RoberT Leader, general manager of the St Albans Brasserie Blanc enjoyed hosting their first Chamber Business breakfast this week on a warm sunny morning. The 85 delegates enjoyed a delicious Blanc style breakfast before hearing from the guest speaker Lawrence Levy.

Herts Advertiser: Chamber Jul 18Chamber Jul 18 (Image: Archant)

Lawrence, co-owner of St Albans City FC, talked about what the football club have been and continue to do in the community with regard to charities, schools and youth clubs using the facility – impressive that there are 4,500 kids playing football in St Albans on Sunday mornings!

St Albans City are proud to have engaged the youth in the area both for under 16s and under 18s and have developed strong relationships with professional clubs to feed them players including Barnet, Huddersfield, Arsenal and Glasgow Rangers. Three recently signed first team players include students from Sandringham, Beaumont and Verulam schools, each with an FA contract.

So what does the future hold for St Albans City FC? Operating from Clarence Park carries many issues for generating income, SACFC are losing £150k per year which is clearly unsustainable. Lawrence and the team are trying to be innovative and are looking to generate more income on non match days with plans for a new stadium which they visualise will include a retail unit, conference and banqueting for up to 1,000 guests, sports centre and a bar/restaurant. All this they say will increase footfall and gate attendance three-fold. The football club are currently in consultation with St Albans district council, so watch this space.

Lawrence urged businesses to get involved and be part of the community. He said: “Help us now when we need your support the most and we will offer founder sponsor status to those businesses on our journey to the next level”

There are varying sponsorship opportunities available including match day, advertsing boards and corporate packages and also private pitch hire! For more information email commercial@sacfc.co.uk or call Sabra Swinson on 01727 847407.

The recent Chamber of Commerce invite for members to attend Trust Networks Ltd ‘Introduction to Cloud Computing’ day was a great success and very well attended by Chamber members last Wednesday.

Blessed with a fine sunny day a host bus on location fitted out with live demonstration suites enabled business delegates to discover or enhance knowledge of hosted services. Kevin Matthew MD for Trust Networks explained: “With the new Generation 8 release of services, cloud computing has become a very hot topic and business interest is very high, particularly from those companies who wish to have computer access on the road, multi locations or specific applications like disaster recovery.

“It’s extremely important for businesses to embrace this now well trialled technology to improve performance and maintain fluid communications with their clients , whether part or whole of the company’s network is hosted the speed and ease of use is becoming the expected.

“The high turnout and interest from local companies proves we have strong business inspiration running within the St Albans Chamber of Commerce and Trust Networks look forward to being heavily involved in promoting more such events in the future”

The bus was on site all day and new Chamber members, Choice Buffets provided a splendid platter of breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea for visitors. Fenwick Bars, who have also just joined the Chamber, provided a mobile bar service – number 1 for events.

Proprietor, Ronnie Fenwick is a local manufacturer and supplier of modular bars for any event such as a family celebration or a corporate event providing quality bar hire. Ronnie said: “From mini bars, when space is an issue, to 100ft in length Fenwick bars can do it for you. If you have a theme or special requirement our bespoke service can accommodate this to add glamour and quality to your event”

Need a bar for a summer occasion? Visit www.fenwickbars.co.uk or call 01707 892675.

St Albans Town Hall hosted the Kingston Smith Accountants Summer party last Thursday evening, a very pleasant evening at a stunning city-centre location. Our Town Hall really is a great venue to hire for special occasions and business functions.

Kingston Smith LLP based in St Peter’s Street have been long standing Chamber members and are very active in the business community. The six partners, supported by a client service team of 50, provide a full range of services to SME’s, Charities and private clients from offices in a Grade II listed building in the heart of historic St Albans.

Between them the partners have nearly 150 years experience advising businesses, charities and individuals on all aspects of their financial activities. They are committed to supporting local business activities via Chambers of Commerce, IOD, networking and representative groups.

Among the specialist services available are corporate and Personal Tax, Corporate Finance, international services and specialist corporate outsourcing. For more information contact them on 01727 896001.

The next Chamber event is Speed Networking on Wednesday, August 21 – back by popular demand! A great event for making new contacts in a fun, relaxed way. The venue is The Bistro at Westminster Lodge, St Albans. Places are available to book now online or call the office for further details 01727 863054.

We would like to welcome the following new businesses to the Chamber; Fenwick Bars, John O’Conner Grounds Maintenance Ltd, Plant Impact and hygiene Audit Systems.

For more information about joining the Chamber of Commerce and becoming a member go to http://www.stalbans-chamber.co.uk/join-us/