Late in 2008, I was delighted and honoured to be elected the President of the Melksham Chamber of Commerce and Industry - something of a figurehead role in which I can listen to the views of businesses in the town, and advocate the shared business views both within the town and further afield. Here, starting 2009, are a few words looking forward that I have penned for The Chamber's New Year Message. Other "Chamber related" material is indexed here

2009 will be a challenging year for businesses big and small; a rapidly changing economy will create both winners and losers, and all businesses will need to adapt and adopt to thrive.

In Wiltshire, we're seeing political changes too. The new Unitary Wiltshire Council takes over from the two tiers of District and County in the Spring, and already the officers of the new council are talking about the tightness of their budgets, and of working for "Salisbury, Trowbridge and Chippenham" - their words, which should act as an alert to the other towns in the new authority, such as Melksham, that they need to raise their voices to ensure their interests are fully considered.

In Melksham, a new supermarket has just opened, another is in planning and an existing store is planning expansion. And although we see the occasional empty shop front, the town is more vibrant than many others in the Wessex Chambers area. And these very developments can bring their own problems - with serious traffic congestion, parking demand in excess of supply in the central car park at times, and road works which also discourage business.

Melksham is also home to a wide range of industrial businesses, scattered around the edge of the town. It never ceases to amaze me to see a "Melksham" address crop up in the most unexpected of worldwide marketing literature - from railway components through tyres and furniture to disaster appeals and lighting supplies. Much of this business is traditional, and much of it is online too - Melksham's thriving virtual community. And all of this activity, which brings jobs and prosperity to the area, needs stores and housing and schools and medical and other services and transport fit to support the business activity.

A new school to open in 2010 - the Melksham Oak Community School - is under construction. The site of the George Ward, which it replaces, is earmarked for replacement by additional housing, and some 750 new homes have been approved for the east of the town. That's in addition to recently completed expansions in areas such as Bowerhill. Expansion is set to continue, with the Regional Spatial Strategy planning growth of around 50% by 2016. The big stores who are coming to the town and expanding here know of these plans, and are thinking forward. Recent new medical centres, and the school changes, also look to the future. But in some other areas, work remains to be done. All road routes are already congested to the point of discouraging traffic at peak times, and the current train service to Melksham station are totally inappropriate for the needs of people travelling to and from the town and its businesses.

Melksham Chamber of Commerce and Industry exists to support the current, and future, needs of all businesses which operate in the town and surrounding area. From immediate issues and concerns, through training and networking programs and marketing of the town to planning for the future for businesses and the people who work for, and are customers of, those businesses. Many of our activities are such that a wider perspective is useful, and we're proud to be members of the Wessex Association of Chambers of Commerce.

We look forward to supporting your through Chamber activities in 2009 - to seeing you at events ranging from our meetings to Party in the Park and to the Council's budget meeting, to helping you with training and networking, or perhaps just to keeping you informed through our regular mailings of matters relevant to Melksham Businesses.

Upcoming diary events (Chamber and some others!)

Thu 18th Mar • pastWaitrose new store opens in Melksham - [link]
Wed 24th Mar •  Melksham Area Board meeting, 7 p.m. - [link]
Sun 28th Mar •  British Summer Time begins
Thu 1st Apr •  Wiltshire School Term ends - [link]
Fri 2nd Apr •  Good Friday [link]
Mon 5th Apr •  Easter Monday [link]
Sat 10th Apr •  Trainwest Model Railway Exhibition, Christie Miller Sports Centre - [link]
Sun 11th Apr •  Trainwest Model Railway Exhibition, Christie Miller Sports Centre - [link]
Tue 13th Apr •  Melksham Chamber of Commerce - Themed Meeting - Car Parking [link]
Mon 19th Apr •  Wiltshire School Term starts - [link]
Thu 22nd Apr •  Melksham Chamber of Commerce - networking breakfast
Fri 23rd Apr •  St George's Day
Sun 25th Apr • [prov] Hustings for General Election, arranged by Melksham family of churches - [link]
Wed 28th Apr •  Strictly Murder opens, Arc Theatre, Trowbridge
Fri 30th Apr • [est] Melksham Carnival - final date for float entries - [link]
Fri 30th Apr •  Melksham Twinning Association to Avon, France - [link]
Fri 30th Apr •  Badminton Horse Trial open - [link]
Sat 1st May •  Strictly Murder last night, Arc Theatre, Trowbridge
Mon 3rd May •  May Day Bank Holiday
Mon 3rd May •  Badminton Horse Trial close - [link]
Thu 13th May •  Melksham Community Area Partnership - Steering Commiteee Meeting - [link]
Sat 15th May • [est] Melksham Carnival - final date for Carnival Queen / Princess entries - [link]
Sat 15th May •  FA Cup Final
Sun 16th May • [prov] Hustings for General Election, arranged by Melksham family of churches - [link]
Tue 18th May •  Melksham Chamber of Commerce - AGM, and Canal presentation [link]
Wed 26th May •  Melksham Area Board meeting, 7 p.m. - [link]
Fri 28th May •  Wiltshire School Term ends - [link]
Sun 30th May • [est] Melksham Carnival - final date for baby competition entries - [link]
Mon 31st May •  Spring Bank Holiday
Thu 3rd Jun •  Last possible date for UK General Election
Mon 7th Jun •  Wiltshire School Term starts - [link]
Fri 11th Jun •  Football World Cup - first match - [link]
Tue 15th Jun •  Melksham Chamber of Commerce - Themed Meeting [link]
Sun 20th Jun •  Father's Day
Tue 22nd Jun •  Melksham Chamber of Commerce - networking lunch
Sun 4th Jul •  Town Crier Competition, Melksham - [link]
Sun 11th Jul •  Football World Cup - final - [link]
Thu 15th Jul •  Melksham Community Area Partnership - Steering Commiteee Meeting - [link]
Sat 17th Jul •  Melksham Carnival - [link]
Sat 17th Jul •  Party in the Park - Melksham [link]
Tue 20th Jul •  Melksham Chamber of Commerce - Visit to Melksham Oak Community College [link]
Fri 23rd Jul •  Wiltshire School Term ends - [link]
Wed 28th Jul •  Melksham Area Board meeting, 7 p.m. - [link]
Mon 30th Aug •  August Bank Holiday
Wed 1st Sep •  Wiltshire School Term starts - [link]
Tue 7th Sep •  Melksham Chamber of Commerce - Regular Meeting [link]
Wed 8th Sep •  Melksham Area Board meeting, 7 p.m. - [link]
Thu 16th Sep •  Melksham Community Area Partnership - Steering Commiteee Meeting - [link]
Thu 30th Sep •  Visit from Avon, France to Melksham Twinning Association - [link]
Tue 12th Oct •  Melksham Chamber of Commerce - Themed Meeting [link]
Wed 13th Oct •  Melksham Area Board meeting, 7 p.m. - [link]
Fri 22nd Oct •  Wiltshire School Term ends - [link]
Sun 31st Oct •  British Summer Time ends
Mon 1st Nov •  Wiltshire School Term starts - [link]
Tue 16th Nov •  Melksham Chamber of Commerce - Regular Meeting [link]
Thu 18th Nov •  Melksham Community Area Partnership - Steering Commiteee Meeting - [link]
Wed 1st Dec •  Melksham Area Board meeting, 7 p.m. - [link]
Fri 17th Dec •  Wiltshire School Term ends - [link]
Sat 25th Dec •  Christmas Day
Sun 26th Dec •  Boxing Day
Mon 27th Dec •  Bank Holiday (per pro Christmas Day)
Tue 28th Dec •  Bank Holiday (per pro Boxing Day)
Tue 4th Jan 2011 •  Wiltshire School Term starts - [link]
Thu 13th Jan 2011 •  Melksham Community Area Partnership - Steering Commiteee Meeting - [link]
Wed 2nd Feb 2011 •  Melksham Area Board meeting, 7 p.m. - [link]
Thu 17th Mar 2011 •  Melksham Community Area Partnership - Steering Commiteee Meeting - [link]
Sun 27th Mar 2011 •  National Census - [link]
Fri 22nd Apr 2011 •  Badminton Horse Trial open - [link]
Mon 25th Apr 2011 •  Badminton Horse Trial close - [link]
Thu 19th May 2011 •  Melksham Community Area Partnership - Steering Commiteee Meeting - [link]
Thu 14th Jul 2011 •  Melksham Community Area Partnership - Steering Commiteee Meeting - [link]
Thu 15th Sep 2011 •  Melksham Community Area Partnership - Steering Commiteee Meeting - [link]
Thu 17th Nov 2011 •  Melksham Community Area Partnership - Steering Commiteee Meeting - [link]
Fri 27th Jul 2012 •  Olympic Games Open
Sun 12th Aug 2012 •  Olympic Games Close
Tue 10th Mar 2015 •  Partial Eclipse (UK) [link]

(written 2009-01-05 07:42:37)

 Z402 - Melksham Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  [2683] Car Parking in Melksham - (2010-03-18)
  [2666] Random thoughts on Melksham Town Planning and development - (2010-03-08)
  [2640] How is your tax pound spent? - (2010-02-18)
  [2594] Melksham Area - your community view is sought - (2010-01-23)
  [2568] Forums for your Melksham and open source discussions - (2010-01-09)
  [2546] How well do you know Melksham - a quiz for Christmas - (2009-12-21)
  [2544] Vision for Wiltshire - (2009-12-20)
  [2531] Melksham - new Tuesday Market - (2009-12-09)
  [2521] Melksham Market - Tuesdays, 09:00 to 14:00 - (2009-12-01)
  [2514] The road show has been - where now? - (2009-11-27)
  [2508] Community Area Partnership - inaugural AGM - (2009-11-20)
  [2495] Planning the future of Wiltshire - (2009-11-07)
  [2487] Melksham Forum - (2009-11-01)
  [2465] Melksham Town - asleep or awake? - (2009-10-21)
  [2459] New Web Site for Melksham Chamber of Commerce - (2009-10-18)
  [2437] Wiltshire Unitary News - Chamber of Commerce Intelligence - (2009-10-04)
  [2328] Melksham - no trains, no southbound buses through the town - (2009-08-08)
  [2289] pre-Inaugural briefing - Melksham Community Area Partnership - (2009-07-15)
  [2288] Wiltshire Community Area Partnerships - (2009-07-15)
  [2260] Important - the future of Melksham / Chamber of Commerce - (2009-06-28)
  [2220] Melksham Traders - where do we go? - (2009-06-05)
  [2194] Melksham Business Map - Chamber of Commerce, Tourist Information and Town Council - (2009-05-21)
  [2181] You cannot please all of the people all of the time - (2009-05-14)
  [2119] Make your business a DESTINATION business - (2009-04-05)
  [2111] Business Networking for Melksham - 23rd April - (2009-04-01)
  [2095] Blue Ridge and Melksham Chambers of Commerce - (2009-03-21)
  [2043] Confidence, Customer Service and Tourism in Melksham - (2009-02-15)
  [1987] One Cheer for Local Democracy - Asda in Melksham - (2009-01-11)
  [1934] Lidl opens in Melksham - (2008-12-11)
  [1904] Ruby, Perl, Linux, MySQL - some training notes - (2008-11-23)
  [1892] Melksham Chamber of Commerce and Industry - (2008-11-17)
  [1881] Wiltshire Council says - part 1 - (2008-11-13)
  [1792] All the pieces fall into place - hotel and courses - (2008-09-10)
  [1748] Hotel room prices - Melksham, Wiltshire - (2008-08-11)
  [1642] Summer! - (2008-05-15)
  [1633] Changing a screen saver from a web page (PHP, Perl, OSX) - (2008-05-06)
  [1507] Comments on proposed Asda Superstore for Melksham - (2008-01-14)
  [1504] Flooding by Asda-s proposed new supermarket - (2008-01-12)
  [1476] Shopping for Christmas and looking forward - (2007-12-17)
  [1432] Wiltshire County Council - Budget Consultation - (2007-11-15)
  [1429] Remembrance day - inside a church and inside the day - (2007-11-11)
  [1250] Business speed networking - a place tonight! - (2007-06-28)
  [1223] Asda opening large new store in Melksham - (2007-06-08)
  [717] A customer service company - (2006-05-11)

Z100 - Daily life
  [2580] C course inspires new teaching examples - (2010-01-16)
  [2450] Family Gathering at 404, The Spa - (2009-10-11)
  [2371] Quiet summer days? I think not! - (2009-08-22)
  [2264] Learning about others private lives - (2009-06-30)
  [2217] Enjoying the summer weather - (2009-06-04)
  [2164] Updating my public profile - Graham Ellis - (2009-05-09)
  [2159] A long day to guess where - (2009-05-06)
  [2141] Town Crier competiton - (2009-04-25)
  [2121] Out in the Vale of Pewsey - (2009-04-07)
  [2118] Spring Sprung - (2009-04-05)
  [2106] Learning to Twitter / what is Twitter? - (2009-03-28)
  [2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
  [2090] Melksham to Georgia - (2009-03-19)
  [2068] Playing Catchup - (2009-03-06)
  [2064] East of Melksham Countryside - (2009-03-02)
  [2034] Through Snow and Flood to Linux and Tomcat - (2009-02-10)
  [2030] The final step to being British - (2009-02-07)
  [2027] Who sticks by you in the snow? - (2009-02-05)
  [2024] Carry on Training - in spite of the weather - (2009-02-03)
  [2008] The Month Ahead - What is happening in Melksham - (2009-01-25)
  [2000] 2000th article - Remember the background and basics - (2009-01-18)
  [1953] End of Training, 2008 - (2008-12-20)
  [1810] Middle aged subsidise young and old - (2008-09-26)
  [1303] Heading Upstate New York - (2007-08-14)
  [1272] Behind closed doors? - (2007-07-22)
  [1189] Meet, greet and welcome - (2007-05-16)
  [1178] Ducking stool for Melksham? - (2007-05-06)
  [1151] Gordon Dodge, R.I.P. - (2007-04-16)
  [1138] The Holiday - unlikely romantic comedy? - (2007-04-08)
  [1100] Wondering where I have been - (2007-03-06)
  [1061] Take vehicles off the road - put all the passengers into one - (2007-02-01)
  [1057] Selling by phone and Skype - our policy - (2007-01-30)
  [1056] Another frantic posting! - (2007-01-30)
  [992] Enthusiastic, but .... - (2006-12-16)
  [978] Wellhouse Manor, Hotel, Melksham - (2006-12-10)
  [921] French Exchange - (2006-11-11)
  [911] Letter Home - (2006-11-01)
  [908] And so to Inverness - (2006-10-29)
  [897] Too much for the National Trust - (2006-10-18)
  [882] Rocks, hard places, trains and funerals. - (2006-09-30)
  [843] To join an organisation? - (2006-08-23)
  [777] On Crosby sands - (2006-06-25)
  [752] Over zealous police activity? - (2006-06-09)
  [724] Helping mental health through diet, exercise and other lifestyle matters - (2006-05-18)
  [706] May day away - (2006-05-01)
  [698] Catch up weekend - (2006-04-24)
  [692] Healthier eating - (2006-04-20)
  [655] Can some food be TOO different? - (2006-03-23)
  [654] Making use of disabled facilities - (2006-03-22)
  [645] Lost Camel - (2006-03-14)
  [635] Odd one out. - (2006-03-06)
  [623] Behind every face is a person and a story - (2006-02-25)
  [613] Greetings from Dublin - (2006-02-20)
  [612] Coming or going? - (2006-02-18)
  [605] Design your day with a walk - (2006-02-13)
  [584] Loosing breath with Gerald - (2006-01-31)
  [580] What to do with milk - (2006-01-28)
  [516] Open source questions? Anyone can ask. - (2005-12-03)
  [474] Vintage Bus Day - (2005-10-23)
  [473] Looking different in town - (2005-10-22)
  [455] A Stengthening day - (2005-10-04)
  [446] Up early - (2005-09-16)
  [363] Greetings from Edinburgh - (2005-06-29)
  [330] An O level comes in handy - (2005-05-30)
  [307] Farming yesterday - (2005-05-10)
  [283] Natural or man-made? - (2005-04-18)
  [238] Difficulties with a trolley - (2005-03-07)
  [232] Diverse activities - (2005-03-01)
  [228] Beard Justification - (2005-02-26)
  [206] Fox and Python - (2005-02-08)
  [149] Fish stocks - (2004-12-12)
  [110] Friday, busy week! - (2004-11-05)
  [26] Matching Cat - (2004-08-24)
  [20] Not two the same - (2004-08-20)
  [19] interesting products and subjects - (2004-08-19)

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Keeping PHP code in database and running it
Cooking bodies and URLs
Bitter cold
Michelle
Looking forward, in Melksham, in 2009
From spam to mod_alias - finding resources
Going round the block
Where is this IP address, IPv4 and IPv6
Well House Manor Hotel - on plan for 2009 business guests
Moving a directory on your web site