Shop local message from new Castlebar Chamber president

“It is important that people continue to spend in their own town, in their own village and their own country as a key step in building towards recovery”

by Tom Gillespie

THE newly elected president of Castlebar Chamber of Commerce is The Connaught Telegraph sales manager Bernard Hughes.

He takes over from John Mulroy at a time when Covid-19 has created great uncertainty for businesses in the county town.

However, the international success of former chamber promotions - the Castlebar International Song Contest and Castlebar International Walking Festival - have created an innovative and highly respected reputation for the chamber.

Bernard, a native of Ballyglass, has been involved in the chamber under three presidents - Sylvester Jennings, Wilson Bird and John Mulroy.

Bernard said: “I have pretty big shoes to fill after that trio. They all did a lot of good work for the town in a very difficult and challenging time and I particularly commend John Mulroy for a very successful and prgressive term of office.

“One of the most successful projects was bringing the ice rink to Castlebar which attracted 20,000 people in December.

“There was a time, two or three years ago, when the St. Patrick’s Day parade nearly did not take place as the then committee stepped down in the month of February.

"The Chamber of Commerce took it over and I became chairman of the organising committee, which at this point I still am.”

Bernard continued: “Unfortunately because of Covid-19 there are a lot of things still unknown and while it is hard and difficult for people to be positive, we nonetheless have to be and we have to put our best foot forward.

“The main thing we have to do is to try and keep people working. There is a section of the business community - publicans and the licenced trade - that are not open yet.

"They are an important part of the economy of the town and we have to work to try and get them open safely.

“We also need to continue with the strong message of shopping local.

"It is important that people continue to spend in their own town, in their own village and their own country as a key step in building towards recovery. That is an important and strong message for Castlebar.”

“Christmas is not too far away and businesses are already planning the purchase of stock, but we have a few hurdles to get over before that.”

He went on: “Not all businesses are yet back and fully open. But we have to encourage people to shop local, to stay local and to spend local as this is the only way we are going to get the local economy back on its feet.

“We want to become a stronger voice for the chamber members in Castlebar, to build on the success of the past and grow chamber numbers.

“We have to make the chamber voice stronger, to work with the state agencies like the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) and Mayo County Council and to give the chamber itself a stronger voice.

“Individually, businesses have gone to the LEO office who have been very helpful to them.

“On the back of shopping local what I hope to do, over the coming months, is to survey these businesses that are open, see what difficulties they are experiencing and set up a hit list that we can work on.”

He reflected on Castlebar winning Ireland’s Rising Star Town for 2019 at the Bank of Ireland Enterprise Town Awards, with adjudicators using words like ‘impressive, committed, energetic, driven, strong, determination, progressive approach and great place to do business in, live and visit’.

He recalled: “A sub committee under the guidance of the chamber put in the entry. An independent panel of judges came to Castlebar and we were short-listed and eventually beat off competition like Dublin Docklands to win the award.

“This was a huge accolade for Castlebar and it showed as a business community we are strong. It showed that groups could work with the business community and state agencies.

"It showed the way the town can collaborate, which is its strength and a strength we need to see more often which will help is get through the demanding times we are in now with Covid.”

Mr. Hughes said there was some uncertainty at the moment if the ice rink project would go ahead in December and they are awaiting future government guidelines to see if it can proceed.

But, he added: “In the event that the ice rink does not go ahead we are considering some other ideas for events for Castlebar with a Christmas theme.”

Working with Bernard the chamber elected officers will be Wilson Bird (vice-president), David Brennan (secretary), Caroline Gaughan (membership officer), Caroline Gordon (Treasurer), Gerard Kelly (PRO), John Mulroy (network and social event officer), and Anne Conlon (enterprise officer).

This group is also supported by a think tank committee which includes John Caulfield, Paul Rodgers, Ger Deere, Anne King, Cyril Burke, Beverley Flynn, Michael Gill, Nicola Kennedy and Kenny O'Brien.