Katie's Town Team Needs Your Ideas

Artist Zac Greening had a great idea a few years ago when he organised the Wincanton Windows arts festival. He persuaded almost every High Street business to display a work of art in the window. It attraced publicity for the town and visitors and showed we too can play the culture card and ended with Wincantonians strolling down the street, glass of wine in hand and everyone chatting to each other. It was great and could be done again. We have no shortage of fine local artists.

With so many pubs and eateries could we not have some sort of beer, food, street festival. I saw one in France which attraced big crowds to a small town with tables in the street and everyone mixing in. Impossible?

And what about sorting out the gridlock in front of the Nat West Bank which brings all traffic to a halt. Is that really beyond the wit of ??? to put right?

And do not forget the role the Wincanton Window can play in advertising and drawing attention to all the things that are going on here. So many local shops and businesses still have not got themselves on the Window. They are oblivious we get 5,000 hits a month and if they do it themselves it will cost them nothing.

We badly need to get together a group who would like to be writing for the Window. Mandy is kept very busy simply doing the editing and her day job. If you think you could help and get involved with writing email me johnbaxter@wincantonwindow.co.uk

Great news for the town, sadly not much time to come up with the master plan.

Comments recently, on all sorts of topics, have offered many good ideas, far too many to list in this short comment.

Without doing my usual 'let's waffle on forever', I thought I'd chip in a few simple bits;

1. Let's think about why locals & those from outside may want to visit - specialized shops, safe & clean enviroment, ample parking, plenty of choice for freshments - affordable & varied, convenient conveniences, easy access, information & points of local history. If you think about all of these many are already in place. What appears to be lacking is a sense of unity & everyone working together, not necessarily a fact but my observation.

2. Many of us detest the illegal parking up & down the High Street & the thought of Car Park charging. In the short term, lets think about wardening & keeping the High Street clear, the idea of shutting up the High Street to traffic once a week could be a great idea. A regular Street market, with local produce would be great, many of the countries restaurants constantly remind us of local sourcing, good for us, good for the local economy, good for the enviroment & what better way of meeting up with your fellow town's folk.

3. There are so many events in the town but so many never get pushed enough, yes the Window is moving forward in promoting as much as they can but they need a more pro-active response from those who could do more. Over the past few months there have been comments about events in the town not been known about but that has to be down to the organizers.

4. A good old fashioned 'Town Guide', we have the people in Town to both produce, provide & put together, simple but those visiting will take away & act as a reminder to come again.

5. There are & have been several discussion groups under many different bodies & names but still we continue to talk, I'm ready to stand up & be counted & get involved are you?