Another sparkling AGM for Worthing and Adur Chamber!

Most AGMs can be pretty formal. Our Chamber makes a habit of having interesting and thought-provoking meetings at the AGM. This year's 77th AGM was no exception. Although it rained most of the day, the sun shone on the proceedings at the Dome from 6pm onwards. About 100 members and guests attended, along with both Worthing's MPs. It was a time to say thank you to so many people. Special thanks must be given to the executive committee who run the Chamber especially as this was the time when they stood for re-election. All of them did so and were re-elected successfully except for Chris Coopey who indicated that with his move to Crawley, he could not spend the time he wanted to attend meetings. He was thanked for his generous contributions. Two new members of the executive, Jonathan Nulty and Dave Bone, were elected too and warmly welcomed.

We elected two new Vice Presidents, Tony Hedger and Julian Cioffi, to stand with Karen Simporis, each with different areas of responsibility. Karen has led the charity commitment by the Chamber which has seen £65,000 raised for the Worthing and Adur Fund. Tony has expertise in finance and Julian, as a solicitor in Shoreham, has a special interest in spearheading Adur interests. All members of the executive worked very hard but Clive Spring who works with Tracie Davey in the website group has made a massive contribution to a new logo and design. The Chamber is very grateful for his hard work. Sheryl Tipton leads the marketing & communications group very successfully. The finance committee of Ian Vickers and Alistair Vickers is enormously helped by Andrew Dalglish of Ayres Bright Vickers. It is not often that three accountants can agree on one plan of action! The Chamber has never been in a better financial state. We formed a separate Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2013 and are awaiting revenue approval of its status as a training entity.

Our key partners remain Northbrook College, who are working with us on an exciting new development of an innovation hub in and we are in discussions with Adur & Worthing Council for funding to fit out and establish the hub for new businesses and start-ups in the digital media and creative sectors. This will be sited in Broadwater on the Northbrook College campus. Adur & Worthing Business Partnership, led by Andrew Swayne, has been a pillar of support and congratulations to Andrew on his business award for the work he has done. Coast to Capital and Malcolm Brabon in particular have worked closely in setting up through us the Navigator Hub. We have led, together with Chichester and Brighton & Hove Chambers, which signposts local businesses to grants, funding and support they might not otherwise have known about.

The Chamber also paid its tributes to both Tracie Davey, the operations manager of the Chamber who works tirelessly to keep the wheels turning; and also to our chief executive Tina Tilley who won the Business Personality of the Year for Worthing & Adur for 2013 but was surprised to be awarded the 2014 Business Personality for the whole of the southern region. Tina richly deserved those awards and without her the Chamber would not be the success it is.

That was the formal part of the meeting. We had already heard from EON about the windfarm being built off Brooklands. This is a massive investment. We also heard from Alex Bailey, the chief executive of Adur & Worthing Council on the economic development plans and the fact that the council is putting economic development as a priority. We had an update on major sites and progress being made throughout our area

The closing speech was from our patron Gillian Fielding the secret millionaire who as usual stimulated and challenged the audience with an engrossing talk on the importance of small and medium-sized enterprise, Gillian commented “As a group small business owners can cope with anything that any government or any economic cycle can throw at them and what we need to concentrate on is not the external factors that emerge from the differences in political opinion but the internal factors that are us as individuals.

It’s our determination to succeed that matters: our drive and motivation for what we do: our support for one another that helps: our personal belief in our product and services: and it is in the decisions we make and the actions we take that the UK economy will thrive, prosper and grow – whatever the political landscape”

The Dome provided an excellent buffet and refreshments. A great evening with lots of networking and tips on how to make your business more successful. If you went with us this year make sure you are for the next AGM to make sure you know what is going on locally.