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Minutes of the Tourism Committee Meeting held in the Town Hall, Bideford on Tuesday 4th June 2019 at 6.00 pm

PRESENT:

East Ward:

Councillor Mrs J Gubb

West Ward:

Councillor Mrs K Corfe
Councillor C Hawkins

South Ward:

Councillors Mrs S Langford
Councillor P Lawrence

North Ward:

Councillor D Bushby

Northam TC: Councillor B Edwards


IN ATTENDANCE:
Mrs L Dixon-Chatfield, Town Clerk’s Asst
Councillor Mrs R Craigie
Councillor J Craigie



001.      ELECT A NEW CHAIRMAN

The Clerk firstly introduced Councillor Barry Edwards from Northam Town Council, who had been invited, by the previous Committee, to join Tourism. She also read out the resignation email from Mrs Ruth Benney of the Affinity Outlet TIC, who had been a member of this Committee for 10 years.

The Clerk asked for nominations for the position of Chairman.

Councillor Mrs Gubb was proposed by Councillor Bushby, and was seconded by Councillor Hawkins.

RESOLVED: That Councillor Mrs J Gubb is appointed as Chairman of the Tourism Committee for the coming year.

(Vote – For: 6, Against: 0, Abstentions: 0)

002.      ELECT A NEW VICE-CHAIRMAN

Councillor Bushby was proposed by Councillor Mrs Langford, and was seconded by Councillor Lawrence.

RESOLVED: That Councillor D Bushby is appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Tourism Committee for the coming year.

(Vote – For: 6, Against: 0, Abstentions: 0)

003.      APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Councillor Hawkins advised members that Councillor Mrs Corfe would be a little late.

004.     DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA

Councillor Mrs J Gubb declared a non-pecuniary interest in Item 007. She would be running the PA and MC for Bideford Fair at no cost to the Council.

005.     PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION

Councillor Mrs Craigie had an item to bring forward but admitted that it was not an agenda item and asked the Chairman for her discretion to discuss the point.

The Chairman agreed and asked the Councillor to continue.

Councillor Mrs Craigie explained that the owners of Café Collective had approached her about an event they wanted to run, later in August, a French Flea Market. It would require a road closure and the costs related to do this. The Councillor wondered if this Council would consider a donation towards what could be a very popular event, that could be repeated at the same time every year, attracting visitors and locals alike. She added that a great deal of interest had been shown as this style of market is very on trend.

Councillor Lawrence asked if it was something the organisers could work with the new Market Development Officer on? Councillor Mrs Craigie said that this year there wouldn’t be enough time, as it was important to get the road closure as soon as possible. But certainly for the future.

There was a brief discussion about using the Pannier Market for the event but, again, maybe for next year if the event was successful enough to expand it into the Pannier Market.

Councillor Bushby felt that the idea was a good one, in principle, but suggested to the Chairman the Council would need assurance of it going ahead, and costs, before going any further. All members showed agreement.

Councillor Mrs K Corfe joined the meeting at this point.

006.     MINUTES

Proposed by Councillor Bushby and seconded by Councillor Mrs Gubb, the minutes of the meeting held on 26th March 2019 were approved and signed as a correct record.

(Vote – For: 2, Against: 0 , Abstentions: 5)

007.     UPDATE ON BIDEFORD FAIR

The Clerk passed around a list of booked participants.
The Chairman explained that this event was in its 4th year and whilst she was originally organising it jointly with the former Chairman, due to him being unavailable she was now on her own and she was honest enough to say she was a bit daunted by it. She thanked the Clerk who had been helping her and mentioned that she was looking at bringing in South West Event Management Services to assist.

Participant bookings were not looking too bad, but she felt that the event lacked a WOW factor, but she was going by last year’s blueprint as it was her first Bideford Fair. The Chairman’s main concern was stewarding as the Sea Cadets were unavailable this year and it was too short notice for the Army Cadets.
Councillor Bushby reassured her that he would be there all day and so would his wife. He would be looking after the Vintage Bikes and Mrs Bushby would be running a tombola.
The Clerk had asked the Maintenance Team if they would be able to help out, and she would send an email to all Councillors asking for their assistance during the day.

The Chairman said that she had cut the time down for the event as she felt it had been too long before, all members agreed with her. The event would now start at 11.30am and run until 4pm.
The Clerk added that the Mayor would open the event after processing through the Town, to add to the pageantry.
She also advised members that the Town Council needed to insure the event (previously been insured under Bideford 500) and that Zurich had quoted £112.00. All members agreed.

The Chairman was concerned about an item and that was the Vintage Guide Bus that had been booked. She explained to members that we did not have a guide for this. Councillor Lawrence thought he would be able to contact potential guides and said he would do so and report to the Clerk.
Councillor Mrs Corfe suggested that if Councillor Lawrence was unsuccessful, perhaps put a message onto social media asking for a guide.

Councillor Lawrence suggested that the dog show could be run by the MC with perhaps a pair of hands to hold the prizes.

Councillor Mrs Corfe would find out about Belly Dancers but admitted that it may be short notice.

The Chairman opened the discussion on posters, banners and leaflets. It was suggested that prices be gained, and 4 generic banners purchased.

Finally, the Chairman thanked everyone for their input and advised them that this could be the last year for this event in its current format, although the essence and sentiment of it would be kept.

008.     DISCUSS A MEMBER BECOMING A CHAMPION FOR FORMER CHAIRMAN’S PROJECTS

The Chairman and Councillor Bushby briefly outlined that the former Chairman had started putting plans together for two large projects.

2020 COLONIES

Councillor Bushby explained that 2020 would be the 400th Anniversary of the Founding Fathers and that Plymouth and other South West towns would be holding celebrations throughout the year. The idea was to celebrate our own, although Bideford made the first voyages to the United States, before the Mayflower set sail.

The Clerk explained that so far Rotary were happy to work with the Council to combine their Water Festival with Bideford Fair, and mention had been made to South West Event Management Services to bring them into the celebrations to make a weekend of it. She added that she had spoken to the owners of the “Matthew” (John Cabot’s replica ship), the handlers of the “Kathleen and May” and “Oldenburg” who were all keen to be involved somehow. She had also spoken to Bristol Museum about having the relevant 6 or 7 panels of the New World Tapestry, but she was in dialogue with them about their reluctance to let the panels be displayed for discriminatory reasons.

There was a brief discussion regarding the use of the word Colonies, some members were not comfortable using it.

The Chairman suggested that members think about an alternative word that would sum up this important historical event and bring that to the next meeting.

UP-CLOSE THEATRE

Councillor Bushby gave a quick explanation to members, that the previous Chairman had been keen to have a production, using Up-Close Theatre, in the Town Hall. The idea was to have a re-trial of the 3 Witches of Bideford.

There was a brief discussion. The Clerk said she would contact Up-Close Theatre to see how far arrangements had gone.

Members felt that both these items needed to be deferred to the next meeting

009.     UPDATE ON DECORATIVE ARTWORK IN COOPER STREET

The Clerk passed around the drawings of the sculptures.
Councillor Bushby explained that these 4 sculptures, being made by Bill and Peach Shaw, would be installed on 4 buildings in Cooper Street. The first one had been made and we were currently waiting for the scaffolding licence before installation on our satellite building on the corner of Cooper Street and Jubilee Square. As soon as that one is up the second one will be ready, and so on.

010.     UPDATE ON THE HANGING BASKETS SCHEME

Councillor Bushby explained how the scheme for Mill Street, Allhalland Street and the Pannier Market had come about and that it had been paid for by monies from this Council, Bideford Bay Chamber of Commerce and Torridge District Council 106 monies. He added that the scheme had been based on the display of hanging baskets in Cooper Street. Merry Harriers had installed the brackets, the irrigation system, the baskets and supplied the flowers. This Council holds the licence for them. It is hoped that from next year onwards, each shop will pay for their own flowers (through Merry Harriers) which will amount to approximately £40 per basket.

Councillor Bushby concluded that he thought the works had been done to a high standard and as soon as the blooms started to mature, the baskets would be a delightful sight for all, especially when the Planters are put in situ.

All members agreed. There was a brief discussion about the Planters. Councillor Bushby explained that the planters themselves are owned by this Council and that in the past we have paid to have them planted up and stored. Now we store them ourselves and our Maintenance Team are currently planting them up.

011.     DISCUSS THE BIG CLEAN 2019

The Clerk advised members that the next Clean Up would be Sunday 23rd June from 10am until 1pm and concentrating on cleaning off the sticky tape left behind from fly posting. Also, for those who didn’t want to join in around the Town Centre, they could clean their street name signs.

Councillor Bushby explained that these events had proved to be reasonably popular and if people preferred they could litter pick. Meeting time would be 10am in Jubilee Square. He would have the glue removing solution which is very easy to use and clean off. The Clerk added that the Chair of Partnership would open his shop for complimentary hot drinks (or cold on a hot day) and a cake.

Councillor Mrs Craigie asked if there would be another Clean Up during the course of the year as they wished to target bus shelters at East the Water in time for their “In -Bloom” bid. The Clerk advised that another could be arranged later in the year. Councillor Bushby encouraged the Councillor to carry on whenever she felt like it but to inform the Council office about it.
The Clerk would arrange Graffiti removal kits for them.

The Chairman asked members to come along if they could spare the time, even if only for half an hour.

012.     DATE FOR NEXT MEETING WILL BE 23 JULY 2019 AT 6PM

 

The business of the meeting having been completed, the Chairman thanked the members for their attendance and the meeting concluded at 7.20 pm.

 


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