Teignmouth Traders Association
www.teignmouthtradersassociation.co.uk
Minutes of General Meeting held at Oystercatchers
Wednesday 1st October 2008
Meeting started at 6.40pm
Apologies: Yvonne Miller, Aubrey Pitts & Yvonne from Nautilus.
Paul Nicks had his window smashed just before the meeting so had to stay in his shop until it was safe, hence delayed apologies.
Draw: Raised £25.00 for our funds. Prizes generously donated by Sheila & Brian Tibbs of Tibbs Greengrocers in the Triangle & Brenda. Any donations for next draw would be gratefully received and acknowledged.
Christmas Lights: Thank you to everyone who came to the Council meeting your attendance really helped, especially as for some reason it had been left off the agenda!
There was a lot of discussion and although Cllrs Cox, Bladon, Bladon, Mc Murray & Tooley were all working for the lights scheme, Cllr Russell thought there were some Health & Safety and public liability issues!!! and Cllr Falcao wasn’t sure if he could justify using tax payers money on this scheme (Despite receiving a 1000 signature petition that acknowledged that the people of Teignmouth do want the lights), Cllrs Baldy & Parkes were non committal and Cllr Weekes said nothing at all through out the debate. Mr Tickell managed to keep the item from the agenda and constantly tried to intervene to stop the discussion.
There were no decisions made and as soon as there is any news we will let the members know. There is Full council meeting at Bitton House on Tuesday 9th of Oct at 6.30pm PLEASE ATTEND IF YOU CAN AS IT REALLY HELPS although I must say that we will be unable to take part in anyway but it will keep us informed of the individual Cllrs views thought process!!.
Iain Palmer informed the members that there are several points that the council have to consider and we have to dot a lot of “i’s” and cross a lot of “t’s” before we can get the go ahead and any money from the council.
As we have said previously the present grant/lottery money runs out next year so we could possibly apply for further grant/lottery funding at this time, but this doesn’t help us for this year, so we need to put as much of our own lights and decorations up (as per usual!) but also use any money raised for the lights to add some extra sparkle to the streets and make our town appealing and not the ghost town that it has been in the past.
- Many members feel that the wavy lights etc that are already in place should be operational and we should push for these to be lit, at least for Christmas!
Next year we could apply again for grant/lottery funding for further seasonal lights under a community or town scheme. The council asked us to set up a working party and we have done this and shown great enthusiasm, this has been appreciated by Cllr Cox who has pledged to donate £1000.00 from his funds, though as yet we have not received the money. Ian Howes who is Chair of the working party will open an account for the lights fund so we keep it separate from other TTA funding.
Even though we sent a report with figures and a petition to the council they appeared to have mislaid it, so they all now have copies, If you wish to see the same copies please call in at Sweet Memories for one. There will be a notice board at the next meeting with the full proposal and quote for you to see.
- Andy suggested that we ask other businesses in the town that are not TTA members, to support the Christmas Lights Fund eg. Woolworths, Boots, The Banks etc. – will send a letter asking for donations.
- Iain said that there are forms in some businesses to ask for Community Funding.
Motor Caravan Club: John Ware from the Herald Express has approached Brenda to ask for our support to allow the Motor Caravan Club to obtain a few spaces “Airs” in one of the town’s car parks where their members can stay for a day or two before they travel on to their next stop. All they need is a tap and somewhere they can dispose of their sewerage. Iain at East Cliff said they had a few problems during the season with campers along the sea front, but Brenda said that this would alleviate this problem if they had a designated site, Richard from The Beach thought it was a great idea and other members agreed. It was agreed we would write a letter to support.
Teign Estuary Focus Group: Yvonne & Mike went to the meeting at the Yacht Club. Mike said it was a very interesting meeting with many members of all sorts of organisations from the area in attendance. One of the topics was that they were going to have a “Thomas Luny” Fortnight and there were a few ideas and suggestions one being that they would have a “Painting by numbers” type art on the warehouse wall along Quay Road, done by children from local schools, groups etc. Another idea was to have guided tours of the places he visited, stayed, where he spent his time painting, eating and drinking. This will probably happen sometime in May to mark a 250th anniversary of his birth. It was also suggested that they were going to bring all his works of art to given an exhibition in the town, they need a venue to display the paintings, although the school was suggested Mike thought it would be a good idea to try and get it in the Riviera.
They also wanted to know of possible sites to put “Touch Screen Information Centres”. There are two available. By the Tourist Information Centre would be a good site, not sure about the other one. These centres will give information on what’s on, where to stay, where to eat etc. We should speak to Roger about adding some of our own information.
Request from Teignmouth Council: They are asking for volunteers to be trained up to watch CCTV. Anyone interested should get in touch with the council please.
Mini Festival: Sam at the Jolly Sailor is organising a mini festival on 15th November – Could members please display a poster and come along and enjoy yourselves, he will be having collection buckets out and all money collected will be for the Teignmouth Christmas Lights Fund.
New Committee Member: Chris from Jag has had to resign from the committee as he has now moved jobs and is no longer in the town. Brenda asked if there are any nominations to fill the post and suggested Matt Kelly as he could represent east Teignmouth area if he would be prepared to join the committee, he said yes and as no one else came forward he was co-opted on by all members present.
Christmas Buffet Date & Venue: Mike and Annmarie from South Pacific would provide a buffet & disco for about 80 people. Price to be decided soon and will be reasonable you will all be contacted then about where to buy the tickets for members and their partners family and staff. Any other suggestions for entertainment will be considered.
AOB:
- Winter Carnival is on 29th November, please if you have any ideas or offers of help get in touch with the carnival committee, it will be a walking procession this year.
- Brenda is trying to find a venue and people to run a Santa’s Grotto and said there are child protection issues to consider while doing this. Another suggestion was to have a marquee in the triangle, Richard from the Beach may have one we could hire/use but it would have to be properly attended to so no damaged came to it.
- Rotary are putting up a “In Memory” tree again this year.
- Iain asked for permission to apply for a grant for about £1000-£2000 towards the St Georges Festival. It was agreed so long as it would not affect the application for a grant for seasonal lights next year.
- Mike asked if there was any news on the Christmas free parking? Brenda said it was still ongoing and she has Emailed to Sue Edwards recently and was told that it was being put forward.
- It was also pointed out that if anyone would like to speak at a Council Meeting you have to write to the Council three WORKING days before the meeting. You can have three minutes to say what you would like this is your right.
Next Meeting: Wednesday 12th November 2008 - 6.30pm at The Pickwick to be confirmed. PAUL WILL CHAIR THIS MEETING
Meeting closed at 7.45pm.
Business to Business
LEAFLET DISTRIBUTION
I am doing a leaflet distribution to a good number of homes in Teignmouth over the next few weeks
Are you interested in distributing leaflets advertising your business at the same time?
We could share the cost (which means it would cost me less per leaflet/household)
Contact David Berg, Four Candles Electrics 07885 965 979
posted by Teignmouth Traders Association #
21:03 
