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.