From the frontline

A local producers’ market will take place in Chesham on Saturday 22nd May. This is a really welcome development and will allow local people to get on board to support local farmers and producers. It has to be a win-win for everyone.

Reducing food miles and supporting sustainable food production is key to reducing our community’s carbon footprint. But more important is the fact that local, fresh food tastes better and has more vitamins and minerals than food that has traveled all around the world before it gets to supermarket shelves.

Well done to Chesham Town Council and Chesham in Transition, who have teamed up to organise this event. The market is also being supported by Chesham Action Partnership (the town’s revitalisation group),Chiltern District Council and the Chesham Chamber of Trade and Commerce. There will be all-day free parking in Water Meadow car park for shoppers.

I recently had a coffee with another member of our chamber of commerce and was surprised to hear that Chesham boasts over one thousand businesses ranging from sole traders to multinational organisations. It seems also that many of them are doing quite well under the current circumstances.

It was only then that I started to notice the amount of offices around the back of the High Street and tucked away in the little yards that help to define the character of our town. Then I began to notice the number of small trading estates and the business park. I began to feel quite proud of the place because the town has managed to accommodate so many enterprises and yet retained it’s character so well.

Chesham feels like a community, it has great shops, a successful theatre, several music venues, and perhaps the most cafes and coffee shops of any town I know. It’s a town for people, where business can exist in harmony with the needs of the community without creating a concrete jungle of office blocks and factories. I feel lucky to live here and long may it last