Peter Hilder was the green small business owner who turned up to a meeting of the Maitland Business Chamber and, during a dialogue that he didn’t quite understand, found himself on the executive before he’d even signed up.

Twenty years later, Mr Hilder, 71, will tender his resignation at tomorrow’s annual general meeting.

He joined the chamber in 1988, when he was the owner of Our Town Pools at Maitland.

“I won the Small Business of the Year Award two years in a row and I felt a bit guilty so I thought I’d join,” he said.

“The first meeting I went to was the AGM (annual general meeting), but I didn’t know that.

“There were about nine people there, and three people at the table out the front.

“They didn’t need to do elections because there was only one candidate for each position and there were enough people there to make up the executive.

“They asked me did I want to be on it and I said, I think I already am. Now how do I join (the chamber)?”

It was the start of two decades of involvement in the city’s business community for the man from Charlestown.

He served 13 of those years as vice-president (six consecutively) and two years as president (2003 to 2005).

But, although he suffered a stroke in December 2005 that required a three-month recovery, Mr Hilder said it was not ill health that prompted his departure.

“I always thought it would be age and disability that would cause me to resign, but I am very happy to say this is not the case,” he told the executive in a letter.

“I have business interests in Adelaide and elsewhere and these will consume a large part of my time.”

Mr Hilder sold the pool business after his illness, but continues to indulge in land development, much of it in the South Australian capital.

He said he would continue his membership of the Maitland chamber and his role as chairman of Hunter Valley Youth Express, a chamber initiative that forms partnerships between students and industries, until next year.

Mr Hilder was confident he was taking a back seat when Maitland was well-positioned to continue its economic growth, despite global financial circumstances.

“There seems to be a positive attitude out there,” he said.

“There are new, bigger developments going on and that’ll bring more jobs, more homes, more rates and more businesses to the town.”