10 Jan Southwark Chamber of Commerce – 95 years in business
Southwark Chamber of Commerce celebrated its 95th anniversary with an event that looked to the past, present and future support of the borough’s businesses.
The event was held at London South Bank University’s School of Business to mark the relationship between the university and the borough’s businesses.
Sir Simon Hughes, LSBU Chancellor, was keynote speaker and guests included representatives from Southwark’s twin town, Langenhagen in Germany.
To celebrate the long-standing relationship between Langenhagen and Southwark, Birgit Naeschke presented the Chamber with a Pendant gift bearing both the Langenhagen and Southwark Chamber of Commerce’s motif.
Chamber chair Les Johnson said: “It is wonderful to be part of an organisation that has served the borough’s business community for 95 years. The Chamber prides itself on being a support mechanism for business and our community is strong than ever thanks to our work with partners including LSBU, who have great business facilities and are nurturing apprentices and entrepreneurs.
“Our Chamber has an international outlook too, and we were honoured to host our partners from Langenhagen at our celebration. I would like to thank Birgit and her colleagues for their thoughtful gift, which I was pleased to accept on behalf of the Chamber.”
Les highlighted networking events, the annual Thames boat trip and business support events as examples of how the Chamber is supporting businesses. He looked forward to the celebrations in 2020 that will mark the 400th year since the Mayflower pilgrims left on their voyage to America from Rotherhithe.
Sir Simon, LSBU Chancellor and former MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, urged businesses to join the Chamber so their expertise could benefit the borough as a whole, saying: “Please think about joining as your contribution could be really valuable, not just to you but to the Chamber.”
In his speech, Sir Simon looked to the borough’s past and how it could propel its economic future.
He said: “I don’t think that if you asked people around the country what product or industry, or business you would associate with Southwark that they would know and that’s not the case with other places.”
“I think saying ‘we’re the most cultural, the most historical’ is great but it’s not going to sell you much, you need to think ahead.”
His suggestions included:
• linking LSBU’s School of Applied Sciences with Borough Market and Southwark’s historic food production, such as riverside breweries and Peek Freans biscuit factory, to create “a food centre with science and nutrition at the heart of it”.
• the School of Arts and Creative Industries could support a Charlie Chaplin festival or promote Southwark’s links to the three giants of “written art” – Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dickens.
• The School of the Built Environment and Architecture with its great skills could “work out a way to build prefabs and house the homeless”.
The event on December 16, was sponsored by British Land who are helping to deliver the borough’s future with a 53-acre, mixed-use scheme at Canada Water. This includes 20,000 jobs, 3,000 new homes of which 35% will be affordable, along with retail, leisure, entertainment, education and community space.
Photo shows from left former Mayors of Southwark Abdul Mohamed and Aubyn Graham, Chamber chair Les Johnson, Sir Simon Hughes, Tendai Chagweda from LSBU, Deputy Mayor of Southwark, Councillor Barrie Hargrove and the Langenhagen Delegation