WALKERS ON COURSE TO RAISE £10,000 FOR CHARITY
Over 200 representatives from local businesses took part in the 2012 Chester Charity Walk, organised by Chester Business Club.

This year’s event – postponed from April because of bad weather – marked the 25th occasion the club has organised the Walk, which has helped raise over £300,000 for local charities. This year’s principal charities included the Hospice of the Good Shepherd, the Human Milk Bank (Countess of Chester Hospital), Chester Street Pastors and Dee Banks School Parent Support Group.

Club chairman Julie Mogan said, ‘The day was blessed with really great weather and once again our Walk gave local businesses the opportunity to put something back into our local community by way of support for some immensely worthy charitable groups.’

Early indications are that over £10,000 was raised on the day.

The event,  sponsored by DTM Legal LLP, provided the ideal opportunity for everyone to party the night away whilst at the same time raise funds for the event’s two principal charities, Claire House Children’s Hospice and ChildLine/NSPCC.

Special thanks to the ‘The Gang of Three Organisers’ – Karen Smith (Bill Smith Motors), Jill Daviers (The Secretary Sanctuary) and Helen Watson (Aaron & Partners)

To see a full range of photographs, please log on to www.cetra.co.uk and follow the links:  > ‘Events’ > ‘Select Events’ > ‘Chester Business Man’s Ball’.

The two principal charitable beneficiaries from CBC’s 25th Anniversary Ball held in June – Claire House Children’s Hospice and NSPCC/ChildLine – each received a cheque for £5,000.

Six other charities received £5,000, in effect the ‘advance proceeds’ from the annual Charity Walk, postponed from April, because of bad weather, now to be held on 9th September ‘12.

They were: The Mercian Regiment Benevolent Fund, Dee Banks School Parent Support Group, The Human Milk Bank (Countess of Chester Hospital), The Hospice of the Good Shepherd, Cheshire Search & Rescue and Chester & Ellesmere Port Street Pastors.

Officers and Executive Council

At the AGM itself, the following were elected to hold office:

President: David Faulkner (NWN Media Ltd)

Vice-Presidents: Chris Macdonald (Craftings), Phil McCormick (McCormick Architecture), Ian Morris (Turner Peachey, David Pickering (Meadow Foods Ltd), Martin Seed (ex-Marks & Spencer), Jonathan Slater (Chester Grosvenor), Ron Smith (Landsmith Ltd)

Chairman: Julie Mogan (DTM Legal LLP)

Vice-Chairman: Nick Hodson (Jane Lewis Healthcare)

Honorary Solicitor: Ian Sydenham (Hill Dickinson)

Honorary Treasurer: Bill Benoy (Morris & Co Chartered Accountants

Secretary: Bob Clough-Parker (Bob Clough-Parker Organisation)

Four Members were elected to serve on the Executive Council: Chris Burgoyne (Handelsbanken), Simon Dodd (Sutton Silver Ltd), Christophe Hesbert (Abode Hotel) and Tim Kenney (Kenney:Moore)

The event was held in support of British Red Cross, of which Ms Rippon is a Vice-President, and the Club was pleased to send a donation of £2200. Angela Rippon spoke entertainingly about her distinguished career ‘in front of the camera’ both as a newscaster and presenter of such programmes as Top Gear, Come Dancing, The One Show, Anything Goes and Rip-Off Britain, as well as her experiences as a co-founder of TV-am.

The Ball was kindly sponsored by DTM LEGAL LLP.

The following is an extract from a letter the Club sent to the Chief Executive of Cheshire West & Chester Council  (with a copy to the Leader of the Council):

“As a Club, we are interested in supporting all initiatives which have a positive impact for the City of Chester.

We take great interest in matters affecting business in the City and city life generally and as a group of individuals the Executive Committee Members attend many presentations and exhibitions by invitation in order that we may present our views on behalf of our members and the business community.

We have, by invitation, attended presentations regarding the Chester Student Village Proposal by Bell Developments.

We have been very impressed.  The Club is well aware of the importance of the University to the infrastructure of Chester as a City and we are aware that the University has experienced massive growth over the last ten to fifteen years expanding, we understand, at a rate of almost 10% per annum.

Such growth will, of course, provide a distinct benefit for the economy of Chester as a City.  The Club is clearly excited about such growth and the positive impact on the communities and economy.

However, students need to be housed somewhere and we know of complaints by residents of localities in the City that have been taken over by students’ accommodation and the impact upon family and environment.

We anticipate, therefore, that a dedicated student campus would resolve some of these issues and would also, in doing so, create many jobs within the City and also add a value to the University in terms of being able to attract even more students.”

It is stressed that the Club backs the principle of supporting projects (of whatever kind) which, in our judgment, are ‘good for Chester’. For example, CBC recently publicly and enthusiastically supported the bid for the soon-to-be Green Investment Bank to be located in Chester (in the event, of course, Chester lost out to Edinburgh).

In our letter to CWAC Chief Executive and Leader of Council, it is important to note that we support the principle of a dedicated student village – the Green Belt and ‘political’ issues are completely separate, and ones on which we haven’t commented – and we will continue to back the broad principle of supporting opportunities for Chester where much-needed inward investment and growth are concerned.

In short, the Club’s strategy is to consider and, as appropriate, support (and voice support) for initiatives which are good for our city as a whole.  In this context, we believe a dedicated student campus is needed to attract more students and for the University to grow and prosper.

She spoke about the night of 30th October 1986 when BBC Television formally launched ChildLine (now part of NSPCC) which told the story of Jo, a clever, troubled fourteen year old. Suddenly, Jo, the silent victim of sexual abuse by her parents’
closest friend, no longer felt utterly alone. For the first time, she was being offered help, there on the screen.

Esther’s visit to the Club was part of the promotion of her recently published book, ‘Running Out Of Tears’, the moving personal stories of ChildLine’s children over 25 years. In it she tells Jo’s story, together with those of many other survivors. Each of these tales is testament to the achievement of ChildLine in teaching the nation how to listen to children who are suffering abuse and giving a voice to the most vulnerable group in society. The book also details landmark events in the last 25 years of ChildLine’s existence, including the crucial involvement of Princess Diana, the support from then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the investigation into a school owned and run by a paedophile that would lead to a change in the law, and the 250 other children’s help lines set up around the world with ChildLine’s help.

The aim of Chester Renaissance is: ‘To drive the momentum and bring added value to efforts to complete and accelerate economic growth of Chester, working closely with private sector investors and public funding bodies to celebrate the past and re-energise the future.’   Its programme of new development and city centre improvements aims to make Chester a ‘must-see European city by 2015’.

CWaC leaders have now given their unanimous backing to the final draft of the One City Plan, a visionary blueprint to revitalise the city centre and place it ‘on the global stage’.

The aim is to develop Chester as a ‘world class city’, able to compete with Liverpool and Manchester for its cultural and business offerings within the next 15 years.

Major priorities over the next three years include:

• Creating a new business quarter;
• A revised scheme for the Northgate Development;
• An 800-seat theatre at the former Odeon Cinema site;
• An improvement project for The Rows.

Other priorities in the proposal include:

• Creating major conference facilities;
• Enhancing the Cathedral Quarter and the Castle Quarter;
• Re-vitalising the museum;
• Providing new waterfront attractions at the River Dee;
• A new transport plan

Once again the occasion was marked by a group of choristers from the Cathedral Choir who delivered an outstanding rendition of Christmas carols. A collection for the Choir Support Fund realised £1200 and was topped off by a £250 contribution from the CBC Charity Purse. As ever, a feature of the evening was the wonderful canapés provided by the brilliant Annie Trevor-Jones.

Following excellent ‘trench rations’ from the pub kitchens, and accompanied at the piano and led by talented (and patient!) Matt Baker, the suitably lubricated massed voices of CBC Members and Guests burst into full-throated action.
The Club made a contribution from the CBC Charity Purse of £250 to the War Memorials Trust.

Held at Rowton Hall Hotel, the guest speaker was Julia Middleton, the founder and Chief Executive of Common Purpose, a leadership development organisation that gives leaders ‘the inspiration, the
knowledge and the connections they need to produce real change’.

Ms Middleton spoke about her passion for helping develop people’s leadership skills and abilities, as well as of her campaigns to encourage leaders – from all backgrounds – to make an active and tangible contribution to their communities and to wider society.

She related that Common Purpose now operates across the UK and worldwide in France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and Turkey; and that since 1989 more than 30,000 leaders have completed one or more Common Purpose courses.