· Sheffield Junior Chamber of Commerce (SJCC) held its inaugural meeting and election of the first President on 25th October 1927 at Firth Hall. It was the third Junior Chamber within the country after Lincoln and Birmingham.

· SJCC first held its meetings at the Cutlers Hall in the Sheffield Club. It then moved to Commerce House in Earl Street. Currently it meets regularly on Wednesday night at the Royal Victoria Hotel.

· Throughout its history SJCC has maintained close links with the civic community with representation on both the Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Trade Councils. The President also attends many civil and professional functions including the Cutlers’ Feast and the installation of the Lord Mayor.

· From very early on in SJCC’s history, projects have been important. Prolific projects from the past (and present) are :- Sales Assistant of the Year, Children in Hospital Photographs, Christmas Tree Appeal, the Pantomime, broadcasting on Radio Sheffield. One of the biggest annual projects run by SJCC was the Lord Mayors Parade which was organised annually from 1965-1998.

· SJCC has always been one of the largest in the country, with membership sometimes running into several hundreds.

· Women were first admitted as members in 1975 and the first female president was Francis Soar in 1984-1985. Now women make up over 50% of the membership and in the last ten years there have been six female presidents.

· Being one of the first Chambers in the country, it is probably not surprising that SJCC was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the national organisation of British Junior Chamber as well as this though, the visit of several members to the USA National Conference in 1930 was one of the initial steps in the forming of the international association, Junior Chamber International.

· Sheffield has organised many events on behalf of BJC starting with the National Conferences in 1947 (after the cancellation of the 1939 Conference at ten days notice upon the outbreak of war), 1966, 1977 and 1996. They also held Awards Day in 1992.

· Internationally, Sheffield organised the 1985 European Conference, the biggest project in its history. The European Conference in 2003 was held in Birmingham and several Sheffield members were on the organising team.

· Sheffield has provided 5 National Presidents and 12 Yorkshire Regional Group Chairmen.

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