CC Village Show - September 23rd
Our first village show was a great success. More than 100 people entered, filling Bath Road Market with scrummy cakes, marvellous monsters, miniature gardens, beautiful knitware, enormous vegetables, dainty flower arrangements and amazing jam! Despite the weather, over 350 people turned out to celebrate local talent and admire the handiwork of friends and neighbours.
There were five awards for best-in-show - 6 amazing eggs won the horticulture section, 'outstanding, lip-smacking' peach jam won the cookery section, a beautiful handmade newspaper dress won the homecrafts section, a scary vegetable monster won the children's section, and a photo of a happy boy won the photography section. A big thank-you to the judges who gave up their Sunday morning and munched their way through a huge number of cakes and jams! Many thanks also to Bath Road Traders Association for donating "Best-in-Show" prizes.
We enjoyed hearing stories from Fiona Eadie, the Jubiliant Storyteller, seeing our local magician Tom Elliot wriggle out of a straitjacket, watching Alison Campbell-Black demonstrate how to make brilliant bunting and learning how to make beautiful porcelain with Jackie White. A big thank-you to Marcus Ward and Gill Thomas for taking photos on the day.
You can see more photos and add your own to the Village Show Flickr group. Many thanks to the organising team - Jenny, Vanessa, Anna, Helen and Carol - for all their hard work (and sleepless nights!) It was a real example of what Cheltenham Connect is all about, with people of all ages involved and and even the banner and rosettes being hand-made. Many people asked about plans for next year. Please contact Helen if you might like to get involved.
Connect Business 2012 - September 27th
This year's Connect Business was even bigger and better than last year's event! People began arriving half an hour before the official opening by Cheltenham Mayor Colin Hay, with some 200 visiting during the day. The speaker sessions were packed, and thanks to the University of Gloucestershire's Student Media Project you can watch the presentations online, including Chair of Gloucestershire Local Enterprise Partnership Diane Savory and Gloucestershire Echo Editor Kevan Blackadder. We were delighted that Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood attended again, telling us what he can do to help local businesses.
Visitors and standholders told us it provided excellent networking opportunities and useful business information, which we hope will generate new business for attendees. A big thank-you to Belinda Wilson for all her work in organising the event, supported by Paul Goring and Debbie Smith, to Scarlett, Jenny and Karen for their help and to the many Cheltenham Connect members who took turns on reception.
Connect Streets
The first phase is now underway and the Bath Road has already seen new and renovated bins, lamposts and seating. We hope the new planters will be installed at the end of this week. We originally agreed to have three on the island but due to its size and the location of underground services, we can only fit in two.
The new BARTA design team has come up with a great set of ideas for branding the Bath Road and we are now working on phase two of the project which will include street banners, boundary signage, an interpretation board, cycle racks and a new piece of public art. You can keep in touch with what is going on via the website www.connectmystreet.org
