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Chamber History
Lancaster & Morecambe Chamber of Commerce is a not for profit organisation owned by and directed by its business members. It has a proactive Board of Non-Executive Directors who represent different sectors of the membership.
Lancaster & Morecambe Chamber of Commerce’s history dates back to the 18th Century and is firmly rooted in the business community. The role of Lancaster & Morecambe Chamber of Commerce then and now is to support businesses based in North Lancashire.
Lancaster District Chamber of Commerce was established in 1897. Although the origins of Lancaster & Morecambe Chamber of Commerce are firmly rooted in the City’s mercantile past dating back to the early 18th Century when Lancaster was a busy trading port. Ship’s Captains and merchants met to do business with America and the West Indies – sadly some of that trade was slavery, alongside tobacco, cotton and timber. Much of the latter destined for the furniture factory which became Waring & Gillow.
In January 1897, the new Chamber of Commerce Committee met for the first time in public and was given the responsibility for setting up Lancaster & Morecambe Chamber of Commerce. Cards were circulated to traders to discover the degree of interest in joining Lancaster & Morecambe Chamber of Commerce at one guinea subscription. Within a month fifty had signed up as members.
From early on Lancaster & Morecambe Chamber of Commerces purposes was directed by its members who decided which issues Lancaster & Morecambe Chamber of Commerce should concern itself with, still a strong over-riding purpose of this Chamber to this day: representing the views and needs of its members promoting North Lancashire’s businesses to ensure the business community thrives.
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