Chamber AGM
The Chamber held it's AGM recently at The Jameson Experience in Midleton. Members were well represented and the officers presented reports for the 2009/2010 period.
The following were elected:
President: Killian O'Sullivan (The Merchandise Factory Ltd)
Vice President: Jim Ronayne (Midleton Credit Union Ltd)
Secretary: John McCormack (South Coast Coffee Company)
Treasurer: Frank Houlihan (Frank Houlihan & Associates)
Council: Steven Lucy (Lucey & Associates); John Fenton (Midleton Credit Union Ltd); Ralph Gunn (O2 Retail)
The Council has also co-opted Eileen Kearney (Manic Motors) as a member of the council.
New Office
The Chamber has moved offices to 2nd Floor, 61/62 Main Street, Midleton.
Regional Networking
Cork Regional Chambers, through Chambers Ireland, is hosting a Regional Speed Networking Event sponsored by Eircom on Wednesday, May 19th in Radisson Hotel, Little Island. This event will give you the chance to meet with Chamber members from Charleville, Cobh, Cork, Mallow and Youghal. This event is FREE to Chamber members but you must register in advance at
www.corkchamber.ie
We urge members to attend and hope to see you there on the evening.
ZAPA Tag
The Chamber is currently completing a survey of businesses in the Midleton Area with regard to the possible introduction of the ZAPA Tag. Having researched the various options for gift cards and loyalty schemes, the Chamber and a selection of our retail members are recommending this particular version for consideration. The introduction of solely the gift card element in Dundalk prior to last Christmas generated card sales of almost 100,000 euros in 4 weeks. It is an ideal solution to keep business in the area and amongst members of the Chamber and the Zapa scheme.
Providing that we get over 100 businesses to agree to attend a detailed presentation on this topic, the Chamber will arrange a meeting with a view to launching the scheme in summer 2010. The cost to those who opt in to the scheme will be minimal and will be controlled by the members of the scheme. The capital cost will be solely provided by ZAPA and they take the risk as to whether or not the scheme will be a success.
The Chamber believes that it will provide real benefits to businesses in the area and will also provide a significant marketing fund to allow the area to be promoted even more heavily than it has been in the last 2 years.
At this time, the Chamber has not endorsed any other loyalty scheme.
If you have not already had a visit from Jim Ronayne, he will be in touch in the coming weeks.
Midleton Food & Drink Festival
The Chamber is pleased to once again be associated with this highly successful festival. It will take place on Saturday, September 11th and promises to be a wonderful event. The Chamber is providing the administrative support for the festival this year and a number of Chamber Council members are sitting on the organising committee again.
The Food Festival is always looking for volunteers and sponsors so if you would like to get involved in any way, please contact John McCormack at the Chamber office.
Cobh Chamber Annual Dinner
Cobh & Harbour Chamber will be holding it's Annual Dinner on May 21st at The Commodore Hotel. Following on from Dr. Ian Paisley and Bertie Ahern TD in 2008 and 2009, this year they have Senator David Norris as their guest speaker. It promises to be a very interesting evening and if any Midleton & Area Chamber members wish to purchase a ticket, please contact Kathleen Geary, CEO of Cobh Chamber by email at
info@cobhharbourchamber.ie
Member to Member Offers
We would like to update our website with new member to member offers. If you would like to be included, please email your offers to Midleton Chamber by Tuesday next and we will issue an email with all the offers as well as posting them on our website.
Membership
We would like to gently remind any members who have not yet paid their 2010 membership subscription that we would greatly appreciate if you could do so as soon as possible. If you know of any business that might benefit from being a member of Midleton & Area Chamber, please ask them to contact us or log on to our website as we need new members right across the area.
Local Agenda 21
If you have a project or initiative that could contribute to increasing local levels of environmental awareness or one which promotes building greener, more sustainable communities, then you may qualify for financial assistance from the Local Agenda 21 Environmental Partnership Fund 2010. The Fund promotes sustainable development by assisting small scale, non profit environmental projects at a local level.
Midleton Traffic Management Plan
The Chamber has expressed concern at the lack of engagement with the business community by UK based consultants WSP regarding their proposals to radically alter the traffic flows in Midleton. Your Chamber submitted a detailed set of observations prior to Christmas 2009 and has yet to even receive an acknowledgement from WSP.
The Chamber is heartened at the support for local business expressed by members of Midleton Town Council during their recent discussion on the WSP proposal and while we support a range of the objectives in the report, we will oppose the elements which we believe will be detrimental to Midleton and to the businesses that operate here.