Minutes 6th September 2005

Minutes of Meeting on 6 September 2005:

CRYSTAL PALACE & NORWOOD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
HELD AT 1ST FLOOR, LORENZO'S RESTAURANT, WESTOW HILL

1. Present
Honorary Membership Secretary - Mary Kennedy - The Tanning Shop
Honorary Secretary - Lucy Smith - MyMatiz.com
Sharon Parry Baldwin - Town Centre Manager
Kevin Carleton-Reeves - Transport Consultant
John Greatrex - Great Exhibition 2001 Ltd
Yemi Dada - Palace Estates
Chris Brody - CBrody.com
Renuka Marley - DCL Consulting
Kathryn Kenny - Phoenix Community Centre

2. Apologies
Honorary Chairman - James Slattery-Kavanagh - Quotes

3. Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes were proposed and seconded by Kevin Carleton-Reeves.

4. Matters arising
Mary Kennedy chaired the meeting. There was some initial discussion around the public consultation on the future of Crystal Palace Park. The proposal to reconstruct the 1851 Crystal Palace will be out for consultation in October.

Renuka Marley presented her ideas on a business event to the Chamber. The first was modelled on an idea from the voluntary sector. It would be a 'dating game' with people exchanging business cards. The second was a conference with a workshop on VAT for small businesses. She also thought it would be a good idea to use this event to start building up an electronic directory of businesses. The time scale for events would be for early Summer - May/June. Sharon Baldwin said that she thought it was best to try out a couple of different events because there are different business needs in the area. She suggested talking to the Queen's Hotel. Kathyrn Kenny also said the Phoenix Community Centre could be used as a venue and that from early October, Sundays at the Phoenix Centre would be available. Renuka then left the meeting early as she had other commitments that evening.

5. Chairman's Review
5.1 Membership and Finances
No report.

6. Flowers in the Triangle
Sharon reported that she had spoken to every local authority about flowers and none were designated for this area. She had managed to get barrier baskets which she will keep going through Autumn and hopefully hanging baskets will appear next Spring. She has asked Lambeth and Croydon to look for trees, but because the pavements are narrow these will have to be planted in tubs and therefore there are issues around blocking bus lanes when watering etc. John Greatex suggested fake trees to get round the issue of watering. Sharon said the money for the flowers would eventually run out so she would need money from local businesses.

Sharon has been to see Philip Goodwin (Director of Planning, Croydon) to talk about the environmental improvements that were supposed to come with the one-way system. She fed back what local businesses and the community would like to see. She also had a meeting with Lambeth Streetcare officers for the Lambeth streets. Flyposting has been an issue over the Summer. Officers now have a new piece of equipment to break the plastic clips that the posters are held onto lampposts with. The council have also put bright orange cancelled stickers on them to stop them.

7. Christmas Lights
These have been booked and will go up on 26 November. There is some debate as to who owns the lights. There is a bank of lights which we will have on a rotation scheme. They will need to be reconditioned and Sharon has around £1100 to do the restoration. She will need to raise £600 more and will be holding a raffle again. She would welcome ideas on suggestions for raffle prizes. The event switch on is reliant on shops and restaurants staying open late. If the ice rink on the top site goes ahead that will be the town's official event. The rink takes eight days to put up, Sharon is currently looking for sponsors. This could also tie in with the unveiling of the Crystal Palace corner. Sharon said she would also be re-looking at Rickshaws at Christmas.

8. Any Other Business
8.1 A query was raised about Borderland restaurant and whether it was going to be a casino. Sharon said she was under the impression it was a license for a restaurant with entertainment. There was also a license for gambling next door.

8.2 Sharon said there will be a French market on 16th September. Kevin Carleton-Reeves also said that there had been Morris dancing events outside Safeways in the past.

8.3 It was reported that the grafitti on the door of the Crystal Palace Museum had been removed.

8.4 Sharon promised she would get an update on trams in the Palace.

8.5 John Greatrex said we could have a festival of Guy Fawkes - all shops could make a guy and then we could burn them on the top site as a celebration of the burning down of Crystal Palace which would turn into an annual event.

8.6 The idea of a carnival/family event arose at the last meeting. Sharon attended the carnival in Beckenham. She reported that some elements were good,but the fun fair attracted many youths with nothing to do. She said that if we hold a carnival we need to be clear about what it is - does it tie in with the Victorian weekend or is it a separate smaller event? This lead to another point about how the town and traders could be more involved in the Victorian weekend, eg. by dressing up in Victorian costume. Also, how could groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Group combine forces for events such as this.

8.7 Lucy Smith announced that she was resigning from the position of Honorary Secretary and that she would take the minutes for the October meeting, but after that the Chamber would have to find a replacement. Sharon Baldwin thanked Lucy for her time supporting the Chamber.

8.8 Sharon also wanted to ask - what is the marketing campaign for the Chamber? Who are we marketing the Chamber for? What do local people need? She suggested that perhaps the Chair would like to visit the most active Chambers around the area. Mary Kennedy suggested member of Chamber of Commerce stickers to members for them to put in their shop windows. She also thought it would be a good idea to flyer the agenda round to businesses who weren't members, so they could see if there was something of interest to them on there and they might then become a member.

8.9 Sharon said there was also the Crystal Palace loyalty card idea, to encourage local people to use local shops by offering small discounts.

The meeting closed at 8.40pm

Date of next meeting: Tuesday 4th October 2005 at 7pm, Lorenzo's Restaurant (First Tuesday in the Month)