Chamber executive is "fighting members' case" - President

Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Tourism president Ainsley Gill was explaining to a St Valentine's Day working breakfast at the Cooden Beach Hotel the work that the chamber does on members' behalf.

"I have been asked 'What exactly does the chamber do?' The question is asked in a way that implies 'Does the chamber do anything?'

"I know I may be preaching a little bit to the converted in this room. Most of you know some of the things that the chamber does for its members and for the benefit of the whole town.

"The committee is made up of volunteers and we all give our time and efforts."

He listed key chamber initiatives:

*The Christmas late-night promotion

*The Anglo-Continental market

*The Bexhill Achievers Awards - in association with the Bexhill Observer

*Networking events such as the working breakfasts

*Putting out information to members regularly by e-mail

*Supporting Bexhill In Bloom

*Dealing with members' queries via chamber communications officer Sue Spice

*Involvement in the production of the Town Guide

The president said: "There is a current issue that we are working on on behalf of members, particularly the accommodation-providers, in connection with the Town Guide.

"You probably don't know how widespread the distribution of the guide is. Some 80,000 to 85,000 copies go out across the UK and abroad.

"There are often requests from far-away places, some you might not think would be interested in Bexhill.

"Liverpool and Manchester request many copies of the Bexhill Guide. The guide is a very important document for promoting Bexhill.

"There is a move to curtail or cut down the guide significantly; to produce two very small pull-out leaflets rather than a full Bexhill Guide and we don't believe that this is a positive way forward so we are fighting the case for our members.

"There is an awful lot of work that the chamber committee does, some of it in the background. But whatever we do we always have the interests of our members at heart."