Hundreds turn out for chamber expo
Dozens of members of Shropshire's business community came together to swap ideas and discuss partnerships at Shrewsbury Town FC.
A joint business expo held by Shropshire Chamber of Commerce and Marches Growth Hub saw more than 200 people join together to swap business cards and ideas in an effort to grow the county's economy.
The chamber's head of events Teresa Rowe said: "The Growth Hub and the chamber have jointly organised the expo – we have called it the big business expo.
"It's a big networking event where businesses come together to meet up with each other, they know it's the place to come if they want to have those chats, when they haven't had the chance in recent months.
"There's still a clear appetite for networking. We are looking to try to refresh our network offering, but we need it to be there and this is a good way to encourage collaborative working.
"It's good to see we have new exhibitors, patrons, members and non-members, and those trying to test the waters of a new way of networking."
A breakfast meeting heard from Amy Farley from the Marches Growth Hub, Shropshire Council's Gemma Davies and European funding specialist Gary Spence, and was attended by 80 people.
A further 130 visited the expo – one of three held by the chamber each year – to see the 36 exhibitors at the event, while seminars were hosted by county businesses Shoothill and Clear Design, as well as the University of Wolverhampton.
Ms Rowe added: "The breakfast speakers were talking about the funding, grants and loans that are available to businesses.
"Access to funding is always invaluable to businesses and people should see the chamber and the Growth Hub as the places to go for that knowledge.
"By coming to these events people can find out more than by just surfing websites. It's important to have that one-to-one personal touch, even though businesses are so busy."
