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Born into a Lancashire coal-mining family, Bernard Tennant won a scholarship at the age of 10 to Farnworth Grammar School, which he left in 1947 to spend eight years in local government administration at Bolton Borough Council and Worsley UDC. After (very short) national service in the RAF, in 1955 he took a sabbatical as a tour manager in the Channel Islands and France for six months which extended to a very successful three years.
- On returning from his base in Guernsey, he was eventually appointed as Secretary to Bolton Chamber of Trade; added Bolton Chamber of Commerce and Industry (1968) plus various other trade associations. A very active, and public, fourteen years during which he became Honorary founder-Secretary of the charitable Moorside group of Housing Associations adding hundreds of properties to the stock of housing, mainly for the elderly in the Bolton area. He eventually gained a BA Honours degree after a six-year home study period with the Open University, majoring in Government and Modern European History.
- Decimal Currency:
In 1971, his organizational flair was in evidence during the country’s changeover to decimal currency. By that time he had added the responsibility of the National Chamber of Trade’s North Western Area Council to his Bolton office. As organising secretary to some 30,000 traders in the region, he devised, produced and presented training sessions on the new currency.
- Value Added Tax:
On the introduction of Value Added Tax in 1973, he again mounted training courses for the benefit of traders and their professional advisers, and was widely in demand as a speaker on the practical implications at professional symposiums and seminars. Apart from that practical approach, he was closely involved in the political lobbying to prevent retailers being left with millions of pounds in Purchase Tax on their shelves as a result of the change. He counts it as one of the biggest successes of the Chamber movement in persuading the Government of the day, at the eleventh hour, to relent and allow the refund of Purchase Tax to retailers totalling billions of pounds.
- National Appointment:
Appointed Secretary of the National Chamber of Trade at its headquarters in Henley-on-Thames (1975) becoming that organization's Director General in 1987.
- Enterprise Zones:
In 1981 Sir Geoffrey Howe, Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced his brainchild of ‘Enterprise Zones’ - islands of rate and regulation-free zones in various parts of the country. Opposing the idea, Bernard Tennant was quoted in the media: ‘The ironic part of the whole scheme is that businesses on the outside of the zones not only lose out to completely unfair competition, but have to foot the bill for the £20 million capital allowances and £50 million rates lost by the end of the ten-year rate-free period.’
- Magistrate:
Appointed a magistrate to Bolton Borough Bench in 1968, transferring to the Reading Borough Bench in 1975 on transfer to Henley-on-Thames.
- Lobby Groups:
In 1987 he became additionally a Director of the British Retail Consortium which represents over 90% of British retailing. He became a member of the Retail Price Index Advisory Committee in 1988, advising the Secretary of State for the Environment and, later, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In 1993 he was appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment to the Special Advisory Group to undertake a wide-ranging review of litter legislation arising out of the 1990 Environmental Act. In 1994 he was a member of the NatWest Bank Charity Trust's Special Committee looking into crime protection methods for small businesses. He was a member of the Study Group set up by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in 1995 charged with producing an in-depth report into the UK’s rating system.
- Merger:
In 1992, Bernard Tennant opened talks with his counterpart, the Director General of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, to explore the possibilities of a merger between their respective organisations. From his earlier experience of the beneficial symbiosis of a merger at local level, he felt that a merger at national level would provide a rationalisation of resources and costs across both bodies. The final merger took place from January 1993 when Bernard Tennant became the last Director General of the National Chamber of Trade and the first Director of Retail for the Association of British Chambers of Commerce.
- Voluntary Work:
Since retiring in 1995, he has combined voluntary work with the Citizens Advice Bureau and Oxfam Bookshops with a successful period as a freelance writer penning many hundreds of articles for professional journals and magazines.
- Family:
Married in 1956 to Marie (née Tonge). They have three children: Simon, Philip and Sarah who have given them five grandchildren, namely Dylan (14), Jody (12), Harry(11), Jessica (9) and Caitlin (3). This year (2010) they celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary. They live in the Chilterns on the border of Oxfordshire and Berkshire near Henley-on-Thames.
From quiet homes and first beginning,
Out to the undiscovered ends, . . . .
Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1951)
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