A message from Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber

Andrew Denniff, chief executive of Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce, shares a message of support and engagement during the COVID-19 crisis – and for the ‘new normal’ future It will never be the same again.

The number of times I have heard this said over the past few weeks can almost lead you to despair.
We have to acknowledge that the impact and consequences of COVID-19 has been huge and, in many cases, led to very sad outcomes.

The way many businesses and indeed day-to-day lives have been changed will without doubt be a lasting outcome of 2020. The realisation of what really does matter and more importantly, who really does matter in our communities and in the relationships we have with each other should be a huge positive we can take from our experience of these unprecedented times. Others will be left to comment on the effect this will have on society, both nationally and indeed globally, but be in no doubt the way we do business and the responsibility we have to each other in the commercial world will have changed for the better.

All of us have had to adapt to continuously changing circumstances, even the way we talk and engage with each other has had to become more efficient and focused on what really matters. I have been incredibly surprised, by not only the number of people I have had the opportunity to speak with directly, but who are simply pleased to know that someone is genuinely interested in their business and is prepared to offer a little bit of appropriate advice and guidance where needed.

The access we have at a strategic level is envied by many, but this has to be more about simply talking about problems, or indeed providing feedback and information from the “sharp-end”, we have to get real solutions to the many challenges that our members are experiencing at the moment. So, it really is important that you continue to engage with us and, of course, maintain those links within your own networks as well. We will keep talking to our local authorities, our Local Enterprise Partnership and indeed our MPs as regularly as possible and keep feeding back your views and your issues as best we can.

Your responses to our weekly ‘Tracker Surveys’ have been nothing short of impressive and, for such a small chamber, our members continue to head the respondents list for the Yorkshire and Humber region, giving us a very clear picture of what is truly happening on the ground. Whatever the new normal is going be in the future, it is crucial that as your Chamber of Commerce we continue to focus on the things that really matter and keep you as up to date and as informed as possible.

The value for the Chamber is having a truly engaged and responsive network – and when it really matters it seems that is exactly what we have.