New faces, vision for Douglas Chamber of Commerce
POSITIVE RENEWAL
Douglas Chamber of Commerce has had new life breathed into it and rescued itself from the brink of extinction, with a new management committee.
After many months of uncertainty and doubts about the Chamber’s future, enthusiastic members attended an extraordinary meeting at the Mossman Bowls Club just 48 hours ago – with an adequate number to be able to elect a new management committee.
Jeremy Blockey, a tropical fruit farm and bed and breakfast owner from the Daintree, has stepped up to become the Chamber’s new President, with Pia McKeown from Mossman’s Temptations Café taking on one of two Vice President roles.
“Everybody seemed to be on the same page last night and everybody was interested in rescuing the Chamber, so it was very, very good. I’m very pleased and happy,” the Chamber’s Co-ordinator, Suzanne Robson said.
The Chamber had been concerned that if the requisite number of board members could not be filled, it may have needed to wind up operations. But against the odds, the new committee has been appointed and is ready to move forward with a key strategy of raising funds and holding major events like business awards.
New beginning
“It’s a fresh, whole new beginning as far as I’m concerned, there’s so much we want to do.” Ms Robson said.
“We haven’t drawn down Council funds because we didn’t feel we were able to utilise them properly. It was $20,000 last financial year and $10,000 this financial year – we’ve missed out on all that.
“We to try to find a way to replace all that and add some so that we can do things like the business awards and apprenticeship awards, all the things that we want to do.”
New President, Jeremy Blockey said they also want to generate more interest from the Douglas business community to get behind the Chamber and realise that it is important to have a voice when dealing with Council and state and federal governments.
“It’s really about trying to elevate the profile of the organisation, saying ‘yes there is an organisation out there trying to do things’”, Mr Blockey said.
“We need the support of members and we need a broader membership base.”