Welcome to the April edition of Scone Chamber News. A monthly news story will form part of the Chamber’s ongoing communication with Members and the local business community.
New Business Development Officer
It is with great pleasure that we announce the new appointment of a much-needed Business Development Officer here at Scone Chamber; Sarah English.
You can read a small bio of Sarah here.
With the help of Ms English, our Partners and Members, the Chamber is excited to become much more active in the business community to better deliver on its overall vision; to be the go-to business support network for local businesses while driving the agenda for business and economic development in Scone and The Upper Hunter.
If you would like to have a chat to Sarah, feel free to drop her an email at bdo@sconechamber.com.au
Farewell to Our President
On a sadder note, Steve Guihot, our much loved and hardworking board member, has recently put in his notice of resignation as President and Public Officer for the Scone Chamber. Steve has been a highly valued and active member of the Chamber for many years and has done much in the way for business advocacy, support and guidance for our members and the wider business community. I am sure you will all agree that he will be sadly missed. Steve goes on to a new exciting project for the next year or so. We wish Steve all the best in the future and thank him for his tireless efforts as Chamber President.
On a positive note, the Chamber has appointed a new President, Rachael McGuirk. Rachael is highly active in the business community and has vast business and tourism experience being the owner of Helloworld Travel Scone and volunteering on numerous local boards and committees, including the Chamber. We welcome Rachael as President and know she will continue to have a great impact on the Chamber and local businesses.
Business Hub Opening
Via a partnership with the Upper Hunter Shire Council, The Chamber is happy to announce the recent lease acquisition of a small office space at Scone’s Campbells Corner. The Board and Ms English are excitedly planning the fit-out which is set to open within the next month – dates and details to be announced soon. This will not only be a space for Chamber members, partners and businesses to visit, but there are plans on developing the space to be the start of a local business hub; whereby local businesses can work collaboratively through the use of hot desks as well as have space for more private meetings. A much-needed service in the area, according to many of our members. This idea is only the tip of the iceberg for what the Chamber has planned for the future.
Chamber Breakfast at The Cottage
The first Chamber Breakfast for the year took place on Tuesday 23 March and was a wonderful success. It was so lovely to see over 20 of our members and their guests come along to take part and chat with other like-minded local businesses. As well as enjoy a delicious breakfast!
Thanks to our speakers Lisa Harpley, Business Connect Advisor, Mentor and Trainer from The Business Centre and Danny Erenshaw, Business Concierge from Services NSW.
These two had so much to offer in terms of business advice and support. It was truly an eye-opener for many to know what’s available to businesses, and just by these two providers alone. Most of which is at a no-cost basis.
And of course, a big thank you to The Cottage – Scone for the wonderful breakfast, coffee and perfect space for meeting.
We hope to see you all next time.
Scone Horse Festival
Scone Horse Festival contacted the Scone Chamber to help support a pilot campaign of the NEIGHbour-Art Initiative whereby wooden horse cut-outs were sold to local businesses to decorate and display in time for the upcoming 2021 Scone Horse Festival. We could not have ever imagined how successful this would be with 200 horses sold over a 2 week period, with a small sample shown above. You can check out more of the horses on our Facebook Page. Please also feel free to post your own artworks on Facebook tagging the Chamber and using the hashtag #NEIGHbourArt.
More details on winners will be announced shortly.
We apologise if you were not able to get access to a horse this year however, we could never have anticipated the astonishing level of community uptake and our materials were well and truly exhausted before being able to offer a horse to all businesses. As this was only a trial, we are hoping to make it bigger and better every year.
What’s Happening?
As part of the new capacity driven by the newly appointed Business Development Officer, we will now be starting to formalise our annual calendar of Chamber events which will include:
Chamber Breakfasts – Quarterly
Chamber Workshops – Bi-Monthly
Local Business Expo – Annually
Chamber Christmas Party – Annual
Members Dinner – Annual
And more…
Stay tuned for more information on upcoming events.
Upper Hunter By-Election Meet the Candidates
The Muswellbrook Chamber of Commerce has arranged a ‘Meet the Candidates’ evening in the lead up to the Upper Hunter by-election by which is also inviting Scone Chamber Members and all Upper Hunter businesses and community members to attend.
All candidates have been invited to attend and give a brief introduction and outline of policies.
Date: Thursday 6th May
Time: 5pm for a 5.30pm start. (estimated finish 7pm/7.30pm)
Venue: Muswellbrook RSL Auditorium
Entry is free and all are welcome.
Registration is essential to meet Covid-19 requirements. To book, email names to: info@muswellbrookchamber.com.
Featured Business
As part of our Member benefits, we offer a business directory listing on our website. To further promote our local businesses, we plan to start featuring our members with a featured story as part of a scone chamber content calendar. All of our members will form part of this initiative over time and we appreciate your patience as we develop this exciting new project. If you are a member with something interesting to share and would like to be considered as a feature please contact us.
THE BUTTERED SCONE – SET TO TAKE A NEW DIRECTION
After living and working in outback Australia among our first nations people as an anthropologist for many years, Jillian Lennon and her family of 3 adult children were ready for a new adventure. They all agreed it would be lovely to start a small family business where they could all work closely together, while also starting families of their own…
BECOME A MEMBER
The Scone Chamber relies on memberships to exist. By becoming a member, you are helping a local organisation support local business. Chamber memberships also help to build a strong and connected local business community – whereby we are all working together. Membership is only $110 per year and comes with an array of Member benefits, where our members always come first.