This week marks the 10-year anniversary of Beaufort Financial (Reading). This is a special birthday for us, and we know we could not have reached this milestone without our wonderful clients, friends and professional connections. As we reach the end of our first decade it is good to reflect on how far we have come.

Beaufort Financial was set up by Simon and Clive Goldthorpe in an unused building on the Basingstoke Road 10 years ago when the world was slowly recovering from the banking crisis and a new Prime Minister, David Cameron, was elected. Later that year they were joined by Graeme Bone, Chris Shaw and Mark Dolby.

The FTSE 100 was below 5000 points and ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland dominated the most-read list in April as all flights in and out of the UK were suspended. Thousands of Britons were stranded as the UK remained a virtual no-fly zone for several days.

The eurozone and the IMF agree to a €110 billion bailout package for Greece and Germany makes the final reparation payment for World War I.

Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson all auditioned for The X Factor UK. They auditioned separately and were nearly cut from the show altogether before the judges put them together as One Direction.

Toy Story 3 was the highest-grossing movie of the year, It earned $1bn at the box office and Apple released the first iPad.

Prince William and Zara Phillips both announced their engagements and there were celebrations in the Shaw and Dolby households as they announced that the first Beaufort babies would be due in 2011.

The year 2010 had three major world sporting events, the Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup, the Commonwealth Games.

The attempted suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor in Tunisia, triggers the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring throughout the Arab world.

The World Health Organization declares the H1N1 influenza pandemic over, saying worldwide flu activity has returned to typical seasonal patterns.

Who could have known what 2020 would bring us?

It has been an amazing 10 years. We moved from our location in Reading whilst expanding our networks and are proud to be delivering advice to clients right across the South of England and beyond. We have come a long way and now have 21 staff in our new office in Dunsden and look forward to the next chapter in the Beaufort Financial story as we all come to terms with the Covid 19 pandemic. We will all come out of this stronger and wiser and continue to evolve our business in line with our clients’ needs and aspirations.

We have supported our local charities the Ark Cancer Centre, Berkshire Community Foundation, St Michaels Hospice, Macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer Research UK and Dingley’s Promise, to name just a few and are proud to be part of our local community.

Although our celebrations cannot take place right now, we want you to know how much it means to us that you have continually supported us throughout the years and we look forward to being able to celebrate with you in person. Our clients will always come first, and we thank you for your loyalty and many friendships that have been built over the last decade.

Coming soon, look out for our 10-year anniversary prize draw on our Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter channels.

Here’s to you. Here’s to the future!