Businesses across the Yass Valley met on the morning of Friday the 1st of September at Trader & Co once again for the Yass Valley Business Chambers Breakfast, discussing opportunities, challenges and industries at the monthly meeting. Hosted by Mary-Clare Walker and Anthony Eldridge, the theme of this month’s meeting focused on member contributions.
The meeting featured various local businesses in person and over stream for those unable to attend, including but not limited to the Murrumbateman Field Days, The Irish & Celtic Music Festival, Yass FM and Yass Valley Council, as well as an appearance from Member Wendy Tuckerman before her visit to the Memorial Hall for the Legacy Service.
As well as general discussions, the breakfast emphasised coming meetings including the Yass Connect Event and AGM Meeting.
“I think it went really well, it was a pretty big agenda this time around”, said Co-host Anthony Eldridge,
“I think overall we had a really good event, there was lots of engagement from our community that was here with about 20 representatives in the room, so a reasonable audience. It was a good turnout”.
Beginning at 7:30 am, the morning began with some light socialising, a ‘meet and greet’ style reception that included breakfast and morning tea, before a more formal panel began with special announcements, followed by separate independent business notes, allowing for stand-up style speaking throughout, discussing and commenting on various issues.
Some parties or representatives expressed concerns, including The Irish & Celtic Festivals’ lack of access to bathroom facilities.
Representatives from Yass Valley Council spoke on the 2023 Small Business Month, with Yass Valley Council and the Yass Valley Business Chamber having been successful in their grant submissions to the NSW Government to hold workshops, information sessions, virtual training, and panel discussions in October 2023. Council then moved on to discuss upcoming community events, including but not limited to NAIDOC Week in September and the Yass Valley Community Late Night Shopping and Christmas Parade in December.
Slideshows held at the breakfast also noted a $125,000 fund to support regional and remote businesses in sectors including Agriculture, Arts, Education, Health, Indigenous Business and Tourism.
Anthony notes the comradery and community involvement from these meetings, as well as the network, reach and impact they have as made evident by the attendance, and is overall hopeful about the progress and relationships these meetings foster.
“The highlights for me, really, as a host, is when the community gets involved in contributing, and so those shoutouts are really big for me. Hearing businesses talking good things about other local businesses is a big highlight, it’s why I’m part of the committee, because of the community engagement that we can have across businesses, and the synergy we can find in each other”, said Anthony.
The Business Chamber members will return for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the 6th of October, with strong emphasis placed on the meeting due to its summarisation of the past year’s meetings, and the future of the Business Chamber breakfasts.
“That’s the next big thing for us”, said Anthony.
“It will be a really important event for people to come to — If you really want to know what the Chambers are about, you’ll get a good understanding from the President’s report in particular.”
Griffin Palen
