The Bridgwater Chamber of Trade & Commerce

In the years before and during the Second World War, Bridgwater had a Trader’s Association. In 1946 the association decided to change its name, raise its status and become part of a nationally recognised movement and so Bridgwater Chamber of Trade was born. The town also had a separate Chamber of Commerce and the two ran in parallel, being mutually supportive, for many years. By the early nineties however, the Chamber of Commerce had become defunct and the Chamber of Trade had several members of a commercial nature, as opposed to pure traders. As a result the decision was made in 1995, to add the words "and Commerce" to the Chamber’s title to better reflect the nature of membership.

That’s how we got here, what do we do? The Bridgwater Chamber of Trade and Commerce is an organisation that represents the town’s traders and commercial firms.

As well as providing opportunities for the membership to network and make business to business contact, we lobby local, regional and national government in an attempt to make changes that we think are necessary for the well-being of Bridgwater. Examples of successful ideas, that started to take shape in Chamber meetings include; a five-year campaign by the Chamber to introduce CCTV cameras in the town centre. A year later we played a major part of the introduction of the Radio Link, an idea we pinched from Cardiff. Both initiatives have resulted in a fall in crime and violence in the town centre and made it a more pleasant place to shop. The fact that you can turn right from Broadway into St. Mary Street is also the result of a Chamber campaign, strongly supported by Sedgemoor District Council and Tom King MP at the time. Somerset County Council, the Highway Authority, did not want to have such a turn in place when the roundabout at the Taunton Road junction was changed to traffic light control as part of the Safeway development.

We believe that, usually, what is good for our members is also good for the town as a whole and we will get involved in many activities and campaigns that are not, strictly, trade or commercial in nature. The Chamber’s weight was thrown behind a successful campaign to stop a town centre brook being concreted over, for example, so saving a wildlife habitat.

Recent innovations have seen the Chamber become a member of the Somerset Chamber of Commerce Chambers Council. This is part of an initiative designed to improve communication between town and county chambers in the South West and gives the Bridgwater Chamber a voice within the County Chamber and the Somerset Business Forum which is part of the recently formed Somerset Strategic Partnership. Eventually this line of communication will go to the South West Regional Assembly.

Politics aside, our primary function is to provide our members with a forum to air their grievances and publicise their ideas. These are passed on at regular meetings with the Chairman, Leader of Sedgemoor District Council, their senior officers and Town Centre Partners.

We always welcome new members and for information please contact our Secretary;

Mrs Joan Lefort,

The Old Vicarage,

Fore Street, North Petherton TA6 6QA

Telephone 01278 662713

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Blake Gardens - 100th Anniversary August 2002

Thank you to all the businesses who responded to the survey questions on Blake Gardens. The top priority for improvements was increased cleaning and general maintenance. The good news is that this is to be built into the 2002 maintenance programme at Sedgemoor District Council. The beech hedge and shrubs have been cut down, and this has resulted in a reduction of calls to the police. We hope that over time these, and other improvements will help raise the profile, increase the usage and improve the image of the Gardens.

Towards this end, there is a programme of events in the Gardens. The first of these is a Concert by Burtle Silver Band on Sunday 2 June at 3.00pm. The highlight the year will be a two day event for the 100th Anniversary on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th August 2002. Avon & Somerset Police, Somerset County Libraries, Town Centre Partnership and Sedgemoor District Council have already pledged support for this event.

If any businesses would like to become involved or help with sponsorship, please contact:

Events Officer - Linda Krause-Davies 01278 435765

Wendy White 01278 446859

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