Minutes of the Hadleigh Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting

Minutes of the Hadleigh Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting

Held at Priory Hall Hadleigh
Wednesday 22 November 2006

Present

List of attendees will be available

1 Apologies

There were no apologies

2 Previous AGM Minutes

The minutes of the AGM on 6 December 2005 were read, agreed and signed by the President

3 Matters Arising

There were no matters arising

4 Presidents Report

4.1 Membership

Exceeded 100 during 2006, thanks to Cyndy Hilton for getting us off to a good start and work of Jill Rawlins (membership Secretary) and James Walter for their persistence.

4.2 Youth

A subject raised at the last AGM, the Chamber brought together a small team of people from Police, Suffolk County and some voluntary organisations to try and find a solution for engaging with young people in Hadleigh in a constructive way. These were the young people who were not attracted to organised events and groups. Sadly the loss of East House not only removed an opportunity for this team but has also exacerbated the matter. Hadleigh Town have tried to address organised activity but the Chamber will continue its efforts to find a solution that involves all young people.

4.3 Affiliations

Suffolk Chamber of Commerce

Finalising our links with Suffolk Chamber to offer some of the benefits to our members. John Dugmore will introduce the links later this evening

Hadleigh Town Council

Closer ties with Mayor and new Town Clerk. Chamber has started regular meetings each month to ensure we work much more closely together and build on each other's initiatives

Babergh District Council

Again our links are being strengthened. Regular meetings will start shortly. The Council now have a section within the Chamber website for press releases, their own forums and now short summaries of the business related planning applications so that the Chamber and our members are aware of developments affecting them at an early stage. Paul Simon, Babergh's Head of Public Relations, responds quickly to forum posts and has welcomed this valuable channel to businesses in Hadleigh.

Other Suffolk Chambers

Hadleigh Chamber have had meetings with Stowmarket and Felixstowe Chambers to learn how they approach a variety of issues from Business meetings, local authority liaison and Chamber staff. The result has been to get all local Chambers in Suffolk together on 29 November. It is hoped this will be a regular, though not frequent, meeting where we can share knowledge, best practice and valuable experience.

Suffolk Constabulary

Close ties are being formed with both local officers and senior staff. Chief Inspector Chris Stokes took on a new responsibility during the year and we started a regular meeting to explore a range of issues from young people, crime prevention and detection affecting businesses.

4.5 Year Ahead

Building Relationships

Continuing to build close affiliations with Suffolk and British Chamber of Commerce, Local Chambers and local authority. With a slightly larger committee we hope to extend this to include more local organisations and invite them to share the Chamber website to build a town resource.

Local Strategic Partnership

With growth of the Chamber have come invitations to take a more substantial role in Hadleigh and Suffolk business activities. The Chamber has been invited to join the Board of the Local Strategic Partnership in 2007 and provide a Business focused input to the LSP activities.

Business Events

Continuing the Business Lunches, Chris Edgar has started organising breakfast meetings and the Chamber will host a number of Sector Forums starting with the Hadleigh Retail Forum on 6 December aimed at exploring the opportunities to promote the retail business in Hadleigh, increase footfall and visitors from outside the town. Into 2007 the Chamber will run a second forum for the Industrial Estates with a particular focus of security and crime prevention/detection.

Membership

With the growth in membership in the past few years the Chamber is increased requests from government and other organisations to collaborate in improving business for us all in Hadleigh and beyond. The wider the membership the more active the Chamber can become at all levels. If you know a business that has not yet joined get in touch with them, or the Chamber Membership Secretary, Jill Rawlins. £20 is the cheapest Chamber of Commerce in Suffolk. Every member strengthens the Chambers role.

Website

The website has enabled the Chamber to communicate more effectively with its members and enabled members, in particular, those with no website to have a web presence. With more active forums, articles that disseminate useful information and the involvement of other local organisations, including Babergh, it will continue to provide an invaluable resource.

Tesco's

Tesco's appears likely to come to Hadleigh. Our role in these circumstances is to ensure that all the relevant `potential impact' information is gathered, to enable an informed debate. We will then be in a position to negotiate with Tesco's to limit the potential harm the new store may cause, and to look at ways to take advantage of the new opportunities it could provide, for the High Street traders in particular.

High Street Issues

High Street trading conditions are changing and the Chamber are looking at ways in which it may be possible to increase the footfall in the High Street, with a meeting scheduled for 6 December.

The meeting will have two halves;

Discussion

Effect of Internet on High Street

Effect of globalised companies on High Street Suggestions to increase footfall in High Street

Social

Aim to rebuild the High Street community

4.6 Thanks

I have a lot of people to thank but the list is far too long to read out but there are a few that do deserve special thanks. Firtsly the Committee (including co-opted and press ganged members), I'm not always easy to get on with and can be a little brusk. They've treated it as a challenge and remember the Chamber is run solely on volunteers and goodwill — thanks. Secondly some individuals —

Cyndy Hilton for your hard work and, of course, the loan of the beautiful surroundings.

James Walter for his work year on year keeping the Chamber in the black.

And to Cherise Farmer at Suffolk College who, although not a members of the Chamber, has looked after getting everyone on to the website and continues to manage new members entries and helps with the email broadcasts.

By the way, email helps keep our costs down so please add your email address to the list so we can keep you informed of events .. and Tesco. We won't hand it to anyone else and just call or email me if you want to come off the list.

Finally I would dearly love to be up here next year thanking each and every one of you for your help in running the Chamber. You don't need to do anything full-time, we can use even just a couple of hours. If you have ideas, let me know. If you would like to help run the events (or some of them), let Chris know. If you would like to help with collaboration with various groups, let James know. If you know anyone who should join and help us really boost Hadleigh, let Jill Rawlins know.

5 Treasurers Report

The Treasurer reported that the finances were healthy.

6 Election of Officers

7 Any Other Business

There was no other business raised