Tuesday 06 December 2011, author: admin

The Christmas late night shopping event in Totnes has been going for at least 30 years, sometimes for just one night, nowadays for three.This year's events are a continuation of recent year's programmes which have proved highly successful in attracting large numbers of visitors to the town. The organisation is headed by the Christmas Festival Working Group of the Totnes Town Council which, amongst other things, takes care of the road closures, health and safety, insurance etc. The organisation of the stalls and entertainment is carried out by the commercial company Born Hectic. Meetings are held throughout the year and are open to anybody to attend. For the past three years the Chamber has been numerically well represented at these meetings and has filled the role of presenting the ideas and concerns of the town's traders.Our general position has always been that these events should be shaped to provide, firstly for the enjoyment of the community of Totnes, secondly for the promotion and support of local businesses and thirdly for the promotion and support of local artists and performers.For a variety of reasons we have not always been completely successful. Nevertheless this year, despite there having been probably too few meetings of the working group, we have successfully lobbied for there to be no charges levied by Born Hectic for stalls or empty spaces, in front of shops who wish to stay open on the evenings.However, there are still problems to be ironed out and many improvements that can be made.In order to address these for the future from the outset ie, at the very first meeting in Jan 2012, we need your input now.The minutes of all meetings are distributed in hard copy to all shops in town and yet usually we do not receive suggestions or complaints until a couple of weeks before the first Late Night.

So please, make a special effort this year to record all your observations on the nights, at the time, or the very next day and let us have them asap. Issues such as;

• Where could the stalls be better placed
• What kind of produce should they sell
• Where should the entertainment be
• What kind of entertainment is best
• How might parking difficulties be alleviated
• How would you improve the events
• If you could wave a magic wand, what would happen next year

Get out your notebooks and let us have ALL your ideas, from constructive suggestions to real concerns, before your Christmas break.

Contact any member of the Executive or email me -- thepaulwesley@btinternet.com

Thank you and have a good LNS