Fifty members and guests turned out resplendent in formal attire to enjoy a lovely meal, beautiful music from local band ‘Shiraz’ and to hear from two very interesting guest speakers through the night.

Stuart Maxwell took on the role of Master of Ceremonies, while Kenny Love from Temora gave a very interesting and detailed account of the development and impact of the Aviation Museum in Temora

Jonathan Tuckfield, secretary of the Young Chamber of Commerce said there was a lot in the presentation that was of interest to Young businesses.

“It was a very interesting story, that in a town of 4,100, the museum attracts some 40,000 visitors a year,” Mr Tuckfield said.

“Kenny confirmed that people are willing to travel and looking for things to do in their leisure time.

“The greatest proportion of these are retirees, travelling with their caravans and this is only going to increase as the baby-boomers move into retirement themselves,” Mr Tuckfield said.

“Members of the Chamber were discussing how it would be good for Young to think about how we might get a year-round tourist attraction.

“If we could get on their roadmap with an attraction to draw them to the town they would then spend time and money in the retail shops, restaurants and motels.”

Guests then heard from Gail Bradford, manager of Alliances and Chambers for the NSW Business Chamber, on the role the Chamber plays in business advocacy, information dissemination and provision of specialist advice and research.

“Members of the Young Chamber of Commerce have access to these services as reciprocal members of the larger organisation,” Mr Tuckfield said.

“There are now 130 chambers across NSW, which gives us a strong lobbying voice for small business.”

The Young Chamber is planning to make the dinner an annual calendar event following the success of Friday night.

“We hope to build up the dinner, introducing business and community awards next year as well,” Mr Tuckfield said.

“The Chamber is going from strength to strength, doubling in membership in the last six months.

“Initially, we started with 15 members 18 months ago and now are 68 strong.

“We hope that the Chamber will become a driving force for business development and growth in Young,” Mr Tuckfield concluded.