Over and Out

Hi! For anyone who still checks here in the hope that I have at last updated the blog, apologies for updating it SO spasmodically. The blog has now been replaced with the shiny new web-site at www.explorebraunton.org and, as I am working to update this and am contactable via the site, I am going to call this the official end of my blog here. Thanks for your interest and your support.

I will be staying on to improve the multimedia devices, the Braunton Explorers, with our partners at Node but will be spending more of the winter in the cosy confines of Bideford Station with other members of the North Devon AONB team. Please do get in touch if you have any suggestions or queries about the Explorers, the Explore Braunton web-site, school involvement, local business engagement or indeed anything about Braunton - I'm still here and would like to hear from you (contact details at www.explorebraunton.org).

I may return with a blog about something completely unrelated. In the meantime though, enjoy the autumn and remember to Explore Braunton!!!

12 months becomes 17!

Hello! I’m pleased to be able to write this; technically this week should have been my last and the end of my 12 month contract. Happily though, I have been granted a five month extension, so 12 months become 17! I will now remain in post until mid-February. This new allowance means that I will be able to polish the existing Explorer tours, in partnership with our colleagues at Node, add some more functionality and improve the menus, etc, and hopefully, with the expertise of Kingfisher Multimedia, create a third tour. It’s all very exciting and hugely rewarding for me because I can continue to see the project through. To have put it down and walked away now would have been rather sad. That’s not to say that the existing project, as it stands, is over by any means. We are in the midst of completing our guided walk leader training and this has been an enjoyable course, led by Phillip Berry from Devon Discovery, to the standard set by the South West Mountain and Moorland Training Scheme. In addition, we are nearing a free business networking event, for Braunton-based businesses, which takes place at the Countryside Centre this Friday. The day will include an optional tour with the Explorers and will, most excitingly, see the launch of the Explore Braunton web-site.

www.explorebraunton.org will go live this Friday. I am so looking forward to it, as it’s taken a great deal of hard work, not just in terms of writing ALL the content, but designing the site and content management system. I am indebted to the hard work and professionalism of Pete Urwin at Metazoa and Craig Moir at 27bits, who have worked to produce a truly outstanding web-site that I hope you will enjoy. One of the first people to benefit has been a lady from Caen School, who visited me today to seek assistance with the school’s topic for this term, which is Braunton! She was keen to see more of the site and is eagerly anticipating Friday’s launch. In another quirk of fate, Kingsmead School (another in Braunton) has also decided to do Braunton as this term’s topic and will hopefully be designing a guided walk around Braunton and adding it to the web-site in due course.

Exciting times then, both now and ahead. I’ll endeavour to keep you up to speed but, of course, please do check the new web-site at www.explorebraunton.org from Friday onwards. It will be regularly updated and I welcome all your feedback and suggestions. Until next time...!

FREE BUSINESS NETWORKING EVENT

FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2008

On Friday 19 September an exciting event is taking place, which is aimed at getting businesses in the Braunton area together. The event will also mark the launch of a new web-site for the locality, which can be found at www.explorebraunton.org. The web-site contains much information of interest to local residents, students and visitors to the area and I hope it will be really useful to you and your customers.

The programme, being held at Braunton Countryside Centre, has been split into morning and afternoon sessions. Each will consist of a short presentation about the Explore Braunton project (and how it could benefit you) and provide opportunities for networking with fellow business owners before an optional walk of around an hour’s duration. The walk will be used to demonstrate the new Braunton Explorers – handheld gps-driven multimedia guides that deliver unusual and engaging tours. They are part of the very first initiative of this type in England and we are keen to gather your feedback about them.

If you own a business in the Braunton area and would like to come along, please confirm your attendance at either the morning or afternoon session as soon as possible. Places are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact me at: Braunton Countryside Centre, Caen Street Car Park, Braunton Devon EX33 1AA, 01271 817485, 07815 162159 or katie.james@devon.gov.uk.

Morning session:
09.30 Tea / coffee.
09.45 Introduction to Explore Braunton; launch of new web-site, background about Braunton Explorers.
10.15 Opportunity for networking and for people who wish to do the tour to get ready.
10.30 Braunton on the Move tour – with more opportunities for networking along the way.
12.30 Finish.

Afternoon session:
13.30 Tea / coffee.
13.45 Introduction to Explore Braunton; launch of new web-site, background about Braunton Explorers.
14.15 Opportunity for networking and for people who wish to do the tour to get ready.
14.30 Braunton on the Move tour – with more opportunities for networking along the way.
16.30 Finish.

Training Opportunity

You could benefit from heavily-subsidised training being provided by the Explore Braunton Project. Explore Braunton is a community initiative, funded in part by Devon Renaissance, one of whose aims is to assist people into work. To this end we are offering Coast and Countryside Leader training, which is part of the South West Mountain and Moorland Leader Training Scheme. It is a fun, informative and useful course for anyone with an interest in the countryside, particularly that around Braunton.
As part of the course, we are offering Appointed Person First Aid awards,
which are a prerequisite of the course. We will also provide contacts and opportunities for you so that you can put your training to good use.

To be eligible, you must be:
• of working age (16-59 for women and 16-64 for men) and:

• unemployed (out of work, want a job, have actively sought work in the last 4 weeks and are ready to start in the next fortnight or are out of work and have accepted a job that you are waiting to start in the next fortnight)
OR:
• economically inactive (are either not looking for or are not available for work e.g. looking after the family and home, students and those who are long-term sick or disabled)
OR:
• in employment at risk (in paid employment but at risk of losing your job e.g. have received a statutory redundancy notification)

We begin with a day’s first aid training on Friday 5th September.
The two day Coast and Countryside Leader course follows on
Monday and Tuesday 15th and 16th September.

Participants are required to pay a £15 registration fee and bring a packed lunch,
course fees will be met by the Explore Braunton project.

Places are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
To register, please contact Katie James, Explore Braunton Project Officer at Braunton Countryside Centre, Caen Street Car Park, Braunton Devon EX33 1AA, 01271 817485 / 07815 162159 or katie.james@devon.gov.uk.

Rainy Days Again

Heavens, what a lot of rain and it seems impossible to avoid it - so frustrating that I've had to get all my wintery raincoats and everything out in the middle of August. I guess we can only hope for a surprisingly fine Autumn.

As usual, I haven't had time to write lately because I've been absolutely up to my neck in work. The saying 'live to work or work to live' is becoming increasingly pertinent. Progress seems so terribly slow and yet I'm beavering away every day. I will be glad to get training for walks leaders organised and also my downloadable walks leaflets finished. Thankfully, the AONB has just taken on Matthew Hensby, a highly proficient work experience man who will, I think, be able to help me in the next few weeks - phew. It seems incredible that I have just five weeks or so left until the end of my 12 month contract.

I'm very pleased with our partners Node and particularly the efforts of Jo Armstrong, who is currently working on some improvements to the functionality of the tours. I'm also very grateful to Simon Houghton of the Public Rights of Way team, who has recently instigated improvements to signage and more on the Braunton on the Move multimedia tour route. As for me, I've been working hard to go through all the interviews we've done over the past few months (all 9.5 hours of it) and catalogue what is said when, to enable long-suffering Neil to easily find the bits that are needed for films to go on the web-site. It'll be great to have this multimedia element on the site and it'll be good to use some interesting parts of the interviews that we were not able to use on the Explorers.

At the end of last week there was a very rare hour or so of sunshine and so, armed with my camera, I decided to have some time out. I went to explore St Brannock's church and take pictures of it for the web-site, along with photos of the Peace Tree, which was planted in the churchyard by American soldiers who trained in Braunton prior to D-Day. I found both and met the flower ladies who were adorning the already-beautiful church for a wedding the next day. Then I ventured across the road to St Brannocks Well Close, in pursuit of a holy well said to exist nearby. I didn't find it straight away but, after locating the pretty Roman Catholic chapel nearby I gained entry (much appreciated) and found the picturesque heart-shaped well next to it. More about this on the web-site!

As for my running, I've sadly injured my knee. I'm not sure how it happened, something went when I was running downhill recently, and unfortunately it's getting worse not better so it's unlikely that I'll be doing the Human Race at the end of the month. Sad, but there's sure to be more to do later on.

Well, I hope you're avoiding the rain better than I am! I'm off now to address the rest of my 'things to do today'.

Latest

Well, it's been another busy time in the Explore Braunton camp and this past week has seen all sorts of progress made. I have recently returned from a meeting in Exeter to discuss project finances, which was highly successful, and I am now much reassured about the budget (or lack of it!) - at least I know I'm on the right track now.

Last week we had a very positive meeting with Node's CEO Paddy Willis. Not only did we have the opportunity to ask him a great many questions but we were able to show him our Saunton tour route, known as Shifting Sands. It was a constructive meeting and we now feel confident that Node are going to work wth us to iron out the glitches we're having. I've been keeping tabs on the devices in our possesion and monitoring how each is working. Interestingly enough some work very well and others are quite stubborn about behaving, but anyway, testing continues.

I am told that I'll soon have a draft of the web-site to see and I can't wait for that and progress is also being made with the downloadable walks leaflets and guided walk leader training, albeit slow progress. The weeks just turn into one long blur but I'm comforted when I look back and see how much we've achieved to date - although there's a way to go yet we've done a lot and, as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.

At home I've got back into my running and, after recent training success, I have been foolhardy enough to enter a 10k with a difference. Organised using fancy technology by Nike, it's called the Human Race and with the help of gps and internet technology, they aim to have a million or more people worldwide running a 10k on 31.08.08. There's venues in major cities around the world but if you can't make it to one of them, you can choose your own route. Your pace, time, etc is then beamed back to the Nike web-site and your results logged. You can use the same gadgetry to compete with others all over the world at other times and I think it sounds like a great way to find a running partner any time you want one! I am now trying to identify a nice flat route for 31.08.08 and think Barnstaple to Braunton a good one. 10k is basically 6.2 miles and, although I've never run that far I think I'm up to it (gulp!). Once my gadget arrives in the post I'll start logging training runs and the results might appear here (haha!) but either way my personal training goals are here so you can always leave me a message (try to be nice!) if you'd like to offer any encouragement.

That's it for now - back soon!

July Report

Hi - I thought it worth including here a recent report of the AONB Project Officer about Explore Braunton:

Explore Braunton: Update
Report of North Devon AONB Project Officer

7 July 2008

Background

Grant Funding from Heritage Lottery, Devon Renaissance, North Devon AONB, Devon County Council and Biosphere Schools totalling £99,000.

Anticipated outputs are:

• Feasibility Study for Handigas Site
• Production of a web site Explore Braunton, including six downloadable walks leaflets
• Multimedia tour using new technology
• Training of volunteer guides to lead walks
• Workshops for local businesses to realise the economic potential
• Engagement with schools and community on interpretative elements
• Development of Interpretation Board/Parish Map

A condition of grant was that the project be handed to the local community within 12 months of completion of the project.

Feasibility Study: complete, however BP (the site owners) subsequently found another use for the site and have offered to reimburse costs, incurred by the Service, at a reasonable level. The research and data from the project will be useful if there are future proposals for a similar centre.

Web-Site: progressing well will be live very soon. Will be launched officially in September. The downloadable walks leaflets are currently being developed.

Multimedia Devices: Node Explorer tours completed, units delivered and currently ground testing. Schools and others delighted with the tours but technical issues still being ironed out as part of contract with supplier. There is a two year warranty on the product and a three year license.

Volunteer Guides: North Devon Leisure Guides will assist with setting up a training programme for Braunton volunteers, next training day planned for middle of July.

Business Workshops: The initial work has been carried out through Devon Wildlife Trust Business Workshops held this winter. A business launch will be held in September.

Engagement of Community and Schools: Excellent engagement with the wider community and with 5 secondary schools.

Development of Interpretation Board/Parish Map: The Project is currently working in partnership with Braunton Parish Council to develop this element of the project. Four relevant and experienced contractors have been asked to submit a quotation for production of the boards, with a deadline date for completion being the middle of September. The main site identified for one of the boards is the land near the village green and River Caen, in the centre of the village.


Hand-over to the community:
There are three phases to this:

1. 10 Year Commitment
The AONB is a publicly funded body hosted by DCC. We are not a community organisation, nor will our legal advisors allow us to loan equipment through a third party or to bank money etc.

We therefore need a strong organisation with long term financial security to take on the 10 year commitment to the whole project. At this stage the only organisation that has offered to do this is North Devon Theatres Trust, which has recently taken over responsibility for Museums in North Devon and meet the requirements in terms of experience in delivering projects, are financially viable and are a community organisation in that they are a Trust. They do not wish to make a profit from the project. The Explore Braunton Project Steering Group have agreed this and a contract will be developed. Once this is agreed the Steering Group and North Devon AONB will work with the Trust to secure the future of the project beyond the funding period.

2. Local Delivery and Hire of the Node Explorers
Whilst ownership of the equipment will be vested in the Theatres Trust (subject to the legal agreement being signed) the Node Explorers need to be made available locally. A hire charge will need to be made to cover insurance, running costs, etc. The value of the Node Explorers, warranty and content is approximately £45,000. Following discussion with our legal and financial advisors the project steering group need to be convinced that the body that will handle the day to day rental of the equipment has a robust business plan that demonstrates:

• Day to day availability to the public
• Hire charges
• How they will be made available to schools
• Longer term financial viability: beyond year 3
• Security of the equipment
• Benefit to the local community
• That the project will be run on a not-for-profit basis with any profit over and above reasonable running costs being re-invested in the project

The AONB Project Officer Dave Edgcombe has explored potential solutions for local delivery with North Devon Environmental Trust (who own the Countryside Centre) and with Kingfisher Multimedia and asked both organisations to submit proposals for day to day management for evaluation by the Steering Group. Discussions with the County Library Service are also taking place.

Following these preliminary discussions the AONB Project Officer will supply a specification to all interested parties to enable preparation and evaluation of submissions.

Due to the complexity of hire agreements it is unlikely that we will pilot the Explorers this summer.

3. Handover of Web-Site
Once the web site is launched and tested we will investigate suitable hosts for long term management of this. Again we will supply a specification to interested parties.