Over 50 local business leaders attended an #AmazingAccrington business leaders meeting at the Accrington Stanley Community Trust on Wednesday 19th April.
The meeting, which took place in the Stanley Sports Hub, saw guest speakers including MP for Hyndburn & Haslingden, Sara Britcliffe, who provided an update live from Westminster, and CEO of Accrington Stanley Community Trust, Martin Fearon, who gave an overview of the trust’s new facilities, as well as their fantastic new £1m investment.
Visitors to the meeting also got the chance to hear about crime prevention and policing strategies from Lancashire Police & Crime Commissioner Andrew Snowden, as well as Miles Parkinson OBE, leader of Hyndburn Borough Council, and #AmazingAccrington Chair, Murray Dawson.
Martin Fearon, CEO of Accrington Stanley Community Trust, said: “It has been amazing to host the #AmazingAccrington meeting for over 50 business leaders at the brand new £3.5million Stanley Sports Hub.
“We have invested a huge amount of money, we want the community and businesses to get involved, hiring meeting rooms, classrooms and our brand new conference room which has a viewing balcony looking over towards Pendle Hill.”
Murray Dawson, Chair of Amazing Accrington, said: “It has been tremendous to be able to showcase this fantastic facility to our business leaders from across the borough. We had a very informative and engaging meeting and I would like to thank all our fantastic guest speakers for their updates and key insight.”
Andrew Snowden, Lancashire Police & Crime Commissioner, commented: “It has been absolutely fantastic to be at the Accrington Stanley Community Trust’s new facilities where businesses have been welcomed from #AmazingAccrington to look at the new facilities, to talk about partnership working and for me in my role as police and crime commissioner, to look at the fundamentally important role that sport plays in helping reduce reoffending, helping keep kids on the straight and narrow, and raising aspirations.
“It’s been great to be invited by #AmazingAccrington to this event, to talk to lots of different business leaders from across Hyndburn, and also to highlight the good work that Lancashire police officers do here. They come down to the original facilities once a month to build relationships with young people, the violence reduction network that is funded through my officer here, running programmes with people who are at risk of committing serious crimes, to divert them away and get them on the straight and narrow. The probation service also do work here to reduce reoffending amongst prison leavers.
“Sport can make a huge difference and superb, fantastic investments like this really help not only put Hyndburn on the map but help me and the police do our job to keep Hyndburn safe.”
Simon Brierley, Membership Director at the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, commented: “It’s always a pleasure to represent the chamber at an #AmazingAccrington event, it was great to see such a strong line-up of speakers, the police and crime commissioner, the local MP and the leader of the council, all getting together to share good news and ambition with the business community about where Hyndburn is going and what Hyndburn businesses can do to help Hyndburn fulfil its potential.”
The #AmazingAccrington board, a cross-section of business leaders from private and public sectors in conjunction with MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden, Sara Britcliffe, aim to bring businesses, the education sector and young people in Hyndburn closer together, to improve outcomes for education and future careers.
You can learn more about #AmazingAccrington and the work they do on their website: https://www.amazingaccrington.co.uk/
