Thursday October 10 2024
Swindon & Wiltshire News
There’s a new figurehead at Marlborough Chamber of Commerce, after members elected Alex Minoudis as president of the businesses organisation.
Alex is an investment manager at financial planning firm Brewin Dolphin, based at Marlborough Business Park, a position he has held for five years.
He lives in Collingbourne Ducis with his wife Gail and children Max and Sasha.
Accepting the chain of office, Mr Minoudis said he looked forward to building on successes of the past, and made growing membership a priority of his presidency.
He replaced optician Paul Shimell, who found himself thrust into the media spotlight during his last week in the post, following a robbery at Marlborough jewellers Deacons.
Looking back on his presidency, Mr Shimell said: “When I took this position we were in the deepest part of the recession. Now people are talking about another R word – recovery.
“The High Street is looking healthier. We’ve lost the 70 percent sale signs.
“Since 2011 we’ve been campaigning for CCTV. A number of studies have been done but no-one has ever got it up and running.
“The unfortunate events at Deacons may, finally, get the ball rolling.”
Mr Shimell reminded AGM attendees of a successful fashion show and the Olympic Jubilee Ball, both of which had raised hundreds of pounds for local charities, and said he hoped the creation of a Town Plan and Business Improvement District initiative – plans which were mothballed following the death of town clerk Derek Wolfe a year ago this week – would be resurrected by his successor, Shelley Parker.
