New Year, New Start at Felixstowe Chamber!

Happy New Year from the Chamber team. In 2023, we will continue to do everything we can to bring benefits to as many businesses as possible within our community.

As ‘the voice of Felixstowe business’, we constantly strive to add value to our community and we are looking forward to starting our new series of training courses in the New Year, which will be open to Chamber members and non-members.

To showcase the calibre of training we will be offering, we hosted our First Aid Business Breakfast at Hamilton Road’s @Inc. Felixstowe on 7 December, through expert training organisation, TrainEEast.

We were pleased to hear from Jess from TrainEEast, who was supported by Kate. They talked about their superior training services in this field, and unlike other ambulance trusts, the East of England Ambulance Trust travels all over the country to deliver this kind of training. A success that the east can truly be proud of!

Jess explained that they deliver a variety of courses dependent on needs: low-risk office/shop-based businesses requiring the one-day ‘Emergency First Aid at Work’ courses, three-day ‘First Aid at Work’ courses or annual refreshers for speciality areas, such as care homes, police and schools, and they also train fully-qualified NHS ambulance staff.

They also pointed out that all their tutors are fully-qualified and that courses do not get cancelled due to sickness because there is always someone who can cover.

On top of receiving the best in training, all profit from delivering these courses goes back into the community via the NHS Ambulance Service. Plus, course attendees receive NHS Ambulance Service logos on their certificates – these will look very impressive when displayed on your wall!

This was followed by a presentation from Chamber committee member Andy Proctor, who talked about why he became a Community First Aid Responder, what this role entails and the experiences he has had.

Andy and Jess then gave us a demonstration on resuscitation and how to use a defibrillator, with audience participation by volunteer and Chamber committee member Murray Oliver. This helped give everyone confidence on how these machines work, how easy they are to use and what to do in this kind of life-critical emergency.

We are fortunate to have defibrillators all over Felixstowe – at Felixstowe Library, the Co-op, Spa Pavilion, Salvation Army, Leisure Centre, Fantasia, Fairfield School, Conservative Club and more.

Finally, Lynn Needs from the League of Friends of Felixstowe Community Hospital enlightened us to the history of our hospital and the League of Friends, explaining what the organisation has done, what it does and what it wants to do. This led to the most important point: how we, as a community, can help out – not just with donations, but simply becoming a member.

This will help the League of Friends show that Felixstowe’s 113-year-old hospital is an invaluable community asset to us all and will serve to ensure we can increase and improve the services in our fast-growing town, instead of becoming another cutback from the NHS.

As a Chamber, we can only do what we do with the support of the local business community. The positive feedback we receive, and attendance from our members and guests, means a lot to all of us.

If you would like to sign up for any future Chamber events, or would like to learn more about what membership can offer you and your business, please get in touch with Business Officer Amanda Oliver: amanda.oliver@felixstowechamber.co.uk

www.felixstowechamber.co.uk