Welcome to The Hills & District Chamber of Commerce Inc. - a friendly and supportive business group bridging the Ferny Hills, Arana Hills, Ferny Grove, Keperra, Mitchelton and surrounding districts. Established in 1992, our Chamber is not-for-profit and is affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland.
If you are involved in a business or community group and live or work in the Hills Districts, why not register for the next meeting - new members and visitors are always welcome.
On 29 January your Executive met for their Strategic Planning Day at the Arana Leagues Club, Board Room.
The Executive members are:
Donna Thistlethwaite - Vice President
Brian Battersby - Vice President
John Hudson - Vice President
Hayley Lingard - Secretary
Stuart Jaeschke - Treasurer
Richard Frohlich - Website Executive Member
Kate Hewitt - Public Relations Executive Member
Craig Shimm - Cultural Inclusiveness Executive Member
Jim Ferguson - Blackwood Street Executive Member
Michelle O'Hara will be Chairing the Big Breakfast event. This annual fundraiser was put on hold in 2020 due to Covid restrictions. Michelle is up and running and is looking for one or two new members for her committee.
The year will bring new initiatives from committees to provide value for members. Some of these will be social events - for those who cannot get to a breakfast, presenting new ways to promote your business and a whole lot more which are still in the planning phase.
I look forward to seeing you at our next breakfast. Remember to book early as numbers are limited. Stay safe and let's look forward to 2021 with renewed vitality. Mary
Vice President
Donna Thistlethwaite
It was wonderful to see so many members and guests at our January meeting where we were inspired and ignited by motivational speaker Julie Cross. She took us from laughter to tears and back again, leaving us with no doubt how lucky we are! Hopefully this meeting is the first of many face to face opportunities for 2021.
This month we have Paul Martins, the Chief Economic Development Officer at Moreton Bay Regional Council, sharing the future vision for the region and discussing how we, as unified business partners, can work collaboratively to turn a vision into reality. Book your early bird ticket before Friday 19 February and join us for this great morning.
The Chamber has commenced discussions with MBRIT about the Hills Festival program that is going ahead in May 2021. Please contact Donna on 0419 120 601 if you have any activation ideas or would like to participate in the Chamber’s Hills Festival Committee. Donna
Financial reports for the month ended 31 January 2021.
Secretary
Hayley Lingard
Happy 2021 Everyone!
I hope this New Year is off to a good start for you all.
I was thoroughly impressed with how our breakfasts kicked off in January. Not only did we have good numbers (over 40 attendees) for our first event back - the speaker was AMAZING!
A huge shout-out to Julie Cross for starting our year off with a bang and really helping us get things into perspective for the year ahead. I would also like to acknowledge Donna Thistlethwaite’s skills and efforts, securing such wonderful speaking talents of late.
A reminder that bookings for any events need to be done in a timely manner as we have new lead-in times and deadlines to work within - and we really don’t want you to miss out!
February will see Paul Martins join us from Moreton Bay Regional Council, sharing about their Regional Economic Development Plan. There’s some exciting things happening in this space and we continue to work towards building similar engagement with Brisbane City Council into the future also.
The Executive and I are all keen to reinvigorate our membership and community as we come out the other side of 2020. While we now know that it won’t be back to “business as usual” for quite some time, life is showing some signs of normality returning and people are slowly becoming more and more social - we hope to see this too for our Chamber.
We hope to see you at breakfast event soon or please stay tuned as we start to commence more of our usual style events in the coming months! Hayley
Advocacy Committee
Chair | Brian Battersby
It’s now 2021 year and it will throw a few ripples still, however the predictions are gradually better times ahead and vaccinations soon.
At least now we have an idea of the types of challenges gained from past business past experiences and the “Buy Local Campaign” is still successful. So you should now be armed with a wealth of experiences gained from 2020.
Some sectors already in positive status, like Land sales and New home builds and Renovations, but some sadly lacking still an example is Tourism and many Travel Agencies really doing it tough.
On the other hand “Confidence is on the rise”, so remember “Chin Up, Face Up and don’t Give Up - and Keep Smiling”
(Just like an example photo/guy above)
Our Advocacy Committee purpose is generally: “To provide a voice for The Hills & Districts business owners and Chamber business owners through to Local, State and Federal Governments”
Click here for our Committee page listing names and mobile numbers if you might wish to talk to any one of us for on a specific on-going issue/s impacting your business, perhaps we could help ?
Our 2020 names from photo above, left to right are: Brian Battersby, Leigh Wilson, Peter Martin, Vanessa Robson-Petch, Chris Lehmann & Michael Pecic.
Also we now have a new and dedicated email address, as of 1/12/2020 which is advocacy@hillschamber.org.au. Brian
Blackwood Street Committee
Chair | Jim Ferguson
Welcome to the inaugural news from the newly-formed Blackwood Street Committee.
We have now added the suburb of Mitchelton to our service area, and with that, the prime local shopping precincts of Blackwood Street itself and Brookside Shopping Centre, as well as the other nearby trading areas along Osborne and Samford Roads and others….in fact, there are around 400 businesses in this suburb and we will be introducing the Chamber to all of them over the coming months.
We will keep you informed of what is happening and encourage any business to introduce themselves to us, to learn the benefits of Chamber membership and the plans to further improve and add to the amenity of the area, and raising its profile amongst the Chamber membership and community at large.
For further enquiries, you can contact me via email or mobile 0418 742 007. Jim
President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
Advocacy Committee
gained from past business past experiences and the “Buy Local Campaign” is still successful. So you should now be armed with a wealth of experiences gained from 2020.
Our Advocacy Committee purpose is generally: “To provide a voice for The Hills & Districts business owners and Chamber business owners through to Local, State and Federal Governments”
Blackwood Street Committee
