A massive thank you to all themembers who contributed in any shape or form to theSanta Dash, Nativity Walk and Late Night Shopping Event in thetown on Friday 2nd December. The Nativity Walk was a sight to behold with over 250 costumed ‘angels’ and ‘shepherds’ andtheir families parading from the Parish Church to the Castle Gates and culminated in the East Lancashire Hospice Santa Dash with over 300 Santas running, walking and crawling through the streets of Clitheroe in full Father Christmas costumes.
The event was a wonderful opportunity to present the very best that Clitheroe has to offer and will hopefully bring many more people back to Clitheroe to shop in the town.
Although this was the first collaboration between theParishChurchand the East Lancashire Hospice we do hope to develop this into an annual event with Late Night Shopping in the town.
The event can certainly be improved upon and in that regard we invite all members to our first Open Members Meeting to be held on Tuesday 10th January (venue to be confirmed) to discuss any additions or ideas.
On another matter, with the onset of the winter weather I have been in discussion with Ribble Valley Borough Council about keeping the pavements free from snow and we have agreed that, should we have a repeat of the terrible snowy conditions of the last two years, the Council will endeavour to salt all pavements as soon as is practicable.
It would help all concerned if Businesses could sweep the pavements free of any snow to save compactation as it is difficult to dissolve the snow when compacted by foot traffic. There seems to be a fallacy that anyone clearing pavements could be held liable for any accidents and I have looked into Government Guidelines which say that, provided the clearance is undertaken in a sensible manner, then there should not be any liability for claims on shopkeepers.
There has to be a certain amount of common sense in this i.e, if anyone were to put water on walkways which then freezes then this could cause problems however a sensible sweeping or shovelling of any snow outside premises can only benefit the town as a whole. The last two years were very difficult for shoppers moving to and from premises and I urge all businesses to help keep the footways clear prior to the Council salting the same.
Finally may I wish all our Members and their families a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and lets hope that the current economic climate improves significantly in 2012.
Yours sincerely
IAN S LLOYD
PRESIDENT
CLITHEROE CHAMBER OF TRADE AND COMMERCE
ClitheroeSource