Well, it is certainly looking a lot like Christmas in Scone. We have been celebrating here at the Chamber as well as celebrating our local business community throughout our ‘Christmas on Kelly’ initiative. With NSW now open for business and most restrictions eased for the entire community, it’s an exciting time for all. However, uncertainty still looms as variations of the COVID virus become apparent and outbreaks are seen taking place close to home. As always, the Chamber are here for our community and are planning for various outcomes.
Christmas on Kelly
What a night! Thank you so much to all our local businesses, market stalls, food vendors, entertainers, buskers, sponsors, community members and volunteers. The night was an absolute success only because of everyone’s joint and mammoth efforts. The weather even held up perfectly, with a storm passing only a few kms away.
The Chamber are hoping to run the Christmas on Kelly event on a yearly basis and was asked by Council only a couple of weeks prior if we would take the reins this year. Which we gladly accepted. While not a lot of time was available for planning and implementing in 2021, we were yet again astounded at just how well this beautiful community comes together when needed. What a great place to live and work. We believe Christmas on Kelly will be even bigger and better next year with a little more time up our sleeves to pull it all together.
A special mention to Scone Outdoors, for your generously donating generators, making it possible to power some of our local food vendors, Santa, for his tireless efforts putting smiles on kid’s faces, Council for helping with road closures and general support, our volunteers and community members for all your time, and our major financial sponsor AGL Without all your generous contributions we could not have pulled together this event. Thank you.
Chamber Christmas Party
Thanks to all those who attended our Christmas function on the 25th of November at The Thoroughbred. A great night was had by our members, board, staff and business community. We loved seeing you all and hearing about how businesses is going and your plans for the future.
Thank you to Jack and the staff for their amazing hospitality and thanks to Chris London for entertaining the crowd (both young and old).
We look forward to lots more networking with our Chamber members in the new year so keep an eye out for some amazing events we’ve got lined up in 2022.
Literary Fest’ Business Breakfast 2022
Speaking of amazing events, Scone Chamber is excited to partner with Scone Literary Festival by hosting an incredibly amazing Literary Festival Breakfast.
We invite our entire business community to come along to be both inspired and informed by some of the best digital entrepreneurs and specialists in the industry.
To kick off the Scone Literary Festival as well as support Small Business Month, the Scone Chamber is hosting a ‘Literary Fest Breakfast 2022’. We have worked together with the festival committee to put together an absolutely cracking line-up of exciting speakers. The festival prides itself on only inviting the best of the best presenters and workshop facilitators, and this event is no exception. Get ready for one of our biggest and best Scone Chamber breakfasts ever!
With the festival being about ‘the love of words’ – the theme of this breakfast will focus on effective online communication through social, podcasting and online selling.
DETAILS
Scone Race Club
Friday, 11 March 2022
7-9am
Members $40
Non-Members $50
Includes Breakfast, Tea and Coffee, catered by The Hunted Gourmet
Lucy Bingle, LinkedIn Strategist and CEO of Lucy Bingle – LinkedIn Marketing Agency
Darren Saul, Podcaster and Social Media Strategist
Angela Lavender, Entrepreneur and Founder of Country Culture
Read more about speakers below.
Special Offer: Each Scone Chamber ‘Literary Fest Breakfast’ 2022 ticket holder will receive 20% off workshops being run by each of our individual guest speakers throughout the Scone Literary Festival 2022 long weekend.
Tickets are limited. Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity.
Meet the Candidates
As the community planned on getting to the polls for local elections, candidates from the Upper Hunter Shire come to speak to the Chamber and our community on Tuesday, October 26, the week of the election. The night was a great success with many issues being raised and answered by many. Each candidate had a chance to speak about themselves and then answer questions from the community. The Chamber posed the first question:
“Where is local business in terms of priority for you and how do you plan to support local business if you are elected”
While each candidate gave a positive response to the questions on business and investment, that of course business is important to local community and Council, there was surprisingly little emphasis on economic development across the board when each candidate spoke initially. We are hoping that these questions helped to prompt and emphasise the importance of supporting business, economic development and building strong relationships with business and business partners now and into the future. The Chamber emphasis Scone as a place to Live, Work and Invest. These are the pillars of our purpose and why we are here.
Other areas of focus from the night were around environmental sustainability, development and building processes, town planning and revitalisation.
COVID UPDATE
From 15 December 2021 most COVID-19 restrictions will be eased for all people in NSW. This is the biggest change in restrictions for many months and would be considered the closest to pre-pandemic living we have seen so far. Here is a snapshot of how things are changing:
No Density Limits
There will be no density limits for any settings.
Covid Safety Plan Optional
Another change for businesses is that COVID safety plans will be optional.
No Proof of Vaccination Required
Vaccination status will no longer need to be checked.
QR Codes reduced
Most settings will see QR code check-ins no longer required.
However, QR code check-ins will still be required for some settings including:
- hospitals
- aged and disability care facilities
- gyms
- places of worship
- funerals or memorial services
- personal services (including sex services)
- pubs, small bars and registered clubs
- nightclubs
- strip clubs
- indoor music festivals with more than 1,000 people.
Mask Wearing
Masks will no longer be required in most settings:
You will be required to wear a mask:
- on public transport
- on planes
- at airports
- Front-of-house hospitality employees who are not vaccinated will need to continue to wear a mask.
While this is an exciting time let’s remember that that pandemic is not over yet. There are still many cases being seen across NSW and in the Hunter.
Business NSW CEO Daniel Hunter said: “This is the early Christmas present businesses across NSW needed, with trading conditions basically back to pre-pandemic levels, due to the way NSW embraced vaccination. We do have to remain vigilant against the virus, and I think residents will show a great deal of common sense with how they interact with business owners and their staff, particularly in smaller businesses,” said Mr Hunter.
Be sure to stay up to date with information on restrictions. For more information visit the Service NSW website.
Signing off for 2021
The Chamber will be taking a short break over the Christmas and New Year period, commencing Christmas shutdowns from today and reopening the week of the 10th of January. We wish you all a very merry Christmas and New Year with your friends and family and look forward to an exciting and optimistic 2022 ahead.
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