don’t know him that well at all and I try to avoid him whenever I’m able.’
Odd comments, I thought, but that’s how she felt. I passed off the comment with a distraction: a plan to play more tennis.
‘Would you mind if I brought my son next time?’ she asked.
‘Of course not, please do!’ I replied, and the date was inked in our diaries.
As I dropped Wenny back home, I glanced at my phone to read an email from Lord Buckmaster-Brown,
‘…The Group CEO of Emerald Solutions will be in London for a few days from Tuesday.
Do you have any time this coming week to meet with him, I’ve explained the concept and, as I said, we are very interested in offering Emerald services, of course, as well as my own Emblem Group, but we can discuss that further, either at the same time or a separate meeting…’
It seemed that Michael and his business contacts wanted to offer their global security services to The Home Club members. I was pleased to have additional physical security companies available and the military (or ex-military) are the best.
It wasn’t only the Mayfair and Knightsbridge sets that were trying to find a way into The Home Club ; the City of London, whilst often quite reserved, also sought a way in. I had some of the brightest and most experienced professionals in their respective fields of expertise as Brand Ambassadors within my Club. Whilst tying up all the loose ends, I received a biography from Elena, who also attached the signed documents.
Whilst attending the Lord Mayor’s City Giving Day breakfast, I had a conversation with Sheriff Alderman Peter Estlin, who was also very interested in The Home Club and the revenue it created to support the City of London. He invited me to meet with him at his office in the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey. Shortly afterwards, I was invited to meet at Guildhall with Miss Eleanor Hudson (known as Ellie), who worked as the Project Manager for the Lord Mayors Appeal, to discuss The Home Club further.
I arranged to meet with Michael at the London Capital Club as he had also invited a couple of his security contacts to join us. As I walked in, I received messages from Anthony that claims there was interest in the new website, even though it was at a very basic trial stage. I thought that might have been a result of some social media promotion I conducted, to gauge the initial level of interest.
As I was reading the messages, Michael appeared from the lounge area and opened the double doors to welcome me,
‘Hello, Darren,’ he began. ‘Do come through. I have my table here for us all day’.
Michael’s table would seat up to eight people. It was positioned in the right-hand corner of the lounge. I was then greeted by the General Manager of the London Capital Club, Simon Russell, who had sat as part of the group at my table for dinner, after the event with David Leakey. Simon asked us what we would like to drink and, although it was only 10.30 a.m. in the morning, he reminded us that it was St. Patrick’s Day. What would have been a cappuccino instead became the first of many beers, before we moved on to whiskey.
Michael’s contact came in and we began discussing The Home Club and my interest in online and personal security and in protection for our members. ‘Right,’ he continued. ‘I’ll get you someone over here that will promote The Home Club . He is a very senior media executive, who will try and join us in the restaurant downstairs’
I was then greeted by Mr Mark Moody, who worked as Social Editor at OK! magazine.
‘So, this is what you’ve dragged me out of a boardroom for, is it Michael?’ he queried, as he shook my hand.
Whilst that seemed to be the usual way in which they spoke to each other, Michael felt belittled by Mark, which may also have been a side effect of the alcohol that was flowing. Michael told Mark to join us in the basement.
The lunch was great, and the drinks flowed around the table, as we were getting drunk on the prospects.
‘I would naturally like to lead any media and PR, Wilson,’ said Michael. ‘As you can already see, senior people jump when I call them. Look at who I have brought here: the social editor of the magazine for the rich and famous.’
I was not a regular reader of OK! magazine but knew many others who were. I was aware of the publication, of course, but would usually hear the name of the magazine when a celebrity wanted them to pay for their wedding or a similar commercial arrangement.
We went back upstairs to Michael’s table, where we found Mark was almost as drunk as the rest of us. We had been drinking for a few hours and at quite a rate.
Michael carried on rambling, ‘Darren if The Home Club required the benefits of, say, myself and Mark on board, then we would want something interesting and rewarding from the business: say, a share or two for starters. You would have my Peerage, my good name in the City of London, my contacts and funding options; and I would promote The Home Club to my investment opportunities, as I am the Senior Partner of the Sino UK investment fund, a £6-billion fund based in Beijing.’
Mark then asked if I wanted to attend several upcoming high-profile events. He said he would forward the list for me to choose from, along with details of who else would be in attendance. We all left and went our own ways, with the parting reminder ringing in my ears to have a Lord of the Realm and the Social Editor at OK! magazine join The Home Club board. I made a note that Mark had already tweeted his excitement that day,
‘#HomeClub is already the talk of the London elite. Have you been invited to join? Where’s my invite?’
What most deterred me from having Mark on board, amongst many other things, was that when I received the long list of events, it included the following occasions that stood out from the rest,
April – BAFTA TV Craft Awards
April – Caitlyn Jenner Book launch
May – The Global Gift gala
May – Cannes Festival opening night
May – Pippa Middleton’s wedding
June – Tony Awards
The biggest issue for me was that alongside each of these events I was sent set of A-list attendees, including, but not limited to: the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge; the Duke of Sussex; Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Rihanna Fenty and Adele Adkins. Michael ran one of the largest private security and defence companies in the world, and yet was unaware of this sloppy emailed disclosure about which celebrities would be going to an event and when they would be there.
This was a major security risk, as I saw it, and Mark had just ruled himself out of any future discussions!
Before I had received the guest list, Michael invited me to meet with his ‘business partner’: a Scottish ‘giant’ of tech and Senior Partner at Exolta Capital Partners, Russell Dalgleish. Michael explained that Russell was the go-to guy for anything tech in Silicon Valley and had established contacts with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Pivitol Labs.
I immediately arranged to meet with Russell at the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall, London. I soon understood Michael’s reference to Russell being a tech ‘giant’, as the latter is approximately 6’ 7” (203 cm) tall.
I explained the concept to Russell and filled him in on what had been achieved to date. Russell fell back on his chair and said, ‘Facebook meets Amazon for the uber-rich and luxury brands? I love it and it makes perfect sense when adding the events, specifically directed goods and services along with a potential magazine. This is going to be big! What does Michael think of it?’
‘Well.’ I replied. ‘He thought that he wanted to join the company board and drive the business. He also added that he was the Senior Partner of a £6-billion investment fund...’
‘You’ll definitely need funding,’ Russell interrupted. ‘Michael has seen the real value of your business, as do I, and I would also wonder if you might consider adding me to the board – after, of course, I show you my value in helping you at this early stage.’
I knew that he was making a play but thought that the added value of Michael and Russell on board, in addition to the Brand Ambassadors and Associates – not least for the funding opportunities – made perfect sense and was something that definitely interested me.
‘I’ll need to think about it, but I’m very grateful for all the interest’ I replied, leaving Russell at the IoD as I left for my next meeting, at the South Kensington Club to meet fashion designer, Alexia Mossay, who I had met briefly at the Sanderson Hotel fashion show a while earlier with Wenny.
Alexia is a petite, Spanish luxury fashion designer. Reading her online presence did not do full justice to her character in person: she appeared very creative and a little eccentric, in a completely endearing way.
We sat chatting at the SKC where she led to impress me by telling me of her family who owned one of the largest media companies in Spain and their Royal connections which I thought was charming of her, before she asked me to join her at her favourite tapas restaurant in London.
We took the short walk to Casa Brindisa in South Kensington, where we chatted some more whilst eating the finest tapas accompanied with amazing red wine. I had to leave earlier than I wanted, as I had been asked to give a talk on the following day to the pupils at Roedean School in Brighton, West Sussex. Nicola had set this opportunity up as part of the Guild of Entrepreneur’s outreach programme.
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