LORRAINE BREMNER MCBRIDE: A big thank you from Inverness BID

As the New Year starts, the BID board and team would like to say a very big thank you, in lieu of her pending retirement, to our former vice-chairwoman and current director Jackie Cuddy, who is due to leave her post as the Eastgate Shopping Centre manager at the end of January.

Jackie was pivotal in setting up Inverness BID in 2008 and her voluntary contribution to BID and to the wider city centre to date cannot be overestimated.

We are extremely grateful for the difference she has made including sharing her extensive knowledge and skills so generously with us and others over many years and we wish her all the very best for her new chapter.

We’d also like to say a big thank you to all the individuals and businesses who supported our Inverness City Centre Gift Card initiative over the festive season, with special thanks going to Innes and Mackay and Stagecoach for both going the extra mile in order to support their fellow locally based businesses.

The Inverness City Centre Gift Card allows us all to choose to put our local economy first and as it can be spent in over 160 locally based businesses within the city centre it remains the ideal present for other occasions too.

For more details, please visit here, or pick up a card from the friendly team at the BID office based at 17 Queensgate, Monday to Friday, during office hours at any time throughout the coming year.

Finally, many congratulations to the winners of the Best Bar None Awards held last night at the Waterside Hotel.

The annual event for the hospitality sector is supported by Pub Watch, BID and the Inverness Courier and promotes accredited recognition for best practices and highest standards within the industry.

It is commendable what the sector is able to achieve individually and collectively via the programme and special thanks to the event host Don Lawson, chairman of Pub Watch and our community safety manager John McDonald for their organisational contributions.

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