Eastbourne unLtd Chamber of Commerce AGM Outcomes
Please see the AGM minutes and presentations below for details of Chamber activity.
Election of President and Directors
We elected Richard Garland of Gradient Consultants as President Elect to work alongside the President, Nicky Fisher this year. Richard is keen to carry on the excellent work done by Nicky Fisher who has steered the Chamber successfully through the pandemic. Richard and Nicky have worked together to develop our Vision for the future and Strategic Goals and plan to work together over the coming months to expand the Chamber's business support activities.
Richard Garland
Co-founder of Gradient Consultants, Richard is a chartered building surveyor and management consultancy surveyor, with over 25 years in the industry working on buildings as diverse as; Listed stuccoed terraces, residential developments, factories, a cathedral, fire stations, stately homes and the Shard.
As building surveyors and project managers, Gradient work with a number of prestigious clients including; Eastbourne Homes, Carlton Property Management, Lewes District Council, Hyde Group, Wightman & Parrish, HML Anderton, South London & Maudsley NHS Trust, the Environment Agency, Burlington Estates, London Fire Brigade, London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
Richard is a UK based professional with Global insight and spent 2013-2017 as a Global non-exec with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, where he led a review of professional groups and still holds a position on the Global knowledge board. Richard has attended and spoken at strategic forums around the World from Johannesburg to Sao Paulo, Paris, Shanghai and London. He has also written a number of published articles, ranging from change management to the future of the profession.
He is the Vice Chair of the South Downs Learning Trust, which incorporates Ratton and Ocklynge schools and as a seasoned ultra-runner has completed numerous 100 mile races including the Marathon des Sables and Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc.
Directors for Re-election
The directors detailed below stood for re-election and were duly elected:
Russell Colbran
Born and bred in Eastbourne in 1972, Russell feels blessed to have lived for so long in our beautiful town. He has also had the privilege of working in the town for the past 33 years in the construction industry and has seen the town change over that time.
Having lived in the town that provides his work, family and social life, he is passionate about maintaining the good things of the town and wants to help shape the things that he sees as not so good, for the benefit of all families and businesses that live and work here.
Committed to the wellbeing and economy of the town, Russell joined the chamber board of directors in 2017 to put something back, in the way of his time, into the town that has offered so much to him, and he continues to enjoy this role and hopes he offers something to that role and the wider community.
Away from work and the chamber, Russell is an active member of Eastbourne Round Table where he has held many of the officer roles and a member of other groups to widen his appreciation of life and the town, he enjoys time with his family and friends, playing golf, walking and some running/shuffling over the downs.
Shoes Simes
Shoes Simes has been resident in Eastbourne since 1975 and studied Business & Finance at ECAT College.
After a very successful career in retail she moved into hospitality management where she applied her eye for detail and enthusiasm for business. In just 6 years Shoes turned around 8 failing businesses and went on to purchase the Dew Drop in 2007 followed by the Eagle in 2009 and The Rainbow in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic.
Trading with a 7 figure turnover Shoes employs 45 staff and is Chair of Your Eastbourne BID, the business development area across the town centre.
A founder member of the popular Little Christmas event Shoes is passionate about Eastbourne.
Sarah Dyer
Sarah came tio Eastbourne in 2019 to take up the plosition of Operations Manager of Stagecoach South East responsible for the staff, budgets and fleet of the Eastbourne Depot. Previously she was assistant operations manager at Manchester and Stockport depots having successfully completed the graduate training programme with Stagecoach.
Since 2021 she has been promoted to Training, Development & Employee Engagement Manager for Stagecoach South East.
Sarah was also on the judging panel for the UK Bus Star of the Month recognition scheme.
As a Chamber Director she has helped formulate the Chamber's cycling strategy and seafront development.
Stephen Holt
Stephen wears many hats to help develop the economy of the town including Director of the Edeal Enterprise Agency, Chief Executive of Your Eastbourne BID, County Coulcillor for Eastbourne and Deputy Leader of Eastbourne Borough Council as well as Director of the Chamber of Commerce.
He has worked tirelessly throughout Covid to support the town's businesses and has helped many of them claim a share of over £200,000 business support. He has also been integral to introducing identity signage across the town welcoming visitors in several languages and encouraging people to 'Shop Local'.
Stephen is a valuable link for the Chamber to the County and Borough councils.
Linda Salway
Linda is an arts strategist, project manager, workshop leader and drama teacher.
She has an MA in Arts and Cultural Management alongside her teaching qualifications and is presently Head of Creative Arts Development at Eastbourne College where she also teaches drama, has overall responsibility for dance and curates the visual arts programme for the Birley Centre.
She has worked as a theatre education director and young people’s theatre producer. She was arts manager for Waverley Borough Council from 1997- 2005 and the co-ordinator of Arts Partnership Surrey.
Linda is a Gold Arts Award assessor, a trustee of Lewes Live Literature, a board member of Creative Future and a member of the Community Engagement Steering Group for St Wilfrid’s Hospice. She has also been an advisor for the Arts Council on young people’s work.
She also co-ordinates the Eastbourne Schools Partnership working with all the secondary schools in Eastbourne for the good of the town.
When not doing all the above she enjoys reading, walking, travel, Pilates and yoga and is delighted to be involved with the work of the Chamber.
Please find the minutes attached and the two presentations on a pdf.
