Caerphilly Business Forum is to be relaunched and rebranded in a bid to inject new life into the networking group.

A new committee has been established to oversee the creation of the new organisation, which will have an emphasis on businesses based in Caerphilly County Borough supporting and learning from each other.

The new-look forum is to be known as Caerphilly Business Club. Plans to have a formal physical launch have had to be put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, but a virtual online launch is being looked at.

Matthew Tucker, assistant principal at Coleg y Cymoedd, is the club’s new chairman.

He said: “The new board’s energy and commitment has been overwhelming.

“We are facing challenging times at present, however we have continued our focus to launch the Caerphilly Business Club, so that we can support our business community in the near future.

“We all share the same vision, and that’s to ensure the success of businesses within Caerphilly and the future economic success of Wales.

“We have some excellent businesses in Caerphilly and we need to recognise the outstanding work they do.

“Only a few months ago we were discussing the impact of Brexit – Covid-19 has obviously been our most recent priority.

“Some of our businesses have responded to the Covid cause and diversified production to support the NHS, showing our responsiveness and adaptability.

“As we see restrictions relax, the club focus is to support all businesses on the road to recovery and normality – however that may look.”

Membership to Caerphilly Business Club will be initially free for businesses with a registered address within the county borough and £25 for those outside.

Once things are ‘back to normal’ the club plans to run events for businesses as well as resurrecting the annual business awards, which were last held in November 2018.