Dear Town Centre Stakeholder

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Town Centre Manager.

The primary aim of Town Centre management is to create active partnerships and broad networks to develop a healthy and sustainable environment that involves and benefits all stakeholders. The town centre is an economic competitive location and the private and public sector have an equal interest in its prosperity. The community is also a very important partner, providing the vitality that makes a town individual and special. Different supporters will often provide resources in different ways, including money for core funding, goods or services in kind, staff secondment or sponsorship for individual events and initiatives.

I have lived locally for 25 years and am familiar with the history and culture which makes Bridgwater individual and special. I come from a background in IT customer support management and sales and project management. I have previously worked for Somerset County Council, an international corporation which required extensive travel and a specialist software supplier.

The Town Centre Manager acts as a catalyst and co-ordinator to achieve our mutual objective of promoting Bridgwater Town Centre as a good place to work, live and shop. I hope that I come into this role equipped with the necessary skills to work successfully with all the stakeholders who wish to see Bridgwater prosper in the 21st century. If you are a supporter of Bridgwater Town Centre and have some ideas, comments, or can offer some support or sponsorship towards its future success, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Wendy White

Office:            Royal Clarence House, York Buildings, High Street, Bridgwater

Fax:                01278 452538

Telephone:    01278 446859

Email:            towncentremanager@sedgemoor.gov.uk

TOWN CENTRE WHO'S WHO

ON THE TOWN CENTRE BEAT

The Town Centre Police Team now consists of a Sergeant and three constables who are designated to deal with long-term issues and working with various Partnerships. The aim is to further reduce crime which affects the Town Centre such as, theft from shops, criminal damage, theft from motor vehicles and violence. These types of offence cannot be reduced by the Police alone, everyone has a part to play. This is why it is important to work in Partnership. As well as these Officers there are a further 5 constables designated to cover the Town Centre on 24 hour cover, supported by mobile patrols.

One key objective is to work with the business community towards an application for the Safer Shopping Award. This is a vast multi-agency project backed by the Home Office. To gain this award Bridgwater must have various initiatives in place, e.g. Retail Watch, Pub Watch, Business Watch, CCTV, Radio Link, Exclusion Orders, and Civil Recovery Schemes. Several of these initiatives had been put on hold due to the Human Rights and Data Protection Acts. I can now report that the Police Service has recently produced several Protocols which under certain circumstances, permits the exchange of information and the showing of photographs of convicted persons. Now the protocols are in place, and with your help and support, we are in a position to move forward with investigating the feasibility of this project.

Dwelling and commercial burglaries are well down on last year, but there has been an upward trend with violence, public order and theft from motor vehicles. These types of crime are neither good for the town or business and we shall be concentrating our efforts in reducing them. On behalf of my team, I would like to thank everyone involved in assisting the Police in our efforts to make Bridgwater Town Centre a safer environment.

Sgt. Paul White

Tel: 01278 363330

Voice Mail 01823 363287 Box No 70474

BRIDGWATER TOWN CENTRE PARTNERSHIP

ACTION PLAN 2002-2003

Members of the Key Partnership have been fortunate to appoint a local person as Town Centre Manager. We take this opportunity to express how pleased we are that Wendy White accepted the position and took up post from 19 November 2001.

Wendy has lived in Bridgwater for the last 25 years and has Bridgwater at heart. It was a very difficult time of the year to commence in such a post. However, we are pleased to report that with the dedication Wendy has already shown, events and activities during the busy period of Christmas went off without a hitch and proved to be very successful. Wendy has already produced her draft "Action Plan" for 2002, which addresses all the priorities and opportunities needed for Bridgwater to continue to be a major town in the West. There are so many exciting events planned for this year, these will be very well publicised in the press and local radio. With the help and backing from the businesses in town, many small donations make one big one. Think! If we just sit back and do nothing we will achieve nothing, if we criticise the efforts being made instead of participating, we achieve nothing.

Be part of the community in taking up the challenge that is afforded to us all, with the future projects that are planned for Bridgwater, you will all be proud that you were part of the success team.

Ian Harris

Chairman of Town Centre Partnership

Tel: 01278 429191

EASTER COMPETITIONS

Watch the local press for more details of these competitions!

Paint your Mum Competition

Primary schools are being invited to submit hand drawn pictures of Mum. These will be displayed in Angel Place Shopping Centre during 25 February - 10 March. The winning school will be presented with a shield. All Mums of children entering will be entered into a lucky dip and the winner will receive a bouquet and chocolates supplied by Flowers International. Winners announced 12 noon on Saturday 9 March 2002.

Decorate the Boiled Egg Competition

This competition will be divided into three age groups, 5 and under, 6- 8 years and 9 - 11 years. Decorated eggs must be delivered to Angel Place between 9.00 am and 12 noon on Friday 29 March. Winners will b announced at 3.30 pm. Competition and prizes sponsored by Angel Place.

Hunt the Easter Egg

Posters of Easter Eggs with the Sponsors Logo will be displayed in shop windows. Entries which correctly identify the locations of the Egg Posters will be entered into a lucky dip. There will be three prizes for this competition, sponsored by Somerset Skills Project.

Spring Window Competition 2002

Firstly a big thank you is due to the generous sponsors of the prizes for the 2001 Window Display Competitions, (Sainsbury, Iceland, Wilkinsons, Boots and Angel Place). We are planning four window display competitions in 2002. The four "themes" are:-

• Spring - Last date for entry 19 April
• Golden Jubilee - Last date for entry 31 May
• Guy Fawkes Carnival - Last date for entry 1 November
• Christmas - Last date for entry 13 December

The Bridgwater Mercury is supporting these competitions with editorial and pictures to give our entrants maximum free publicity. As well as the prize for the winning windows, we plan to continue the readers choice feature which has been especially popular as it encourages readers to visit all the entries listed by the Mercury. All businesses that enter help to encourage footfall into the town, enjoy some friendly rivalry, receive some free publicity and possibly win a prize! If you wish to enter the "Spring" competition and join in the fun please fill in the coupon and return it to me by 19 April.

golden web award for bridgwater.net

Congratulations are due to Pip Martin as Bridgwater.net has just been awarded the Golden Web Award for 2002 - 2003 by the International Association of Web Masters and Designers. Pip is very pleased with the award and hopes that this will encourage local businesses to continue to set up reciprocal links to this site.

The popularity of Bridgwater’s official web site continues to grow and since the site was launched on 6 February 2001 it has recorded over 260,000 hits, an average of 753 a day. A new statistical measurement has been put in place which analyses which are the most popular pages. The top five are currently:

1. The Business Search page
2. The Sponsors (Adverts) page
3. Bridgwater Town Maps
4. Event Diary
5. About the Town

We would like to remind you that every local business gets a free local entry line on the web site and if yours is not listed please let us know. Through European funding, there are a few free web pages available for small businesses in the town, but you will need to be quick if you are interested.

Those businesses that do not qualify for this special free entry can advertise on the Town Web Site for as little as £50 for the first year, dropping to £30 for subsequent years. That’s £50 for an advert live on the Internet 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. E mail and on line shopping facilities can also be made available for those businesses that require it. Many small firms are surprised that the effort and investment needed to adopt new technology is small, and how quickly it is recouped by increased efficiency. If companies or businesses with their own websites would like the Bridgwater Town Web to link to them all they have to do is put a link in place to Bridgwater Town Web at www.bridgwater.net let us know and we can put a reciprocal link in place. Small logos are available for these links.

The new BCRfm site links from its frontpage to Bridgwater Town Web and its event diary page is also the same one as used by the Town Web. This is regularly updated. If any business, clubs, arts or society wish to add an event to the Town Web for free they need to email the details to:

events@bridgwater.net

 or send them by post to:

Town Web Events, 2 Peace Close, Bridgwater TA6 4LB.

Mark Painter, Bridgwater’s 107.4 BCRfm’s Managing Director said "We have been using the Internet since our trail broadcasts, and we have found it to be an excellent way of promoting not just ourselves, but Bridgwater as well. We are using the same web designer as the excellent Bridgwater.net and because of this we are able to work very closely with the town "official site", providing useful cross-links between the two sites. Promoting our town is as important to us as promoting the radio station and we see the association between the sites as a very useful development".

All this means that a lot of people are getting 24/7 information about our town. Many of these visitors are potential customers. If you would like to find out more, or have ideas for expanding the site please contact:

Pip Martin 07887 658035

Wendy White 01278 446859

Bridgwater in Bloom - 2002 Queens Jubilee Year

Bridgwater in Bloom, supported by the Town Centre Partnership and Sedgemoor District Council Commercial wishes to make Bridgwater a blaze of colour to help celebrate the Queens Jubilee. Complimentary to the scheduled planting and display works from Sedgemoor District Council, Bridgwater in Bloom is pleased to be offering hanging baskets to businesses in the town.

Mike Cresswell, Chairman of Bridgwater in Bloom says " We are pleased to report an increase in baskets year on year and hope to see the trend continue in 2002. These partnerships initiatives help make the town attractive for locals and visitors alike. It also helps put Bridgwater in a position to enter National competitions and allows some friendly local competition with cup winners for best Hanging Basket, Window Box and Overall Floral Display for pubs and shops".

Subject to orders of a minimum of 60 baskets, Bridgwater in Bloom is planning to hold the price, for the 3rd year running, at £37.00 per basket. This cost provides a 16 inch basket, to be filled, installed, watered, fed and removed. The display period is scheduled to be from 1 June - 31September 2002. If you need a bracket that will cost only £10.00 and it will also take a Christmas tree later in the year.

There are also opportunities for business in the town to sponsor larger floral displays and have the name of their company displayed on or near the display - a useful bit of advertising that will help the town as well.

If you would like a basket or are interested in sponsoring a floral display please use the form below.

Small Industries Group

SIG is a self-funding, non-profit making organisation with over two hundred members who receive:

• Free Business Advice
• Regular Newsletter
• Regular Workshops
• Discounted County Trade Show cards
• Networking opportunities
• Social Events

20 February - Building a Better Business supported by Butterworth Jones Guest Speaker - Nick Miles

6 March - Clearly Book Keeping Seminar and SIG E.S.F. Launch supported by Barclays

24 April - Budget Reaction supported by A C Mole & Sons Guest Speaker - Steve Golby.

If you would like to know more please call

Judi Fisher on 01278 424456.

Email: judi@sigbusinessforum.org.uk

Retail Service Training

Following on from the successful customer care training courses for retailers in 2001 we are pleased to announce that a new programme will be starting on April 10 2002. We would like to thank Bridgwater College, Somerset Skills Project, Shop Mobility and Angel Place Shopping Centre for their continued support.

If you are interested in sending your staff for some free training on how to look after your customers please contact me and I will add their names to the list. The course is divided into six weekly 2 hour sessions from 9.00 am on a Wednesday at Angel Place and covers all aspects of customer care including dealing with aggressive customers.

If you require further information please contact: Wendy White on 01278 446859

Bridgwater Townscape Heritage Initiative

Grants for repairs to historic buildings in the town centre

As has been widely publicised, the Townscape Heritage Initiative (T.H.I.) is a five year grant aid scheme operative in Bridgwater town centre conservation area. The scheme is aimed essentially at the repair and restoration of historic buildings, whether listed or not. The buildings which are to be targeted are identified in an Action Plan. Other work for grant aid could include re-use of vacant floor-space and reinstatement of architectural details. These grants are intended to directly promote the regeneration and attraction of the town centre and the T.H.I. team will provide as much assistance as possible to help potential applicants with eligible projects.

If you would like to discuss whether your property might be eligible for assistance, please contact:-

Helen Tasker or Nick Wall - Project Officers 01278 435490

Mark Alcock - Project Leader 01278 435495

or refer enquiries through Wendy White, Town Centre Manager.

Bridgwater Farmers Market

The Friday Markets provide shoppers with a wide choice of local produce for local people. You can continue to buy delicious, high quality, local produce from local farmers on one Friday each month between 9.00am and 2.00pm.

Dates: 8th February, 8th March, 12th April, 10th May, 14th June.

W.I. Market

The Bridgwater Womans Institute Market is held in the town hall every Friday between 8.00 am and 11.30 am. The ladies sell homemade cakes, preserves, locally-made crafts and plants. Orders and parcel service available with one weeks notice.

Golden Jubilee 2002

The Town Centre Partnership are organising a Golden Jubilee theme Window Display Competition and have some other ideas that are subject to funding.

If any business has an idea for the Jubilee they would like to discuss with the Partnership please do get in touch.

Local people can congratulate the Queen by leaving a personal message on the Queens Official Jubilee Website. All messages left throughout 2002 will be printed and presented to Her Majesty as a record of her continued worldwide support at the end of the year. If you would like to leave a Golden Jubilee message, the site can be found at: www.queengoldenjubilee.com

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