270 Years Strong! City Firms Celebrate Success at AGM

4th November 2014

Sheffield organisations celebrated more than two and a half centuries of business success between them at Sheffield Chamber of Commerce's AGM.

Companies presented with Celebration of Success certificates to mark their trading milestones included the Cathedral Archer Project, John Holland Sales Ltd, Onyx Group, Owlerton Greyhound Stadium and Sheffield Cathedral. Established in 1989, the Cathedral Archer Project, based at Sheffield Cathedral, supports and enables homeless and vulnerably housed people to overcome issues through healthcare, education, and employment. John Holland Sales Ltd is a family-run business which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The company supplies high quality sports and prestige used vehicles for sale worldwide. The firm's Meadowhall Road showroom has more than 20,000 sq ft of indoor display area and the company's team of professional buyers currently purchase around 150 vehicles a month from main dealer groups around the UK. IT infrastructure and support specialists Onyx Group established in 1994 and has expanded from a regional, home-grown IT company to a national technology provider which serves some of the UK's best known businesses. Onyx has ten UK sites and offers hosting, managed services, cloud services and back-up to full business continuity for IT systems. The company's Sheffield facility opened in 2010 and the state-of-the-art business resilience centre offers local businesses access to both a 320-rack data centre and a 250-seat workplace recovery centre. Owlerton Greyhound Stadium opened its doors to the public in 1929 and, 85 years on, the venue has grown into Yorkshire's premier greyhound racing track. It hosts more than 250 race meetings and welcomes 300,000 visitors every year, making it the second busiest track in the country and is also home to the Sheffield Eagles and Sheffield Tigers speedway team, as well as playing host to Formula One stock car racing. Currently celebrating a century, the Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Paul became Sheffield Cathedral in 1914. The community of Christians has a strong history of engaging in social and pastoral care, culture and the arts in the city. The building has a well-established musical tradition as a venue for recitals and concerts including the Chamber's Annual Dinner event earlier this year. All of the businesses were presented with celebratory certificates at the AGM by the new Sheffield Chamber President David Thurkettle. Richard Wright, Executive Director of Sheffield Chamber, said: -As I said at the AGM - membership is the core of our organisation, so it's important that the meeting represents the achievements of our members, too. -It's fantastic to turn the spotlight on their longevity and loyalty to the city in this way and we look forward to celebrating and supporting many more businesses in the years ahead.