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Chamber of Commerce Hungerford Chamber of Commerce Meeting; Thursday 7 July 05 @ Littlecote House Minutes of the Meeting Committee Members PresentNick Furr, Karen Smith, Ian Thompson, Anne Brown, Jackie Penny, Wendy Spring
Nick gave his thanks to Deborah for allowing the Chamber to use the facilities of Littlecote House for the meeting and supplying refreshments. In the last week the Chamber has managed to recruit 20 new members. The main purpose of this meeting is to look at Hungerford for the visitor and the resident.
Deborah Wood gave an introduction to Littlecote House. She came to Hungerford three and a half years ago and immediately joined the Chamber. Littlecote House attracts 40,000 visitors per annum. They have done business in the past with businesses in the town such as Kerridge Insurance and are keen to promote the Tudor Manor House. Deborah offered the Chamber a tour of Littlecote house for a future meeting and is very keen to promote Hungerford town to visitors of the House. She would like to have promotional literature available at Reception but it must be consistent and replenished when stocks run low. The Chamber website has been re-vamped and Nick asked for Feedback. Ideally, a demonstration would have been given but the conference room did not have an on-line facility. It was felt that a good start had been made to the website but some further attention was needed to make it exciting, different fonts and colours and a possible photo. Hungerford Camera Club have been approached to supply photo’s and a positive response was given. Richard Broomhead agreed to take responsibility for keeping the news items up to date, he will also approach local retailers to see if they would like to advertise any special offers. Richard has also offered to give a half hour training session to members who would like to know how to use the internet and more importantly, keep the information on their businesses up to date. There will be an article in the NWN next week advertising the new website. Robert Johnston offered to look at ways of directing the internet traffic to our website. Suzie Asman passed around her first draft of the proposed Hungerford map. The map is designed to replace the sponsorship boards under the railway bridge. It is intended that the map will be made up of A3 tiles to make it easier when a change is required. The map will be available in all of the retail outlets and on the arrival platform of the train station. It will also be available at Littlecote House. Every Chamber member will be sent an electronic version. Before the map can be completed, a low level arial photo of Hungerford is required. Wendy and Nick will look into the costing and funding of the initiative but its potential value is considered to be such that work on its production is well advanced. A discussion regarding tourist information took place. Anne Brown had a suggestion of a carousel type scheme, which is intended to hold smaller size leaflets. It will cater for the needs of the tourist but also give the opportunity for local businesses to get to know each other better. The Chamber newsletter is still being worked on but some updates are required. Nick has agreed to update it and send it to Karen for printing to commence. Neal from the Victorian Extravaganza committee will forward an article. The Hidden Britain initiative is progressing well. A number of ideas listed by James Turner are already being implemented. Some research regarding Tourism in the town is about to commence under his management. Hidden Britain is a government initiative and therefore there is a possibility of some government funding. If an application were successful, the monies would contribute towards the retailers map.
It will now be the 13 th year of the Victorian Extravaganza. The committee for the Victorian Extravaganza has slowly decreased form an original 11, to a current 4. Neal requested that a Chamber of Commerce member join the Extravaganza committee to ensure that necessary information can be communicated and the cash flow situation can monitored. Karen Smith offered to join the committee.
The Chamber of Commerce is very keen to take out a rolling advert with Newbury Weekly News to give members a cost effective way of advertising their business. After several approaches, it appears that NWN are not being particularly flexible with their prices and want a full year’s commitment from the Chamber. There were some concerns raised about the quality of some of the adverts and the service that NWN gives. The Advertiser were offering a more competitive price but it was felt that the distribution of the paper was not in the most suitable area.
Ken Findlay has been writing to Ian Thompson promoting his abilities to make a video of Hungerford to put on the website. The cost for the service is in the region of £2000. It was decided that with all of the current initiatives, the money could be better spent elsewhere. The issue of the appearance of the Co-op was raised. Nick has been speaking with them and is due to meet the premises manager with a view to changing the front windows. A suggestion was made, though not generally supported, to use it as a pop-up store to bring in some brand names. Nick asked for consideration to be given to someone taking over the retail development side of the Chamber. He would like to divert his attention to looking at the service/industrial/commercial interests in the town. Anne Brown from African Trackwoods offered to chair the group which will comprise Jackie Penny, Rachel Furr, and Robert Johnston, each being the point of contact for members, and potential new members, in lower High Street (below the railway bridge); upper High Street; Bridge Street; and Charnham Street, respectively. The Chamber of Commerce is looking to hold its annual Dinner Dance at the end of the year. Last years preparations were a disaster and as a result, the Dinner Dance was cancelled. The availability of dates this year could be a problem but it was agreed that best efforts would be made to secure a suitable date. There are currently 4 caterers on the membership of the chamber who may be willing to offer their services to ensure the business is kept within the town. (Post meeting update: As there is a Rotary “Trafalgar Dinner” in October, The Corn Exchange has been booked for February 11 th 2006 : a Valentines Dinner Dance) There is information that a planning application has been made to change 127 High Street (previously The Bed Shop) to type A2 usage. This type is reserved for retail and “professional services” which covers estate agents, bookmakers, financial services, etc . It was agreed that the Chamber would write and voice its objection to the depletion of retail-only accommodation in the High Street. Everyone was reminded that this will still only count as one objection and individual letters would carry more weight. It is the 25 th year of the twinning association and a request has been made for all shops to dress their windows in red, white and blue colours for the duration of the August Bank Holiday weekend. This is when our visitors from Ligueil will be here.
Thursday 4 th August 6.30pm for 7pm Venue – to be advised I was agreed that there would be a regular meeting of the committee, open to members to attend, on the first Thursday of each month.
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