Posted on 15th July 2011 by Mick Carling in Uncategorized
Chesham, Chesham Business, Chesham High Street
The Chesham Chamber of Trade & Commerce and Better Chesham recently announced an awards scheme to recognise the contribution made by our shops, cafes, pubs and market traders to the local economy. By voting for your favourites you will be letting the traders know what you think are the best establishments which will hopefully help to raise the standards of those that miss out on the awards.
You can vote online by going to the Better Chesham Website. There are two categories ”Retailer of The Year” and “Hospitality Outlet of the Year” so vote for your favourite and put them on the map.
Posted on 26th June 2011 by Mick Carling in Uncategorized
Chesham, Green Living, Transition Town
Yesterday’s Green Fair and Local Produce Market, organised by Transition Town Chesham and Chesham Town Council, proved a great success pulling in visitors from far and wide.
In addition to the usual range of fantastic local produce, the Fair extended up the High Street with an array of stalls highlighting green living. There was advice on composting, a campaign to introduce public orchards, Wish trees and a whole of others.
Better Chesham was also there manning a shared stall with Transition Town collecting signatures for a campaign to bring a family freindly restaurant into the town centre. After only 4 hours we raised 250 signatures and overwhelming support for the idea. All the signatures will be sent along with a dossier outlining the advantages of Chesham will be sent to headquarters of restaurant operators around the country over the next couple of weeks.
Posted on 23rd June 2011 by Mick Carling in Uncategorized
Chesham Business, Chesham High Street
Whenever we ask the question, “What does Chesham need?” the answer is inveriably “A good, family freindly Italian restaurant. It is certainly true that we have some great Indian and Chinese food in the town but often kids want pasta and pizza. So, we are launching a campaign to bring a family friendly Italian into town.
On Saturday 25th June Better Chesham will join forces with Chesham Transition Town to launch a petition to collect signatures to be presented to all the leading restaurant chains. We don’t mind if it is Pizza Express, Prezzo, ZaZa or whoever. Surely, one of them must see the commercial potential of a town the size of Chesham.
If you would like to see a European family friendly restaurant in town then come down to market square and seek us out. We will have a stall at the Green Fair where you and the family can sign the petition.
Posted on 13th June 2011 by Mick Carling in Uncategorized
Amersham, Court, victim support
Amersham Crown Court are currently looking for people aged 18+ who would be willing to spare a day week (if they wish to volunteer more than once a week that is also welcomed!). They would be supporting victims and witnesses of crimes whilst at court before they are due to give evidence.
They may also be asked to show the witnesses around the courtroom either on the day of the trial, or often before the trial is due to start some weeks before.
Full training will be provided, and out of pocket expenses will also be paid for.
We would ask them to come in for an informal interview to explain a little bit about what we do, and what they would like to get out of it etc.
They would also be subjected to an Enhanced CRB check.
Further information can be obtained from Carly Snead on 07852 992073 and on carly.snead@victimsupport.org.uk.
Posted on 3rd May 2011 by Mick Carling in Uncategorized
Chesham, Data Centres
Matterhorn Capital Data Centres – Invest in Chesham
Great News for the town as Matterhorn Capital Data Centres invest heavily in Chesham. If I read the press release correctly then Chesham will be home to one of the most sophisticated Data Centres in the country with it’s own onsite power generation. Chesham enters the world of high tech through one of the hottest growth areas in the tech sector. Below is a extract from the press release that is making headlines around the world. And if you don’t believe me just Google Matterhorn Capital Data Centres and see the press interest that this has generated.
Matterhorn Capital Data Centres (“MCDC” or “the Company”) GBP250 Million Investment in new Data Centre Sites
LONDON, May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — MCDC, the data centre division of Matterhorn Capital, formally announces a GBP250 million investment in two landmark data centre sites in South East England. The investment comprises purchase of the sites and construction capital expenditure. Both new data centre sites have full planning consent.
The sites in Bury Green, Hertfordshire, and Chesham, Buckinghamshire, will house over 180,000 sq ft of data hall space and will showcase the latest design of data centres in Europe, strengthening the UK’s position as the data centre capital of Europe. MCDC’s Chesham site is the only UK data centre site with onsite power, while Bury Green is currently in negotiations with a power provider and the discussions are expected to conclude shortly. New state of the art sites, such as those owned by MCDC, are designed to meet a complete range of commercial needs, while providing clients with far greater efficiency, thereby reducing power requirement.
See the full press release
Posted on 26th April 2011 by Mick Carling in Uncategorized
Chesham Business, Chesham High Street
The Better Chesham Group formed to re-vitalise trade in central Chesham has launched a new website. The site will outline news and progress around the campaign and features a survey to understand what shoppers, traders and other interested parties expect from the town.
This is your chance to have a say in the future of our high street so please participate to help us understand your needs.
The site complements the localchesham.org business directory launched last year by the Chesham Chamber of Trade & Commerce.
Posted on 7th April 2011 by Mick Carling in Uncategorized
Aitchison Raffety, Business Rates, Chesham Chamber
If you think your business rates are too high – you need to attend this Business4Business Breakfast organised by Chesham Chamber of Commerce. 12th April at Chesham Town Hall 7.45 – 9.45. Miles O’Brian of Aitchison Raffety will be talking about ”HOW TO REDUCE YOUR BUSINESS RATES”. This is a really topical subject and they are one of the leading advisers in the area. The figures speak for themselves 80% of their cases are successful and deliver an average of 15% reduction in paid rates. What’s even better their fees are based on performance.
So you can save money, enjoy a great English breakfast and network with other businesses in area. It’s a great opportunity to compare notes. It’s only £15 for Chamber Members and £20 for anyone else.
Call 0800 0273842 or email secretary@cheshamchamber.org for booking info.
Posted on 7th April 2011 by Mick Carling in Uncategorized
Chesham, Chesham High Street
The working group to secure the future of Chesham High Street is gathering pace. We now have a growing number of interested members including retailers, the District and County Councils, Management Consultants, local stakeholders such as The Chamber of Commerce, ChAP and the newly formed market co-operative. The Bucks Examiner ran an article this week to boost interest and have promised to keep a keen eye on progress.
The group want to have the opinion of all those who use or make a living from our high street and have set up a message board on the LocalChesham.org website. Please have your say on what you think would make the high street a better place. It is the heart of our community and your opinions will make a big difference in the way Chesham moves forward.
Posted on 8th March 2011 by Mick Carling in Uncategorized
Chesham, Chesham Chamber, Chesham High Street, Linkedin Group
I recently started a Linkedin Group for the Chesham Chamber of Trade & Commerce. The idea was to get some debate going between local business people. I had no idea whether it would work or not since I was unsure how “connected” Chesham was. I was amazed when the first post elicited over 22 coments and the membership grew from 0 – 17 in just over a week.
The discussion was about the future of our high street and the reaction was quite amazing. It seems that despite people being inundated with work to keep their businesses alive and well, they took time out to put forward some very constructive ideas about how we could improve our high street and make it fit for purpose in this modern world.
What did surprise me was that only one of the contributors to the discussion had a shop in the High Street. I am not sure whether this is because Linkedin is the wrong platform to reach show owners or if it is early days for the group, it is however, a bit sad. I guess the High Street is an emotive issue for everyone in a town and certainly the people that did contribute showed a lot of love and concern for what is seen as a slow deterioration of our most valuable social space.
If you are a trader/shop or business owner in Chesham please join the debate. You can reach the page at by following this Link.
Posted on 4th March 2011 by Mick Carling in Uncategorized
MP's Expenses, Public standards
According to Joe Fay of the Register, following the recent MP’s Expenses fiasco, the shiny new Parliamentary Standards Authority set up to ensure that we the taxpayer get better value from our elected representatives has to date spent £2.2 million on IT alone. In the same period it has managed to pay MP’s expenses worth £9 million and has rejected nearly 2000 claims which were not considered appropriate. The value of rejected claims was just £144,000. That is what the public sector calls Value. To read more follow this link to the Register.
