STAFF from hundreds of local businesses and organisations gathered at the Dick Lovett BMW showroom on Wednesday night for the Switch On To Swindon Summer Ambassador's Evening.

The best and brightest of Swindon's business community chatted and swapped cards to celebrate the success of the initiative, which has seen almost 450 ambassadors join since it launched in January, well-surpassing the target of 300.

The event was held to thank the ambassadors for their support and bring them together to brainstorm how they could work together to promote Swindon on a national and even international level through their networks and connections.

The aim of Switch On To Swindon is to promote the town using the successful small and big businesses that have already set up shop here and encourage other businesses to come to the town and invest in it.

This win-win scenario will benefit local businesses and improve the town for residents and consumers, hopefully helping the town thrive and grow.

It will be a lengthy process but the turnout and enthusiasm at Wednesday night's event was encouraging.

There were also workshops for companies at the event about how to improve their Facebook pages, create their own personal brands online, and improve equality and diversity in the workplace.

The food was provided by Triple Two cafe and Pallet Pub provided plenty of Pimm's.

The full report will be in Friday's Adver.