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Roger
I'm sickened by this; there can be no justification for actions that defy common decency. I hope you personally can get over this and move on; at the very least the Chamber of Commerce owe you and the businesses they purport to represent a half decent explanation.
I have heard criticisms of the Chamber of Commerce from friends and other business owners alike, and I have always respected those opinions but felt that judgement had to be reserved until such time as I had first hand experience of dealing with them myself. I had promised Roger that my own business - The Fabric Fairy - would be joining DBS from the new financial year, which starts next week. At a stroke those criticisms have been seen to be justified and at least I have the consolation of knowing that my money hasn't been wasted on joining what is evidently nothing to do with representing Dover. One has to respect Barry W's post about not wishing to comment in public - he's caught in the middle of being a member on here as well as being Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce - but, moving forward from this, I hope that he will in time be able to help Dover himself.
I do think that Dover's recent history with commercial representation at senior level leaves a lot to be desired. I know that Mike Webb was a popular Town Centre Manager, but his path crossed with Dover Town Council at the time and he was removed from office; David Somers, his replacement, was unpopular with seemingly everyone, and the answer from those that funded Dover Town Centre Management was to pull the plug on the finances and render the whole operation bankrupt, and now an unpaid but hugely committed Dovorian has been sacked just months into the job after members of the Chamber of Commerce faced the cameras at a packed Maison Dieu House telling us all how wonderful Roger was for the job. Even at a salary of £24,500 the position of Town Centre Manager is cheap; to offer a contract of £9,000 four months into the job is tantamount to constructive dismissal and an industrial tribunal would wipe the floor with the Chamber of Commerce were it ever to come to court.
Sacking Roger in this fashion is the action of a Chamber of Commerce that does not warrant support. I would be interested to know of one tangible effect the new revamped Chamber of Commerce has had on the town - I will declare a public interest here insofar as I have good friends in The London Road Community Forum, but to be perfectly frank the LRCF is working damned hard to improve the area it represents and doing a far better job. Would that the Chamber of Commerce had LRCF's Jeanette Harper at its helm, the town wouldn't be in half the mess it is in at the moment. For what it's worth, my own little business will not be joining the DBS, and I have strong suspicions that the Chamber of Commerce will lose many others over this high handed and utterly unjustified action.
Roger, again, I'm truly sorry about this. It's Dover's loss.