Skip to main content

bideford logo

Minutes of the Tourism Committee held in the Town Hall, Bideford on Wednesday 30 November 2016 at 6.00 pm

PRESENT:

East Ward:   
Councillor J McKenzie
Councillor S Robinson   
Councillor Mrs R Craigie

North Ward:   
Councillor D Bushby

South Ward (Outer):   
Councillor D Howell (Chairman)

Atlantic Village   
Mrs Ruth Benney

IN ATTENDANCE:    Mrs L Dixon-Chatfield (Town Clerk’s Asst)

058   APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

No apologies received.

059   DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA

No declarations were received at this point of the meeting.

060   PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION

There were no members of the public present.

061   MINUTES

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 26 October 2016 were approved and signed as a correct record.

(Vote For: 6, Against: 0)

062   ONE OFF ENTERTAINMENT EVENTS.

Members were updated as follows:

•    Craft Fair – Mrs Benney reported that all was in hand for the Craft Fair on Saturday 3rd December.  She had ensured that all stall holders had given her a copy of Public Liability Insurances and fees.  She did, however, enquire about the availability of chairs for those using trestle tables.

The Chairman enquired about publicity for the Craft Fair.  The Clerk informed members that she had put a piece in the My Town magazine and had made mention of it in the Mayor’s piece for the December Link magazine.  She further advised that the Signing of the Lease Ceremony and the Craft Fair had been put onto the BTC website some time ago and would run until after the event.
The Chairman concluded that he would post the information onto social media and BoB.

•    Musical Evening – The Chairman advised members that the Musical Evening would be held on Saturday 1st April 2017 at Kingsley College, 7pm.  Entertainment from “Encore” featuring some of their new material.  Tickets would be £5 per person and all proceeds would go to the Mayor’s charity, Families for Children.

063   “TAKE A PRIDE IN YOUR TOWN” SPRUCE UP DAY – TO RECEIVE SUGGESTED DATES FOR 2017.

The Clerk advised members of the dates suggested and that she had emailed them to all Councillors with no negative or positive responses.

The fixed dates would be Sunday 23rd April 2017 (St George’s Day), the weekend after Easter which had worked well this year.  The second date needed to be decided between Sunday 9th or Sunday 16th July.  Members agreed that Sunday 9th July 2017 would be the second date, with a third to be reviewed nearer the time.

The Chairman mentioned that there had been a piece in the ND Journal from an East the Water resident complaining that during the Spruce Up days, there had not been consideration for East the Water.  Councillor Bushby advised members that there had been a letter of complaint in the ND Journal along the same lines. 

There was some discussion that on all Spruce Up days, there had been clearing work going on at Chudleigh Fort, the Railway Museum area and that there was ongoing clearance work being carried out by the Maintenance Team.

Councillor Bushby took the opportunity to update members on the work that had been carried out by the Maintenance Team so far.

064   TO RECEIVE AN UP DATE ON THE WALK AROUND THE TOWN TO IDENTIFY AREAS OF MAINTENANCE INCLUDING THE ART BRICKS.

Both the Chairman and Councillor Bushby agreed that they would need to meet up to look at the work needed to be done to complete the Art Bricks.  The Clerk agreed to make contact with the Harbour Master in order to organise the electricity switch on.

Councillor Bushby reported that he walks around the town on a regular basis and is looking at areas that need improvement and reporting them. 

065   TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON THE SCHOOL CHOIRS BEING ASKED TO PERFORM IN THE PANNIER MARKET ON FRIDAYS LEADING UP TO CHRISTMAS AND RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

The Chairman advised members that East the Water Community Primary School would be appearing at the Pannier Market on Friday 9th December at 11am.

The Clerk reported that Bideford College had declined in this instance purely because their Head of Music already had a burgeoning diary, but would like very much to be considered for any future programme of musical events we may have.  The Choir would need at least 4 weeks notice to perform because students are in different classes from each other and depending upon the time of year, taking them out of their studies can be disruptive.  September would not be an option for the Choir to perform outside of College.

The Chairman suggested that the Tourism Committee could look at a School Choirs Concert.

There was discussion amongst members regarding hosting events in the Pannier Market and the difficulty with traders not appearing to welcome too many people or too much noise.

066   RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON THE PROGRESS MADE WITH SECURING COSTS FOR A VIDEO TO BE MADE OF BIDEFORD EVENTS AND RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

Councillor McKenzie reported that he had received a price from a local video production company for a high resolution, high definition, state of the art video (which would be a benchmark price for the best production that could be) but at £50k this was deemed to be off-the-scale for price.

Discussion took place regarding what was required and it was agreed that a short piece of about 7 minutes (approximately 20 clips of 20 seconds duration of Bideford events) was all that was required for people to be able to download onto their smart phones, laptops or tablets. 

Councillor Bushby suggested that Councillor McKenzie contact Bideford College who have a fully integrated media suite and approach them with a view to taking this on as an A Level project or similar.  Expenses could be forthcoming from the budget.  Their Drama students could be similarly approached for providing a voice-over for the production.

Councillor McKenzie agreed that he would contact the Principal Lyndsey Kane to set up a meeting.  He would update members at the next meeting.

067   TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON MARKING THE OCCASION OF THE CENTENARY OF THE BIDEFORD WESTWARD HO! & APPLEDORE RAILWAY (B, WH & A R) CLOSURE IN 2017 AND RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

Councillor McKenzie reported that he had made progress with researching the Railway and had been in touch with Rod Garner who was keen to help out, Lewis Andrews who had exhibited a display in the Burton some time ago and was willing to get involved as well as Councillor Peter Hames (NTC) who was also very happy to assist.  It was agreed to invite these interested parties to a future meeting to discuss further.

Discussion then took place with regard to different ways of commemorating the event ie perhaps create a trail or part of a trail using the railway route, recreate a model railway in the Pannier Market.

The Clerk mentioned that, officers had been discussing with Dave (Maint Team) his decorative horticultural skills with regard to gardening beds and from that an idea was formed to use one of the greens by the Port Memorial (roadside) as a decorative bed to be planted out each year to commemorate an event.  On this occasion it could be formed and planted out for the B,WH & A R depicting a train, initials and relevant dates 1901 – 1917. 

Members discussed the idea and agreed that it would be a good use of a grassed area at the Port Memorial.

Proposed by: Councillor McKenzie, seconded and

RECOMMENDED: That costings be sought to carry out the design and planting of a commemorative flower bed at the Port Memorial (roadside), keeping to no more than £500 (to be supplied from the Town Projects 2016/17 budget).  To approach Grow@Jigsaw with regard to supplying plants for the bed.  

(Vote For: 6, Against: 0)

068   TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON A DIGITAL/PICTORIAL INFORMATION BOARD OF WHATS ON IN BIDEFORD AND RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED

The Clerk had handed out costings of a digital information board (as used in the window of Regency Estate Agents) which had been requested from the Chairman at a previous meeting.

Councillor Bushby remarked that it would be less expensive to buy than to rent.  All members expressed concern about vandalism, extreme weather conditions and generally housing the display.  It would also need to be wheelchair/mobility scooter friendly.

After some discussion it was agreed that a safe location would need to be found that would be central to the town.  The Chairman suggested the Harbour Master’s/Coastguard’s Office in Jubilee Square would be an ideal site and appeared to be redundant.  He advised that the building was owned by TDC and was not a listed building and that perhaps the owners could be approached with regard to “using” the building.

The Chairman concluded that there would be an update at the next meeting.  

069   TO CONSIDER THE ENTRY ONTO BIDEFORD PAGE(S) OF THE VISIT NORTH DEVON AND EXMOOR WEBSITE AND RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

The Chairman had broached the subject to the Chamber of Commerce regarding them taking on submitting the content to the website, while the Town Council would fund the project.  He explained that the Chamber were not in a position to take this on as they were having difficulty in updating their own website.

The Chairman suggested that the part-time Admin Assistant that would be employed by the Town Council (and would be holding a web-friendly skill set), could manage this project. 

He concluded by informing members that he would check the hit-count and update them at the next meeting.

Proposed by: The Chairman, seconded and

RECOMMENDED:  That the Town Council will pay the £1,000 membership fee to control and manage the Bideford section of the North Devon and Exmoor Website.  And that the Part Time Admin Assistant, when appointed, will manage the website.

(Vote For: 6, Against: 0)

070   TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON RESEARCHING THE REINSTATEMENT OF AN ANCIENT FAIR IN BIDEFORD AND RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

The Chairman explained that the St. Margaret’s Fair could become part of the Bideford 500 Heritage Day in the Town.  Heritage Day in 2017 would be themed around WWII and would be utilising the Quay with re-enactments, cooking from the W.I., wartime vehicles, vintage cars and bikes, music and dancing from that period.  That would take most of the space along the Quay  going towards Victoria Park where St Margaret’s Fair would be taking place with events such as archery, falconry, tug o’ war, donkey rides.  Councillor Bushby suggested ferret racing, sheepdog trials using ducks.

The Chairman gave a brief outline of St Margaret of Antioch and why she was canonised.  She is one of a few St Margaret’s but the only one that fits the brief of Henry III granting a 5 day fair in July.  Her saint’s day is 21st July.  The Chairman advised members that there were three dates available in July and he would update everyone at the next meeting.

Members finally agreed that it would be necessary for them all to be involved in bringing costings and formed plans to future meetings in order to spread the workload and to ensure a successful event.  And that they would need to have a core together for the event ready for the next meeting.

071   DATE OF NEXT MEETING

It was agreed that the next meeting would be scheduled for Monday 9th January 2017 at 6 pm in the Council Chamber.


The business of the meeting having been completed, the Chairman thanked the members for their attendance and the meeting concluded at 7.15 pm.


♦Delivering the information you need about our decision making processes and supporting community participation in local democracy♦

♦ Helping to make the beautiful Town of Bideford a better place to live and work in! ♦


Bideford - A Fairtrade Town


fairtrade & Living Wage employers

Fairtrade is about equitable pricing, good work conditions, sustainability and fair trading for farmers and workers in the developing world. Bideford is a registered Fairtrade Town - Support local and world farmers - look for the fairtrade logo on your shopping items.

Visit the site...

facebook twitter instagram

Coach friendly

 

© Bideford Town Council 2015 Gingerweb Ltd site design and SEO In North Devon