Okehampton & District Chamber of Trade AGM update

We have Linda Harper (Harper's Accounting) as chair, Lyn Evans (Swifts Property Services) as vice chair, Shane Green (SGW Window Cleaning) as secretary and Caroline Mott as treasurer...sorry we didn't get a picture. We attracted new members and many of them joined the committee, Michelle Symons (A Little Gift Company), Rebecca Green (Mooplehog), Morwenna Brady (The Heart Space) joined existing committee members Christine Marsh, Mish Flexman, Gail and Mark Turner (Donalds Menswear).

News from the chamber...in no particular order...

Special thanks for the Christmas Light Donations from:

Okehampton United Charity

Okehampton Town Council

Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council

Waitrose

Countryside furnishers

The Toy Shop

Donalds Menswear

Peter, Peter & Wright

Rotary

Lions

Co-op

A.L Martin

Aims Accountants

Davidsons

Special thanks to

Louis Enderson, Steve Bolt and Mike Harding for all their hard work in carrying out all the repairs to the lights and putting them up. They have also been involved in other projects to enhance the town - the replacement of the hanging basket brackets, the lights on West Bridge and around St James’ Church, some of this work is still a work I progress. We are very fortunate to have an amazing team working behind the scenes making it all possible. We welcome new volunteers who may be interested in helping with the hanging baskets, the banners and flags, and of course the Christmas trees. We saw a number of new faces coming along to help put up the Christmas trees on a cold November morning, including members of the public ~ we are very grateful for all your support.

Steve Bolt, Louis Enderson & Mike Harding for all their dedication and hard work - we have made them honorary lifetime members of the Chamber.

Christine Marsh for her help with grant applications

Gail Turner of Donalds Menswear, for all her help as the secretary in 2017, also Matt Welveart of Lean Marketing and Jade Oliver-Deacon of The Toy Shop for all their support on the committee over the past 12 months.

We have a new venue for our breakfast network meetings on the third Wednesday of each month at the Pavilion in the Park, starting at 7.30am. The first one this year will be held on 21st February with guest speaker Rob Smith from Davidsons.

We will also hold regular evening meetings on the third Thursday of the month, the first one this year will be at Waitrose Coffee Shop at 7pm with guest speakers from OkeRAIL.

I am very pleased to have the position of Chair for a second year. We aim to continue our work as outlined in our Strategic Plan, the first being to attend the West Devon parking strategy meeting next week followed by a meeting with David Black, head of highways, to discuss the problems with congestion in town. We will continue to work towards bringing more events to Okehampton.

A copy of the strategic plan is available upon request from okehamptochamber@gmail.com.

The Chamber of Trade is always open to new members, please go to our website for more details www.everythingokehampton.co.uk