Berry & Oak, a newly-rebranded firm of Chartered Financial Planners set up by a husband and wife team, has held its launch event in Hazlewood Castle, a luxury hotel near Leeds.

Berry & Oak is a Yorkshire-based firm of Chartered and Certified Financial Planners and a CISI Accredited Financial Planning Firm. It was founded by experienced Financial Planners Andrew and Sarah Elson.

The firm said the spectacular launch event for clients, the first time the firm has run an event for clients, was to introduce the Berry & Oak name in the local community and the venue helped them achieve a big splash.

The firm is based in Boston Spa, Leeds, and is run by experienced Financial Planners Andrew and Sarah Elson. It has been directly authorised since the beginning of the year and was previously an appointed rep of the Beaufort Group.

They said they chose the new name because they liked the balance between ‘berry’ – representing abundant yield and potential pleasure – and ‘oak’ – representing something wise and enduring.

Andrew Elson said: “We wanted to celebrate our journey so far and what lies ahead in the future. We wanted to get to know our clients better and create an opportunity for them to meet other members in the Berry & Oak family.”

“We wanted to wow our clients with our professionalism and for them to see the effort we make for them.  This would show our credibility as a top Financial Planning firm in the UK and mirror the professionalism we have when dealing with their finances.”

Sarah Elson added: "We are aiming to be recognised as the “go to place” for Financial Planning Advice in Yorkshire and to help all of our clients to live their lives to the full. We also plan to provide a programme of financial education to local schools and colleges and create a legacy business that will be here for a very long time." 

For the event they had a postbox for clients to provide their opinions about what they wanted to happen in the future. This was designed especially for the event and will be used to receive feedback in the future at other events.

Andrew introduced the firm’s new “Personal Finance Portal” on the company’s website.

Sarah spoke about Berry & Oak’s commitment to charity work and explained the intention for staff at Berry & Oak to complete the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge to raise money for St Gemma’s Hospice in October 2018.

7IM’s Justin Urquhart Stewart was the guest speaker who looked at past investment performance and provide a summary of the events within the major global economic regions.

To complete the launch event at the end of July, clients enjoyed drinks and canapés.

• Editor's Note: 4.15 pm, story updated to add additional information and quote from Sarah Elson.