If you are a business owner in the Clitheroe area this is an ideal opportunity to promote your business and express your ideas about the future of Clitheroe as a unique destination to shop, work, rest and play. Join us for a glass of wine and meet our members to find out how you can help us and we can help you.  We need your help to build on our success in promoting our thriving business community.  Together we can make a difference to the prospects for business in Clitheroe.

Thanks to our event sponsors: The Grand, Handelsbanken and Design360.

 BUDDING poets are invited to put the “cool into Yule” by taking part in a poetry workshop in Clitheroe over the festive season.

Former Derbyshire Poet Laureate Cathy Grindrod will host a poetry workshop with a shops, shopping and Christmas theme at Clitheroe Library on Saturday, December 11, from 1 to 4pm.

Cathy will also lead a poetry reading at The Atrium Café, Clitheroe Castle, on December 11, from 7 to 9pm, where workshop participants will be able to read their work.

The workshop follows on from the hugely successful Shop! project that saw poetry displayed in over 50 Clitheroe town centre shop windows and published in an anthology in September.

Cathy Grindrod is the author of five poetry collections, the most recent being The Sky, Head On (Shoestring Press 2009). She has been widely anthologised and commissioned, and wrote the libretto for the oratorio, More Glass Than Wall, which was nominated for a BBC Radio Three British Composer of the Year Award. She grew up in Clitheroe and is a former pupil of Moorlands School, and Clitheroe Royal Grammar School for Girls.

Cathy’s workshop is open to writers of any level aged 16 or over and admission priced £10 includes a complimentary copy of Here is Where the Candy Sticks: Poems about Shopping in Clitheroe, featuring the work of 14 poets and a series of powerful images depicting traders at work by Pendleton photographer Dean Carney.

Further details and bookings are available from the Platform Gallery in Station Road, Clitheroe (01200 443071).

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During September Shop! saw poetry displayed in over 50 town centre shops in a series of innovative and eye-catching window displays as part of the Pennine Lancashire Festival of Food and Culture.  The Pennine Lancashire Poetry Stanza, which is based in Clitheroe, has joined forces with the Clitheroe Chamber of Trade and Commerce in a series of activities including poetry readings at shops throughout Clitheroe and a poetry trail.

The best poems will also be published in an anthology edited by Jo Harding, who runs the independent bookshop Clitheroe Books, and former East Lancashire journalist Theresa Robson.

So enjoy some cultural comment on our local retailers, restaurants and service providers and keep an eye out for the poems when you’re out and about in town, including in the following establishments, and in the windows of some of the empty shops.

A. E. Hargreaves – Amelia’s – Lulu Brown’s – Mortimers – Chenery Maher Solicitors – Castle Chippy – Cowmans Sausage Shop – Clitheroe Books – Dawsons Ironmongers – DJP Domestic Appliances Ltd – Harrison and Kerr Butchers – John Turner Independent Financial Adviser – Jwl Contemporary Jewellery – Onward and Outward – Ken Varey’s Outdoor World – Molly’s Cafe – Patches and Buttons – Raffia – The Flower Shop – Twirlies – Designer Knitted Yarns – Woolcraft Ltd – Miles Griffiths Antiques – Hampsons – Byrnes Wine Merchants – Nettletons – Brittons – Party People – Sowerbutts – The Atrium Cafe – Thirty9 – Age UK – Clitheroe Music – Oxfam – The Chocolate Box – The Men’s Room – Seasons House of Fashion – Lather and Lite – Exchange Coffee – The Lighting Centre – Read’s of Clitheroe – Homebase – Townsend Records – Cheesie Tchaikovsky – Wellspring Natural Health Store

Without doubt, the day was an unqualified success with an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people coming into Clitheroe following the successful promotion of the day through the press and media.

This was the largest event undertaken by the Chamber in recent times and I would also personally like to take this opportunity to thank our PR Guru Pearl Mina and her events co-ordinator Sam Turner for their sterling efforts, not only on the day but through a number of weeks leading up to the event.

It is only with team effort and a lot of help from various organisations that a massive event such as this can take place. I plan to dedicate the majority of our next open meeting to the Street Market, where we can listen to and hear member’s views on how the day went and, if we do it again, how it could be improved. Your input would be gratefully appreciated and I hope you will be able to be with us on that evening. (Sam will be e-mailing you the date and venue). Although the day was promoted around the Fine Foods & Craft Market the amount of visitors to the town from out of the area secured our status of one of East Lancashire’s favourite places to visit, to enjoy the area and to shop in the town.

The re-birth of the Chamber has come a long way in such a short time and it is thanks to you for making events like this happen. My aim of attracting 200 members to the chamber before my year of office ends is gaining momentum and I am sure that with the success of the Street Market many more traders, businesses and professionals will get involved by becoming members and making us a force to be reckoned with.

Thank you once again for all your efforts and contributions and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Yours sincerely

Ian S Lloyd

PRESIDENT

Clitheroe Chamber of Trade and Commerce

Dean has offered his services to the Chamber with regard to starting a stock photo collection, for use on the Chamber website and promotional / press material.

Dean has exclusively offered to visit members on location in their shops / venues / businesses and take PR / promotional photos including some “out of the ordinary” creative shots of your businesses and indeed some of your finest products and  wares for FREE.

This is a great opportunity to refresh your image and branding and also help the Chamber promote some of the very best shops and personalities in the Ribble Valley.

Everybody say Cheeeese! Or in Cliffs case …Sausages!!

Members can buy images / prints from Dean at a significantly reduced rate.

If you need any more information please contact Dean on:

Tel: 01200 422557
Mob: 07714 999 598

Email: info@deancarney.com

The future of our continued success now rests with you – our valued members.

Together WE can make the difference to Clitheroe both now and in the future.

All members are invited to attend and vote for our new President and Vice Presidents at:

The 83rd Annual General Meeting
Tuesday 9 March at 5.45pm
The Grand
York Street
Clitheroe

Nominations received by the Chamber to date are:

President: Ian Lloyd
Vice Presidents: Jacqueline Wadge & John Garrod

All members are welcome to attend.

For more information regarding the AGM, voting and nominations please contact:

Sam Turner
samturner@ferncourt.co.uk

By Pearl Mina
PR & Media Creative
Clitheroe Chamber of Trade & Commerce