| The origins of the Chamber
of Trade can be traced back to the 1930's. After the war the Chamber was resurrected by well known local traders, Herbie Scott, Arthur Bowman and Isobel Smail and met regularly in the Town Hall with the specific aim of promoting trade within the town. During the 1960's the Chamber went from strength to strength and in 1969 it published it's own newspaper called "The Morpeth Rant" containing news, information, competitions and advertising.
At the time the Morpeth Rant was the first free paper in the area. During the 1960's the Chamber was also instrumental in the creation of the Christmas light display with crowns of lights and strings up both Bridge Street and Newgate Street. Before the onset of funding problems restricted the display, people travelled from miles around to visit "the Morpeth Lights".
In recent years, the Chamber has worked in partnership with Morpeth Town Council to reinstate the splendid Christmas Lights display, which we now believe is the best of any market town in Northumberland.
In addition to activities already listed the Chamber also has an important role to play in commenting on and influencing the policy of
Local Autorites with regard to strategic planning issues, brightening the streets with floral displays and supporting a variety of local causes which help to preserve the identity of our ancient market town.
After years of disagreement with Castle Morpeth Borough Council over parking charges in Morpeth, the Chamber of Trade finally negotiated Borough Residents' free parking periods twice per day, effective from April 2006. The Chamber continues to negotiate to have the free periods extended. |
Morpeth Market Place © MorpethNet
Bridge Street, Morpeth © MorpethNet
Newgate Street, Morpeth © MorpethNet
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