AS A CHAMBER MEMBER, YOU'RE WELL CONNECTED.
AS A CHAMBER MEMBER, YOU'RE WELL CONNECTED.
07507 134 261
For the latest addition of our monthly news summary, Forbes Low (CEO, Kingston Chamber of Commerce), shares exciting updates on August’s activities and more details on our upcoming events.
We are very excited to announce that the Kingston Borough Business Awards (KBBA) will be launching in September. KBBA recognises the outstanding achievements, innovation, diligence, and remarkable impact of the local businesses, educational institutions, and social enterprises. The Awards foster inclusion, community engagement, sustainability, customer experiences, wellbeing and positive business contributions across the borough of Kingston.
KBBA aims to evolve and reflect the local business community and so the 2024 programme is pleased to present five new categories to enter: Best in Digital Communications, Best Health and Wellbeing Provider, Best in Property of the Year, Best in Sport and Fitness and Removing Barriers Champions.
We are looking forward to officially welcoming the KBBA 2024 launch event at FUSEBOX which will showcase the accomplishments from last year’s programme. The submission period will begin on Wednesday September 20th and closes on Wednesday November 8th 2024. We believe there is a category for all sizes and sectors of business so we encourage you to explore the categories and additional information now. To view the categories and register your interest, click here.
Kingston Chamber are delighted to announce that the Chessington Business Expo will be held on Thursday 26th October 2023. With our headline sponsor, Kingston Council, the focus for this unique day is helping businesses to grow. Everything will be geared to give all attendees an opportunity to network with other businesses, learn and get expert advice and to provide encouragement to take steps to grow. We will be providing quality business seminars, speed networking and a Kingston University hackathon.
We will be creating new advisor zones so if you have a question on finance, marketing, design, mortgages, how to hire staff, HR or how to be part of a volunteer for a local charity, this Chessington Business Expo is a must to attend. Further updates will follow but for now, sign up to register your attendance or to be a stand holder – be a part of this key business event.
Our bi-monthly Kingston Chamber Social in August was a highly entertaining afternoon trip on the river. Hiring three GoBoats, the Chamber members had a relatively leisurely venture and, for once, the weather was fantastic. The steering of the boats was not as easy as it looked, as one boat discovered as they managed to hit the bridge. The same boat managed to just miss a swan who then started to chase the offending crew. After those early mishaps, it proved a highly enjoyable event, followed by refreshments at Côte Brasserie Kingston afterwards.
Watch out for more Chamber socials at www.kingstonchamber.co.uk.
For more information on GoBoats, click here.
August has been quite a busy month considering many people have escaped for well-deserved breaks.
In early August, I met with Greg Miles of Canadian & Portland Estates, one of the Chamber Patron members. They manage the Kingston riverside walk and are actively engaged in Kingston community life, providing a variety of events down, including Go Boating. There are extensive building works being carried out above the riverside eateries and having seen the plans and understanding the vision, this will be a very welcome and exciting transformation for the riverside, providing restaurants, modern event and work spaces. We will keep you informed of the progress and end dates.
It is always rewarding to chat with Robin Hutchinson at Community Brain. Many of you may be familiar with their community engagements across the Borough and Robin is now championing a piece of local history that many of us may not know. The birth of the iconic Mini Cooper came from Surbiton and 2024 is the 60th anniversary of this unique car. Community Brain will be planning a number of events and they are challenging us to ask why so many creative ideas blossomed during this period (using the Cooper story as the local key) and what circumstances led to such innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. Can we create this environment again? How do we celebrate heritage stories in a way relevant to today and inspiring futures. Watch this space for updates!
September will be a busy month so here are few dates for you to put into your diary.
September 9th: Night to Remember. Put your best foot forward and join our chamber team on this special memory walk, a Night to Remember, in aid of Kingston Hospital Charity.
September 14th: Business Breakfast at Warren House Hotel. Sponsored by BIG South London, they will talk about Innovation Support Programmes and we also be joined by Howard Freeman of Fortis DPC who will discuss how to safeguard our online data. Sign up here to attend.
September 20th: Coffee & Connect. Kick start your day with our Coffee & Connect event at the Wych Elm in Kingston, and enjoy a coffee, a selection of teas, and freshly-baked pastries all while learning from our guest speaker. Sign up here to attend.
September 26th: Learn How to Protect Your Business at Barclays Bank. We invite you and your guests to an informative networking session where you’ll also gain valuable insights from cyber security experts, IQ in IT, on how to safeguard your business and personal IT security. There is a growing number of businesses and individuals suffering from scams and data breaches so this is a very timely event. Sign up here to attend.
September 28th: Communicating Your Environmental Achievements Effectively at Barwell Business Park. We would like to invite you to join us for this enriching event, presenting a chance to engage with businesses from our borough and take part in a discussion on green marketing. Sign up here to attend.
For more information about the latest events, subscribe to our weekly events newsletter.
If you would like to know more about how we support our local business community, please visit www.kingstonchamber.co.uk, email us at [email protected], or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
