Stowmarket Chamber AGM February 2011

Putting Stowmarket Chamber and its Members on the Map

Our first AGM since 2008 was attended by 20 people at the Needham Market premises of Igneous, who also provided plenty of tasty and very welcome refreshments.

Chairman Peter Down opened the meeting by welcoming Councillor Mike Norris, Mayor of Needham Market and his wife and John Dugmore, Chief Executive of our affiliated Suffolk Chamber. A message of goodwill had been received from the Mayor of Stowmarket, who unfortunately was not able to attend.

Peter ran through of the highs and lows of 2010.

Highs included the Chamber becoming pro-active in representing local business views during the public inquiry into improving Ipswich Street, institution of quarterly meetings with Suffolk Chamber CEO John Dugmore and monitoring developments in the proposed merger between Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils.

The Chamber has also increased its visibility through membership of the group shortly to become the Town Centre Partnership, contributing to the StowShop e-newsletter, as well as launching a quarterly Chamber e-news and adding regular news updates to the Chamber’s website. The Chamber has also sponsored a leaflet to shoppers thanking them for supporting the local economy by shopping in the town, as well as other sponsorships, including a picnic table on the recreation ground, the Christmas window competition, Stowmarket in Bloom and the parish church Christmas tree festival.

He noted that there had been some turnover in membership, resulting in a net loss of six members since the last AGM. Arguably the level of current activities indicates a high degree of commitment among current members.   

Chamber secretary Keely Taylor  reported on her activities for the group and said the bulk of her time was spent organising the monthly breakfast meetings, where attendance had risen from 16 at the start of 2010 to a steady high 20s-low 30s as the year progressed.

Recently appointed treasurer Kate Kelly gave a brief account of Chamber finances, explaining how the money was held centrally by Suffolk Chamber, which also carries out book keeping, auditing and invoice payment on Stowmarket’s behalf and makes our contribution to the national British Chambers of Commerce. On a turnover of £7311, the Chamber had ended the year with a small surplus of income over expenditure of £60 and a credit balance of £3272 in the bank. 

Moving forward and raising the Stowmarket Business Profile

Opening the meeting to discussion about the future, Peter said: “We have to bang the drum. We have to advertise ourselves. Complacency doesn’t figure in our plans.

First priority will be to draw up a proper business plan with budgets for different activities; not only to be sure of covering costs, but also to establish what level of margin there should be on turnover.

Martin Yates made some useful suggestions about financial strategy and these will be considered as the Business Plan is developed.

In order to make the organisation’s management more efficient there will need to be a succinct constitution and an executive committee, which it is suggested, should meet quarterly, as well as taking any urgent decisions – using e-mail for discussions.

An equally important issue that will affect the Chamber’s future activity, he said, was to encourage more people to join and this might be helped by revamping the membership structure.

Peter and John Dugmore have had an exploratory discussion about the concept of establishing a two-tier membership for Stowmarket Chamber. It was hoped that this might make membership more affordable for sole traders, many of whom do not need the higher level services offered, such as export advice. 

Suggestions from the floor included membership based on turnover. A working party will be formed to refine the proposal and take it forward.

Ruth Elwood, of Elwood Landscape Design, queried the practice of holding networking breakfasts only, pointing out the clash with the school run.   The option of having some evening meetings, perhaps with a guest speaker of special interest, will therefore also be explored. The imminent seminar “You can’t Sack Me I’m an OAP” might be considered as the first in such a series.

The AGM closed with the Chairman thanking everyone for attending and contributing to a lively debate on the future of the Chamber – “We have a clear vision for the next twelve months and an agreed work plan to implement that vision."