Each week Bath Business News gives a prominent member of the city’s business community the last word on its weekly e-bulletin. This week Dan Meadon-Bower, partner at Bath law firm Royds Withy King, answers our 10 questions.
What was the LAST: 
Film you watched? Annie (1982), Annie (2014) and Annie (1982), all in the same day. Our middle daughter is ever so slightly obsessed with it. If you’ve been on the #3 bus whilst a small redhead has been warbling away about how ‘tomorra is only a day away’, I can only apologise…
Book you read? Nick Looby’s Modern Zombies: How to stay ahead of the hordes and communicate your way to success. Nick is a speaker at the Bath LinkedIn Local event on May 14 and I was intrigued to find out what a modern zombie slayer is. If, like me, you’re one of the 34% who religiously check their phones in the middle of the night, you ought to read this book.
Music you bought/downloaded? I’d like to say it was one of the latest hits or something to make me sound cultured, but sadly it was Tomorrow from the Annie musical.
Concert or play you went to? Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s Where is Peter Rabbit? musical – a quirky mix of live action and puppetry that our kids loved. (You were expecting me to say Annie, weren’t you? We get that pleasure next month…)
Sporting event you attended? Norwich City v Blackburn Rovers to see us win promotion back to the Premier League. It’s been a great achievement, playing the best football I can remember and with a team mostly made up of graduates from our youth development teams, free transfers and unheralded players from European lower leagues. It just goes to show that creating a successful team is as much about culture and trust as it is talent and reputation. For the fantasy footballers among us, Emi Buendia is a must-buy next season at anything under 6.0.
Holiday you went on? The Lake District – great scenery and plenty to do with the kids. Unless it rains.
Restaurant you ate in? The Olive Tree at the Queensbury.
Thing that annoyed you? That there isn’t an extra day between Sunday and Monday. It gets to me every week.
Thing that made you laugh out loud? It will have been something very inappropriate, announced at a very inappropriate time, in a very inappropriate place, by middle daughter who has absolutely no volume control.
Piece of good advice you were given? One of those ‘look at me’ posts popped up on LinkedIn that struck a chord and I try to follow anyway: If you’re an evening worker like me, set Outlook to offline working or use delayed delivery on your sent emails so that they only land during working hours. 24/7 remote working is great for those of us who want the flexibility to juggle work with family, but just because I might then choose to work in the evening it doesn’t mean others want to, nor that I want my team to feel that they need to. I remember only too well the sinking feeling brought on by seeing the flashing red light on the blackberry, seeing it’s an email from the boss, and trying to figure out if an answer was expected there and then. Don’t put people in that position if you can avoid it!
Dan Meadon-Bower is a partner at Royds Withy King leading the commercial, technology & innovation team from the firm’s Bath office. He joined in April, moving across from TSB Bank where, as a senior commercial lawyer, he was involved in a number of digital initiatives, complex IT development projects and platform migrations (no, not THAT one). He brings with him a wealth of commercial contracts experience from a career that has spanned aerospace, transport, outsourcing, IT/digital and latterly financial services. One of Dan’s aims at RWK is to help support and expand the Bath Financial Forum – a group formed to facilitate the growth and promotion of Bath as a home for financial service businesses.
