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GHCCC President's Report
Glasshouse Country Chamber of Commerce Update – March 2010
Last week I attended the official opening of the new million dollar Interpretative facility at the Glasshouse Mountains Visitor Information Centre and it looks great. It is a wonderful addition to our area and it will be an invaluable asset for our tourist operators and those businesses that indirectly benefit from increased tourists to our area. I would really encourage all businesses to visit the centre and judge for themselves.
The Chamber’s Committee is once again operating at full strength with Ursula Starkovski of About Real Estate in Beerwah agreeing to take on the role of Treasurer – thanks Ursula it is a vital role and it was great to see you volunteering your time for the benefit of our members.
And while it may not always be easy to fill executive positions, we are definitely not having any trouble increasing our membership. We have now increased our members to around 60, with a significant number of these businesses regularly attending meetings.
A number of the new members have said that one of the reasons they have joined is to network with other local businesses, as a result we have decided to develop a number of informal opportunities for this to happen.
Our Marketing Sub-Committee has developed an events calendar for the year and our next meeting on Wednesday, March 17 will be held at the Beerwah Hotel from 5.30pm – 7.00pm. There is no charge to attend the evening, hot and cold nibblies will be provided and the only cost will be if guests purchase drinks.
So if you would like to come along please RSVP by phoning Sarah at Glasshouse Country News on 5494 6066 or email our secretary, Janelle at glasshouseccc@gmail.com
Kel McNamara (President)
Owner, KLM Energy Services,
Glass House Mountains
Glasshouse Country Chamber of Commerce Update – February 2010
Hello and welcome to 2010. After a well deserved break for Christmas the Glass House Country Chamber of Commerce is back and ready to kick some more goals this year.
Signage in Beerwah
While there has been some additional directional signage installed in Beerwah since the overpass project has been completed, the Chamber is not completely satisfied that their needs are being met. Late last year I met with Mark McArdle to discuss nine issues the Chambers believe need to be rectified, both for the benefit of members and for the safety of road users. I will follow up with Mark on the outcomes of that meeting and report back at our next meeting.
National Landscapes Project
Last week I attended the first meeting of the Glass House Mountains National Landscapes Project, organised by Andrew Powell. The meeting was well attended by a broad range of local groups and there seems to be plenty of support for having our area listed as unique Cultural / Heritage tourism destination.
New Website
In December the Chamber finalised an agreement with local Website Developer Ben Foster of Flyesoft Pty Ltd to create our dynamic new website. The committee will work closely with Ben to ensure the website will be a valuable asset to the area and in particular our members. There will be a strong focus on both local business and tourism. We look forward to launching the website before the end of this financial year.
Phone Book Covers
Work is now underway for the phone book covers promoting membership of the Chamber of Commerce. As we now represent the entire region of Glasshouse Country extending from Beerburrum right through to Mooloolah we will be distributing 10,000 of the phone book covers at the time the new Yellow Pages are distributed to the area.
Membership
Our membership drive is going well with 12 new members accepted at our December meeting and additional new memberships to be put forward at our February meeting.
If you have been thinking about joining the local Chamber of Commerce then now is the time to get organised. If you would like a nomination form sent to you please contact our secretary – Janelle Lochart at glasshouseccc@gmail.com and she will email the form out to you.
Next general meeting
The association’s next meeting will be on Wednesday, February 17 at the Glasshouse Mountains Sports Club at 5.30pm. All current and potential members are welcome to come along.
Kel McNamara (President)
Owner, KLM Energy Services,
Glass House Mountains
Glasshouse Country Chamber of Commerce Update – November 2009
Don’t miss your chance to be on the phone book cover
Work is currently underway for the 2010 phone book cover, so if you have wondered how you can get your business featured on it then now is the time to do something about it.
You need to become a member of the Chamber and pay your membership fee of $100.00 before December 31. To have a membership form sent to you please email our secretary Janelle on glasshouseccc@gmail.com
Council’s ‘Our Plan – Our Future’
The Sunshine Coast Regional Council is currently undertaking their consultation for their new planning scheme and we need to make sure we provide our comments by December 7.
We will be having Council’s Manager of Strategic Planning, John Winsbury attending our next meeting at the Glasshouse Mountains Sports Club on Wednesday, November 19 at 6.30pm to give members and guests the opportunity to have their say. If you would like to come attend please RSVP to Janelle on to glasshouseccc@gmail.com
I believe that one of the most critical factors for local business is that there is additional Industrial land provided for businesses to expand and locate in our area. For years I have been saying this and my comments have been ignored. This time I believe we need the outside assistance of a professional to compile our response to Council in a manner that will make sure that finally Council will take on board our views and act on them!
We have formed a sub-committee to take on this project and I am keen to find other local business people who may be interested in participating in developing our response to Council. If you would like to discuss this idea further please contact me on klmservices@ozemail.com.au
Each day thousands of people drive out of our towns to go to work outside the area – if there were more opportunities for industry to develop here it would be great for the local businesses as well as local employment, the overall local business economy we could also reduce our carbon footprint and there would be some savings for the hip-pocket.
Pink Ribbon Breakfast
The association hosted a really successful ‘Pink Ribbon’ breakfast to raise funds for research and awareness of breast cancer at the Beerwah RSL with almost 100 guests attending.
With the combination of a $5.00 donation from each ticket purchased as well as the guests’ generous raffle purchases more than $1,800.00 was raised on the morning, which is a really great effort by all involved.
Thanks to all of those businesses who donated prizes and more importantly those that encouraged their staff to attend. With four banks in Beerwah and Westpac on the way, all five were well represented on the day. Along with the girls from the Beerwah RSL, GCNews, Accounting and Tax, and Custom Curtains.
Visioning Workshop
An enthusiastic group of Chamber members recently spent a spirited couple of hours at a visioning workshop held in the clubhouse at Eden in Glasshouse Country. This professional workshop was run by Sunshine Coast Enterprises CEO, Gerry Carr McFie and it proved to be a really valuable experience in creating the basis for our organisations future plans. We look forward to moving on to the next stage of this planning.
Membership
If you have been thinking about joining the Business Association then now is the time to get organised. If you would like a nomination form send a request through to our new secretary – Janelle Lockhart at glasshouseccc@gmail.com and she will email the form out to you.
Next general meeting
The association’s next meeting will be on Wednesday, November 19 at the Glasshouse Sports Club at 5.30pm. All current and potential members are welcome to come along, please RSVP to our secretary Janelle Lockhart via email glasshouseccc@gmail.com
Kel McNamara (President)
Owner, KLM Energy Services,
Glass House Mountains
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