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.

Not Midsummer Weather!

Midsummer has then come and gone. It has rained on and off almost continuously since and I have been caught on more than one occasion. Perhaps the most frustrating consequence of the weather was experienced by Goldcoast Oceanfest, who suffered a lot of rain on the first day (Friday, which was Education Day) and such high winds on Sunday that the music stage had to be closed - I believe the winds were over 40mph! Midsummer indeed.

The Explorers continue to present some unique and awkward challenges and the decision has now been taken to postpone the launch until all issues have been resolved. It is rather a shame to have missed this summer season but there's no doubt that much testing and decision-making needs to be done before a proper launch can be justified. The development and implementation of the devices has been, and continues to be, a steep learning curve and despite the problems I still maintain that it's been a valuable experience. That's not to say it's over!

The web-site is now eagerly anticipated and yes, I have found still more to add to it. It seems that the interesting information about Braunton is never ending and it will be wonderful to see so much of it collated and presented to the world at large. We had a successful monitoring visit from Devon Renaissance's representative yesterday and, although it threw up some action points, it went well. Now progress needs to be made with my self-guided walks leaflets and the recruitment of volunteers for training in leading guided walks. Volunteers need to be of working age but not working full time or be threatened with losing their job if they are working full time. If this applies to you and you would like to benefit from subsidised training, or if you know of anyone who might, please do get in touch. You'll need to be reasonably local to Braunton and have an interest in the area.

Outside work, I am very much looking forward to Yeovilton Air Day on Saturday. No doubt it will rain as forecast (why is the forecast only ever right when it rains?!) but I am determined to enjoy it nonetheless. We are taking my partner's son as a birthday treat - he enjoyed it very much last year and loved the opportunity to sit in a helicopter alongside the pilot, although his legs weren't long enough to reach the pedals. The pilot suggested he come back when his legs are long enough, so we're going this year to see how much they've grown!

Midsummer

Well, since my last post I have completed the Race for Life in a time of 27 minutes, 35 seconds, which I’m told is very good! I impressed myself, certainly, and have to admit I enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone who so generously supported me, I’ve raised £450 for Cancer Research so far but money is still coming in.

The launch on 1^st July has, very frustratingly, had to be postponed. There are acres of red tape and bureaucracy to battle through and it seems that it won’t be completed in time for the launch. It’s a shame as we’ve worked so long and hard to so many deadlines and to have stalled at the last hurdle is dispiriting but there’s nothing we can do about it. Further news about the launch will, therefore, be delayed.

I have very happily completed most of the web-site content although, inevitably, have found more since I finished it. I am making a little list of things to add myself when the content management system is ready. A lovely, if not time consuming, task now is to listen to the six or more hours of interview I have recorded and select pieces of film and audio to include on the web-site. It’s a pleasant enough job but I underestimated how much concentration it takes – there’s no doing two things at once while trying to listen.

Tomorrow sees the start of Goldcoast Oceanfest at Croyde and I will be going along for the Education Day. I‘m very much looking forward to being out from behind the desk but I’m sure I join the organisers in praying for good weather – the forecast doesn’t look too promising at the moment! Yesterday I met Tony Koorlander to discuss the area’s military history and links with America, he’s very interesting and has some fascinating material so hopefully something exciting will begin to take shape there. This week I have also caught up with my millions of emails, straightened the finances, touched base with everyone and made an enormous chocolate cake which, although messy, seems to have gone down well with the girls at the office J

It’s hard to believe it’s nearly midsummer already; roll on the sunny weather....

I'm back!

I'm back and yes there has been an enormous gap since I last wrote. Very sadly my Mum died on 15^th May after an enormously brave battle with cancer. She was first diagnosed 22 years ago and it was her determination and resilience that kept her fighting to the end. The last few weeks have been pretty strange, but things are gradually falling into place now and settling into a routine again and I am back to contemplating the mountain of work in front of me!

Having said that, the past week has seen some wonderful developments. The Braunton Explorer devices have been delivered, in part, which means that we’ve been able to get testing underway with 17 of the 30 devices. Parts of the devices are being shipped from China and were delayed by the earthquake, so the remainder will be a little longer in reaching us, not too long I hope. Testing has been interesting and certainly worthwhile; it’s highlighted some issues we hadn’t thought of before. The situation is positive though and I feel confident that we’ll be ready in time for the official launch, which will hopefully take place on 1^st July (to be confirmed this week).

In addition to the Explorers coming online, I have been working long and hard on the content for the web-site so that I can give our extremely patient web-designer, Pete, something to work with before July. I can’t wait to see what it looks like and have amassed almost 80 pages of archive information text, with almost 250 images, to which will be added several video and audio clips – watch this space. Some have joked that I’ve more or less written a book!

In other areas of the project, Dave Edgcombe has kindly handled planning of a new information board for me. It is hoped that it will go in the centre of the village and represent a parish map; Dave has attended a parish council meeting on my behalf this evening. I am having some downloadable leaflets produced and will shortly get to grips with planning the launch event – all very exciting.

In the meantime though, I am training for the Race for Life, which takes place in Barnstaple on Sunday 15^th June at 11.00am. I have been truly touched by the amount of sponsorship that people have given and thank everyone sincerely for donating so generously for Cancer Research. My Mum would have been very proud; all I have to do now is make it around the 5k (3.1 mile) course with as much style as I can muster!

...Nearly forgot, I am in June's edition of Devon Life in the article called 'What the Locals Say'. There's a great article there about Braunton and a fairly decent bit about me :)

Sunny Spells

This week has begun in much the same way as last week did - full of April showers! I have so far managed to dodge them successfully but it's only a matter of time before I am soaked on a dog walk or a dash to the shops. At the moment though, the sun is streaming through the small windows and making me wish I could at least see more of the great outdoors!

The multimedia explorers are, still, very nearly done. We seem to have entered a frustrating period of having them 99.9% ready, but not being able to complete the final o.01% for one reason or another. We remain, however, on target to test them during the next few weeks and are very much looking forward to doing that.

In the meantime, I am striving to prepare the content for the web-site. I reassured myself recently by listing the material already in my possession but have now to complete the slow process of editing everything so that it is suitable for our lovely web-designer to put on the site. It will be great to see the web-site launched, I'm really excited about that, but of course without the content it's not going to be quite so impressive! Content work is therefore my main concern this week.

I have also been putting more effort into organising training for some guided walk leaders this summer and have started to formulate ideas for a parish information board, which I am hoping to have put up in the centre of the village. Further ideas keep springing to mind constantly and this is causing the notion of continuing the project further than 2008 to solidify and take shape, so I'm now investigating the possibility of funding a second phase of work. I have learnt such an incredible amount in the short time I have been here and can see so much potential for the future - I just wish I had the time and money to make it reality. Wishing won't get me very far though, the only way forward is to find further funding, so that's another thing that will need doing over the next few weeks. It is, as always, a very busy time!

The most exciting recent development been an introduction to the Braunton Archaeology Project - an initiative that will hopefully receive funding by September and start to engage with schools and the local community at large, to encourage interest in archaeology in an intriguing new way. I'll be adding more about this soon.

Did anyone catch the interview, or Video Diary, of Marsh Inspector Rowland Dibble on Countryfile the week before last? Rowland did a wonderful piece about his role on the marshes, although we were quietly pleased that our interview of Rowland came out much better than the BBCs! It'll be added to the web-site in the coming weeks and so viewable this summer, along with more great film clips and interviews with other important local people.

Time is flying as usual, so I had better get on. My thanks to the Braunton Countryside Centre trustees for the positive meeting we had last week and also Chris for his advice and support. See you soon!

April Showers

Phew, I'm really glad I'm tucked up safely in the office today, the weather is grim!

I must open with the results of David's wonderful effort in the London Marathon and a huge thank you to everyone who sponsored and supported him. He raised just over £700 for Cancer Research UK. He managed to finish, which was amazing in itself after his recent ankle injury and completed it way ahead of his previous finish time in 4 hours, 15 minutes (and 11 seconds!). He ran the Marathon in 2006 in 4 hours, 39 minutes, so it was a great improvement. He was a little disappointed not to beat the 4 hour mark but all things considered (his ankle, complaining knees, the inhospitable weather and lack of rest!) I think he did very well. For those who might be interested, his finishing position overall was 15378 but, within his age and gender group, he was placed 1,685 - not bad out of the 30,000 runners. He's already submitted his application to run in next year's marathon (which proves conclusively that he is mad) and this time is aiming for sub 3 hours, 30 minutes!!!

His enthusiasm has made me think that perhaps I ought to make more of an effort and, despite the fact that I haven't run since school, I have entered this summer's Race for Life in Barnstaple. It is a lowly 5k (3.1 miles) which I think is achievable and I have already embarked on my training so we'll see how I feel nearer the time!

So anyway, although it's raining outside the Explore Braunton project continues to have a very sunny prospect. The multimedia content is now finished (hooray!) and we are waiting on our suppliers to finish off the graphics (such as menus and screensavers) before they upload the entire content onto the system. We will have several devices for testing during May and are still on target to launch at the end of May. My time is now devoted to preparing all the content for the web-site and making sure the web-designer has everything he needs to make a stunning site. I'm also catching up with the myriad of other things that need doing and replying to people who have so patiently been waiting for replies to their emails, etc.

If anyone has anything they think would be useful for the web-site please do let me know. Until next time!

Katie

Marathon

Hello again - I am sitting here in front of my computer and the screen is lighting the dark room, outside there's a downpour of hailstones beating against the window - brrr! It's been so changeable here this morning, one minute it's dark and menacing and the next sunny and bright. I hope it holds up on Sunday, as the London Marathon is finally here and, although a light fall of rain is often welcome we'd all rather it didn't pour!

Anyway, the last couple of weeks have been wonderful as we have had the opportunity to meet more fascinating local people. Last week we met Rowland Dibble, who was such an authority on the Marshes and Braunton's war-time history that would could have more than filled the Exporers, web-site and more with his anecdoates and expertise. He very kindly showed us the sluice gates that so accurately control water levels on the Marshes and rather intrepidly guided us through certain water courses with camera equipment, microphones, lamps and all - it was such fun. I learnt so much and was lucky enough to visit places that people don't generally have access to, so I was very grateful to Rowland for all his help and hope that you will enjoy seeing the fruits of our labour.

Work on the Explorers is very very nearly complete. We've been adding finishing touches like sound effects and re-doing one or two items to ensure they are as high quality as possible. We've deliberated over which cows moo is more appropriate, what sort of screensaver we prefer and various other choices that have sprung up in these closing stages. It's so exciting to see everything stitched together and working as a whole, I just can't wait to see it all on an actual Explorer device and to be able to go out into Braunton and see the thing come to life.

Well, I can't bide here chatting all day - I've got packing to do. No doubt those of you who know David will be looking out for him on Sunday - he's really very grateful for all the support he's received and hopes he'll do everyone proud, despite not being too confident about his ankle and now his left calf too - all rather worrying. Anyway, will be in touch again when I return from the big smoke. In the meantime if anyone has anything that they would like me to include on the Explore Braunton web-site, please get in touch. I will be focusing all my attention on gathering content for that for the next three weeks. Adios!

British Summer Time

Well, since my last post things appear to have become more subdued but... that is merely an illusion as the work continues apace behind the scenes with the multimedia explorers. Content is coming together very nicely now and, without sounding too confident, is comfortably on target to be completed in the very near future. The last few pieces of filming are being fitted into the tours and things like title graphics, menus, sound effects and credits are about to be added as the finishing touches. It's an exciting time and one that has been anticipated since the project was first dreamed up almost two years ago. There are several excellent surprises for those who wish to hire the multimedia devices this summer and I hope you will all be delighted with the end result - I am already and I haven't seen the finished article yet!

Among the last few jobs has been a recreation of a farming scene from days gone by. It was difficult to find a picture of the scene we had in mind and impossible to do without, so we recreated the situation with the help of some farming friends and a willing young volunteer (thanks Kyle!) who donned his farmer's outfit and did a stirling act. It was all captured on film and has been added to the wonderful mixture of old and new video clips on the Braunton Explorer. See if you can spot him, he could well be in Hollywood by this time next year!

Another highly enjoyable outing recently was the walk and talk given by Richard T Bass, Historian and Battlefield Guide, about the use of Braunton Burrows for training during World War II. Richard was accompanied by some authentic 'soldiers', who lent credance to the awe-inspiring story of the men who trained there in preparation for the D-Day landings - many of whom never lived to tell the tale themselves. The walk was very well attended and viewed as a great success by everyone I spoke to. Furthermore, on Friday evening there was a celebration at Barnstaple Museum to mark the culmination of the Explore North Devon project. The project isn't finishing for good but the first phase is now complete and it was a good opportunity to gather all those who have been involved and enjoy a glass of wine together!

I was completely thrown by the lack of an hour at the weekend and, although I very much welcome British summer time I am finding it hard to adjust and to resist the temptation to spend the evening pulling up weeds in the garden at a cost to all the other essential jobs! My sincere thanks to those of you who have supported David with his London Marathon sponsorship, he really was astounded by the generous spirit with which so many people donated. He had a heart-breaking week last week when his ankle was strained and it looked as though his training, and marathon bid, were over but he has recovered remarkably well and has cautiously resumed his training in an effort to catch up. He is absolutely determined to run the marathon and so I wait with baited breath to see how he gets on - it's going to be a nerve-wracking day. I'll report after the 13th with the news.

I hope you didn't suffer too much on April Fools Day - I mercifully managed to survive without anything more foolish than usual happening to me!

Year End

I always seem to open my posts with the same sort of line... It’s been extremely busy and I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get around to adding to my blog, time’s been flying! Well, this post is no different and I can’t quite understand how a large chunk of March went by so fast. This month has seen the completion of the scripts, the narration for both tours has been recorded and Neil is now mid-way through the awe-inspiring task of putting the multimedia side of things together in time with the script (by which I mean images, video, (both modern and archive) sound clips, etc. It’s been an eye-opening task for me and at certain times I couldn’t see how it was going to end up, but Neil’s magic has transformed the various ‘clippings’ into a very watchable tour, I just can’t wait to see the whole finished article. All being well, once Node have had a chance to upload all the content we’ll have the Explorers for testing during May. That will be our opportunity to iron out any teething problems before the official launch in early June, it’s all very exciting.

Recent filming requirements have resulted in some lovely days out, I could get quite into this film-making idea! This week Neil and I had a jolly good excuse to visit the West Somerset Railway, where a steam locomotive named Braunton is being restored. It seemed silly to miss the opportunity to travel on the line so we took the 10.30 from Minehead to the restoration sheds at Williton, where we were shown Braunton in her semi-complete glory, the axle which has caused set-backs by showing a crack during her first steaming, a tender that’s been borrowed for her and also a tender that’s being built from scratch and should hopefully be ready when she is. We also saw the nameplate and crest that will adorn Braunton when she’s ready and we very much hope to go back for a ride on her when she begins working the line, which might hopefully be this summer – coinciding nicely with the start of the Explorers in Braunton. We’ll keep our ears open too for her first mainline excursion – can’t miss that!

This week saw another special day, when we captured Reg Ashton and his tractor on film. Reg is a Braunton farmer, now in his 80’s, whose family has farmed the Great Field for generations. He kindly got his tractor and roller out and demonstrated on a part of the field, then gave a wonderful interview from the cab full of useful anecdotes. He really is an enigmatic character and that works fantastically on film, I’ve no doubt that he’ll develop a fan base when these things go live!

Similarly fascinating people are Sam Mitchell and Len Baglole, who we were fortunate enough to capture on camera last week. After a quick trip to Velator Quay, which now looks nothing like it used to, we returned to Sam’s house for coffee and cake and a chat about the old days. The tales they tell are amazing and it was great to have them told in the nautical shrine that is Sam’s cosy house.

Last weekend was that of the eagerly anticipated Discovery Day. Held at the Milky Way Adventure Park near Clovelly, the event caused quite a stir; the estimated visitor figure was around 4000 - a vast improvement on the attraction’s popularity the day before when a mere 500 attended. It was a vibrant day with many interesting exhibitors, everything from local poets, artists (ice sculptors) and singers to food producers, landscape and conservation organisations and of course our own Biosphere Reserve, North Devon AONB and North Devon Coast and Countryside Service. David Kennard featured with a highly entertaining sheep dog display, where two of his loyal canines rounded up some Aylesbury ducks, even encouraging them up a ramp and into a paddling pool! It really proved the exceptional skill David has with his dogs. This combined with all the other entertainment ensured it was a fun day out for the whole family and congratulations from all quarters have been sent to event organiser Nickie Moore. The Explore Braunton stand attracted much attention and thanks to Neil’s efforts the night before we were able to show off a taste of what’s to come on the Explorers. One of the best received parts was the archive military film and it will be great to see the reactions of people who do the tour in the summer.

Talking of military, local historian and battlefield guide Richard Bass is leading a guided walk on the Burrows on Easter Monday, which promises to be good. What he doesn’t know about World War II activity on the Burrows isn’t worth knowing and I’m sure that despite whatever the weather does his walk will be very well attended.

I am looking forward to a long weekend, a bit of rest and relaxation, before concentrating on ‘year end’ next week and making sure all my i’s are dotted and my t’s crossed! I’ll be helping Neil to finalise the tours and then I will embark on a serious drive to gather material for the web-site. No matter how impressive the site will look (and I’m very confident that it’ll look better than any other!) it will rely on a variety of interesting information and therefore, if you have anything Braunton related that you could donate I would be extremely grateful. If you have pictures or film about Braunton that would be marvellous, if you have a tale to tell or a particular interest in Braunton, please write it down and send it to me. If you can recommend walks around Braunton, have insider knowledge of anything special to Braunton or simply like going there on holiday I need to know! I am looking for contributions by mid-April so please, if you’re considering helping in any way now is the time!

I hope you have a very enjoyable Easter and manage to resist having too much chocolate. My sincere thanks to those who have sponsored David too, he really is amazed and touched by the response. Until the next time,

Katie

Recorded!

Today was wonderful, my talk at Woolacombe went well and.... the script has been recorded!!! I'm extremely grateful to the guest narrator, who brought my humble script to life so well - shall I reveal who it is yet?! I'm also grateful to Paul and John, who also recorded pieces today and Leigh and Neil for their expert assistance. It's ever so exciting to have reached this stage.

Earlier in the week I was interviewed by Robert Hesketh from Devon Life, who is putting together an article about Braunton for the June edition of the magazine. He's said he'll mention the Explorers and it will be perfect timing to advertise them as they'll be ready for hire by then, if all continues to go according to plan.

I'm having a day off tomorrow (hooray!) but, still can't be lured away from Braunton and will be enjoying a leisurely walk on the beach with Cat, my DWT colleague, and her new companion Franklin, aka Cat and dog..... sorry, I couldn't resist! If it's raining tomorrow afternoon you'll know that's because we're at the furthermost point from the car :)

On Friday and Monday next week we plan some more filming, before hopefully recording the second script, for the tour at Saunton, on Tuesday. I'm off to a sensory awareness day on Wednesday, which should be interesting (!), having a good catch up on Thursday and then off to White Hart Lane on Friday for a very different sort of tour... oh yes I'm looking forward to that!

For local readers please don't forget Discovery Day at the Milky Way Adventure Park near Clovelly on Sunday 16 March. It promises to be a really exciting day for all the family and, having made the effort to get back from London especially, I expect you to turn up too!

Until the next time... Katie

Recording

Hi - well today is looking to be a very busy day, not unlike the rest this week! It will begin very shortly with me setting up display boards for the second Green Tourism event at the Woolacombe Bay Hotel, then with help from Neil (thank you!) I'll hopefully be able to get the photos at are currently at Braunton Museum into a digital format, then it's back to Woolacombe to give my talk (and have lunch, hehe) before going to record my script... a momentous day. The script has seen quite a few changes over the past few days and I think the final version will be version 9..! It will be wonderful to finally get it recorded though and will allow more time for sorting the multimedia aspects. Having said that, the other script about Saunton is due to be recorded next Tuesday and, with filming planned every day in between, it's going to be another hectic week ahead. I am however having to take some days off as the end of the financial year is rapidly approaching and the powers that be are getting twitchy about my lack of time off... which is a new one for me, my previous employers have been all for working through regardless!

Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat more but if I don't get a move on, I'll be late. I'll write again soon with news of my filming and what's next on the agenda. In the meantime, enjoy the sunshine and please contact me if you can think of anything I ought to include on the web-site, which will start to take shape soon.

Script

Phew, another busy week and one that sees the completion of the script for the tour of the Great Field. Actually, it's a bit premature to say that just yet but it's very nearly there and I'm on target for recording it next week. A great many drafts have been completed and circulated to various parties, their comments and corrections amalgamated and all that remains is to test the total duration (just in case all these marvellous ideas take twice as long to say!) and I believe it's ready to go. It's been rewarding actually and I'll really enjoy seeing the whole thing properly polished and captured on tape at last.

On Monday I met local farmer Reg Ashton and he was so wonderful, I simply cannot wait to share his annecdoates with everyone, they are all so funny, and touching, and will make perfect additions to the web-site, in addition to the Explorers. With luck I can film him very soon, driving his tractor on the Great Field - I'm not sure who is older, Reg or his tractor :)

I have today attended a meeting of the National Trust area staff and very much enjoyed their hospitality. It was a wonderful opportunity to engage with such an important local organisation and many offers were made to test the Explorers when they are delivered in May. Tomorrow I am continuing the theme of reaching out to other organisations by speaking at the DWT Green Tourism event, a useful chance to engage with local accommodation providers and businesses in the area.

In addition I will be popping to the museum to pick up some much valued material and later on this week I'll be talking to some renowned sea-faring gents, I'm really looking forward to that. In the meantime I must get some sleep!

Catch up soon, Katie

Much excitement

New logo.... ta da!!!

Chillly

Apologies for the inexcusable delay in writing, I don’t know where time has been going lately. Things are progressing rapidly in Braunton and I’m now in the midst of writing scripts for the multimedia tours (one of the Great Field, to incorporate Velator Quay and what was the railway and one at Saunton). The first draft was tricky but it’s good to have something on paper, to form a basis for the script, which can be chopped and changed until it’s perfect. I am delighted to have a local celebrity on board to narrate the Great Field tour – you’ll have to wait to find out who it is if you don’t know already!

Progress is also being made with the web-site. Our newly-appointed web-designer Pete Urwin visited at the weekend, with his lovely wife Sarah, and we took a tour of Braunton to show them the highlights. We were very fortunate to have beautiful weather and that always helps to make Braunton look it’s most attractive. We’ve also made a final decision about the Explore Braunton logo and Elke has done a really fantastic job with the artwork. All being well I can start showing it off very soon! In other areas of the project, the feasibility study for the Handy Gas site in Sandy Lane has now been completed and anyone who wants a copy should get in touch with me or my colleagues at the AONB office in Bideford. It brings together a great deal of research by consultant Ian Parkin and we’re grateful to him for all the work he put in. In addition, the wonderful Fiona at Bideford has produced some information boards that will go up in Braunton soon, one at Broadsands, one at Sandy Lane and one at Saunton Sands – I’m looking forward to seeing them.

I spent yesterday at the pannier market in Barnstaple, for the In Our Hands environmental expo. Despite what felt like sub-zero temperatures the turn out was good and my little ‘treasure hunt’ seemed to go down very well with the children who were numerous thanks to it being half term. It was a useful practice for the next event, which is the Discovery Day at the Milky Way (near Clovelly) on 16th March. The rest of this week will be spent refining my script, digging about at the Museum and arranging interviews to take place as soon as possible. I hope this weather holds as the sunshine really does help to get everything done more easily. I can bear the cold as long as there’s a hot chocolate close to hand!

I will write again soon; sooner than previously. In the meantime perhaps you’d allow me a little personal plug? My partner David is running in the London Marathon on 13th April to raise money for cancer research. It’s a cause that’s close to his heart and we’re hoping to raise as much as possible. Anything you’re able to donate, no matter how small, would be very much appreciated. There’s a link to the left or see www.justgiving.com/davidbourn to donate online or see me for the proper old-fashioned sponsorship form. There is, incidentally, a very funny video on David’s page that shows just what those crazy runners go through in the name of charity – it’s worth a watch.

Until next time, keep warm!

Shrove Tuesday

Well, Shrove Tuesday took me completely by surprise this year; I am totally unprepared. Everything seems to have been happening at warp speed lately and here we are in February already, it's mind-boggling. Anyway, much has happened in the past week, I am having difficulty in casting my mind back beyond this morning but... on Friday I attended the Discover North Devon day at Castle Hill in Filleigh, which was a stunning venue and somewhere I'd always wanted to get closer to so that was lovely. The event seemed a great success and it was certainly a useful opportunity to network.

After that I went to a meeting at Caen Primary School in Braunton. Other attendees included Louise Rands Silver, who is behind the local Forest School initiative, several head teachers and teaching assistants from other local primary schools, Mary Breeds from Braunton Countryside Centre and my estimable colleague Cat Jones, from the Devon Wildlife Trust. It was a hugely positive meeting and I'm very much looking forward to getting more closely involved with primary schools in the future, many ideas came out of the meeting and I've no doubt that many if not all will be actioned before very long. I went home on Friday quite stuffed with cake; it was Cat's birthday and I was fortunate enough to try three different cakes throughout the day, ideal!

I spent yesterday working at Bideford, which made a nice change and it meant that I could liaise more easily with colleagues there. I've made a start on my script-writing, which will be for the multimedia tour of the Great Field, and been ironing out maps, no, map issues with Caroline from Node. I've also put some thought into how I will organise my stand at the forthcoming In Our Hands event (Barnstaple Pannier Market, 18 February 2008) and the Discovery Day (Milky Way, Clovelly, 16 March 2008). Furthermore, I have had a catch up with Pete about the web-site and established contact with Elke Dossler of One Shoop (see here) - who is dreaming up a fresh identity for the project and I'm really excited about that. I have been to Braunton Museum and created some work there, the inimitable Jackie Edwards has kindly offered to prepare some material for me to view early next week and I have also addressed several admin issues that needed swift attention. Not bad for someone who was trucking until the early hours this morning.

I had hoped to go to the meeting this evening at the Mariner's Arms, where a band of locals will be discussing the vagary of the parish council's car parking policy. I think on reflection though that I will be much better off tucked up at home, lamenting my lack of pancakes in front of Emmerdale. If anyone has any feedback about car parking in Braunton I'd be pleased to receive it; it all adds grist to the mill. Otherwise I bid you adieu for now - have a good week!

Change

It has been an eventful week this week, in many ways. Following discussions last Thursday, a couple of the multimedia tour routes have had to be dropped - the volume of work involved and the extremely limited time and budget indicate that four routes will simply not be possible. In total the planned walks took around 8 hours to complete (with 3 - 4 hours content potentially) and we only actually have around 1 hour of walking with around 30 minutes of content to play with so some drastic alterations were needed. It has been decided that the Great Field tour is the best one to use, as it covers long-lost medieval strip-field systems, agriculture, shipping, the railway, village life and changes to industry and life in general for Brauntonians over the centuries. In addition, we'll still be using the short Saunton tour but it needs some work as at the moment it is aimed heavily at school groups and it'll need to appeal more to the general public, in light of these changes. It's such a shame that some of the Burrows management will have to be lost but it will certainly be included in other ways. We're starting to write the script for both tours on Thursday this week and should hopefully have some rapid progress over the following week.

In addition to the multimedia devices and the work that needs doing for them, other elements of the project continue to evolve. I'm currently ploughing through some funding paperwork that needs to be completed before tomorrow and working my through a list as long as my arm of people who need contacting, etc. I must admit, things are not particularly cheerful here at the moment, the project feels like a mountain to climb this week and we're at a really critical point in the schedule, so the pressure's on. In addition, my long-suffering Mum's in hospital again (hi Mum) so that's weighing on my mind and I'm not particularly comforted by the fact that it is apparently the worst week of the year - according to psychologists in the UK, levels of misery officially peak this week. Their theory is based on the following formula: awful weather + (monthly salary - debt) x (holiday lows x resolutions broken) / (low motivation /x need to take action). Yes, no wonder things look a little bleak!

The high point this week has been the appointment of a web-designer for the project. The selection process was exhaustive (and exhausting!) and resulted in three interviews taking place on Monday of this week. It was a long day with some difficult decisions but I am pleased to announce that Pete Urwin of Metazoa is our new project partner - http://www.metazoa.co.uk/
He has some exciting ideas and I'm really looking forward to working with him to produce something very special. More about the web-site soon.

Also this week I was surprised to find my name in the local paper. See the item here. I'm honoured that JB Barden feels it necessary to defend me though actually they're not quite accurate in what they say - the letter seems to demonstrate in more ways than one that effective communication would solve a lot of problems! It is lovely though to know that one local resident acknowledges my existence, perhaps my local pr efforts haven't gone unnoticed after all...! In reference to their point about the New Burrows Visitor Centre I can confirm that a feasibility study about it has now been completed and will be published soon. The study concentrated on many issues but a main one was planning and the consultant who wrote it took great pains to ascertain the planner's point of view, recognising that their approval would be essential from the start. There is as yet no guarantee that such a centre will be built and, if it is, no decision as yet as to it's purpose. Options under consideration at the moment are: visitor centre, education centre, a combination of both or something completely different.

A further highlight to the week was finding out that I'd won the County Council's staff competition. I had a friendly email advising me of the fact and asking where the prize should be sent, but there was no mention of what the prize is so that'll be interesting! One other silver lining is the fact that my other half has been at home this week, so I've had the luxury of arriving home to a warm and cosy house with dinner in the oven and the wine chilling, bliss! It can't last so I'm making the most of it while I can.

Well, back to the grindstone for me. I hope you'll take a moment to complete my poll and, if you like, suggest future polls for this blog. If you're local to Braunton and have some spare time on Friday (1st Feb), pop along to the Discover North Devon day at Castle Hill in Filleigh, it should be good.

Rainy Days

Greetings! I hope you like the video bar I've added, there's the usual films of people rolling down the dunes but also some interesting aerial film of Saunton Sands and, most impressively, the film of the Hercules landing on the beach, goodness only knows how these people managed to film it without being cleared away by military personnel but anyway, here is it for your viewing pleasure! If it's not immediately obvious on the video bar to the right, go to YouTube and type C130 Hercules Beach Landing.

So then, this week has been very rainy and it hasn't helped one bit with my route planning. The routes for the multimedia tours have already been identified but I'm now in the process of mapping them accurately, creating descriptions, taking photos along the way and deciding where the 'hot spots' for the gps-driven interactivity should be. The rain hasn't helped my photography and most of them have come out dark thanks to a menacing sky but some are ever so slightly artistic. Tess (the dog) and I walked the Great Field route yesterday and, once I've successfully transferred those photos to my computer (fingers crossed!) I'll just need to pop outside and take a few more then I'm done. I'm meeting our lady from Node this week, who are providing the multimedia devices, and we'll walk the awkward parts together to iron out any issues that are foreseen at this stage. Then it's on to the production stage and a lot of frenzied activity between now and the end of March.

I'm encouraged by the involvement of the Biosphere Schools and together we plan to do an educational tour at Saunton. It'll be relatively short but will, I think, be of great interest to everyone, not just school children. That means there should be four tours altogether - the Great Field, Braunton Marshes, the south end of Braunton Burrows and Saunton.

Work continues on the web-site too, I'm hoping to have appointed a web-designer by the end of the month. I have some content ready to give them, so they have something to work on, but I desperately need more content - any contributions most welcome!

So, I'm off to take the last of my photos, finish my tour descriptions and then, after making some phone calls, settle into some funding paperwork, which will enable me to claim the final payment from the AONB Sustainable Development Fund. I'm feeling quite pleased with myself, having arrived at work at 7.45am yesterday and today. I've even taken up running in the evenings! Will probably have an evening off this evening though, the other half is working late so I won't get a peaceful night's sleep and I'm planning a LOT of walking tomorrow and I'm not sure my poor legs will last to the end of the week!

Chat soon!

Catch Up

Hello again! I've had a busy time during the last few days, well the last week in fact has been crazy. After an IT meltdown late last Thursday afternoon I spent 2 hours on a helpline, although thankfully sorted the problem of my over-full inbox for now. I then had to get up early on Friday to send a heap of emails that were previously stuck, before commencing on a major house-moving exercise! After an impossible amount of lugging, heaving, shunting and much toe-stubbing from Friday to Monday evening we had successfully moved house and even managed to congratulate ourselves on the smoothness of this move, we've got rather too used to moving in recent months.

So, back to work on Tuesday I had a mountain of emails waiting for me and spent most of the day getting to grips with everything again, aided in no small way by gallons of coffee. Wednesday was spent dodging the showers and re-walking the routes I walked last week in an effort to re-take the photos I lost. Thankfully they're all safely saved on my computer now, which is a relief. I'm off soon to a Biosphere Schools Meeting but will return tomorrow to attack the pile of notes I have left myself and make some sort of order out of them. And that completes my week. The week seems to have flown by with very little real progress being made but I'm hoping that having spent some time addressing admin issues I can launch ahead again next week and make much more of a dent in the workload.

Apologies for the lack of excitement this week, no doubt something more readable will happen shortly!

Argh!

Well, I spent all of yesterday afternoon out walking and, as I went, taking photographs to complete my tour route descriptions. I started at the beach and, because I hadn't planned to be outside, didn't have any outdoor clothing so had to suffer the ravages of an icy wind - needless to say my hands were totally numb by the time I'd finished. I nearly went straight back to the office for a nice cup of tea but persevered and went on to do a less windy but almost as cold walk around the Marshes. My task duly complete, I hurried back to the office in the falling dark, with the intention of downloading my photos before I went home. I'm always impressed with the technology at my finger-tips and watched as the 40 or so photos were beamed invisibly from my phone to my computer - worked perfectly last time - but alas! When I went to find them the folder was empty and, guess what, so was my phone. I have no idea what happened to them but it seems I'll have to do all that walking all over again. I'll try to avoid the blisters (wholly inappropriate footwear yesterday) and bashing my knee on a stile again!

Not to be beaten, I am launching into today's work schedule with a smile :) I can only suppose that yesterday's walk (and the repeat walk next week) will do wonders for my health!

Another busy day

Well, another busy day at the Explore Braunton office. I'm currently struggling to get maps to save in a legible format and this is pretty annoying as it's central to the project and should in theory be a relatively simple operation. Have also discovered that I'm missing information for all of my tour routes, which means that I'll need to go for three relatively short walks to take photos where I am currently missing some and one jolly long walk to make notes that I omitted to take last time, though thankfully I did take photos on that occasion. I last did the long route the week before Christmas, on a rare sunny day, and it was so beautiful and I was so enjoying myself I must have completely forgotten to make notes. I snapped happily away with my camera and regularly stopped to admire the view but, having sat down today to write up the directions, I find I totally forgot to note them down - duh!

Otherwise things are quite peaceful, I have more contacts to follow up and various bits of admin to do but nothing exciting to report. Have you been watching Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall's programmes about free range chickens? I saw the second part last night and hope to watch the final part tonight. I thought I was already well-acquainted with the issue of free range vs. battery chickens but the programme did make me think and I hope it'll make the rest of the country think too. With little individual effort we can turn the industry around... see the Chicken Out web-site (link below) for more details and let me know if you'd like me to grace these pages with pics of my own chickens, lol!

Progress

I've had a flash of inspiration - the West Somerset Railway has recently restored a steam locomotive that is named after Braunton - SR 4-6-2 no 34046 Braunton to be precise. It used to run on the Barnstaple to Ilfracombe line and information about it would make an interesting addition to the web-site. I've duly asked the experts there if they would mind contributing something to the project and congratulated myself for my good idea.

I've also been heartened by the community spirit in Braunton today, had the offer of some really worthwhile help and firmed up my budget - all is well!

Hello!

Well, here's my opening entry. To set the scene, I was appointed as Project Officer during September 2007. I have twelve months to complete my project and a list of objectives to fulfil within that time. It can be quite a daunting prospect but a really exciting one too. The only thing panicking me at the moment is that I've been here for three months already and don't seem to have got an awful lot done. It's true though that when I look back at what I have achieved, there is more than I'd first imagined. I've certainly got to know the area much better, I've made a great many local contacts and had an abundance of ideas - the challenge now is to make it all a reality, to produce some tangible outputs that work.

My main priorities at the moment are:
a) to plan and start producing content for some handheld multimedia devices. This can include anything, text, photos, animations, archive film, audio clips, etc. I've already identified the routes that the multimedia tours will follow but need to specify what will be said and where, with which illustrative material alongside. I need to write a script and have it read by a suitable narrator, much much work involved here and it needs to be done by the beginning of April - eek!
b) to appoint a web-designer and develop a web-site. This should be relatively easy in itself but the content for the web-site is another thing. I've had some excellent help from a few local contributors but many more are needed to enable the content to be widely varied and therefore more interesting.
c) to recruit volunteer walk guides and hold workshops for local businesses, to promote the economic benefits of my project and Braunton as a whole
d) to start working on the self-guided walks leaflets that will be downloadable from the web-site

I'm therefore going to go and continue with my work. Today's tasks are to produce some info for the North Devon AONB web-site and then continue with writing out the tour routes, including photographs to show where the route goes. I'm missing some photos at the moment but can spend a day later in the week walking the routes, my dog will adore that - she's currently curled up at my feet dreaming of imaginary walks!