SPDTA Meeting 10 a.m. 28th January 2016
held at Peak Wildlife Park
Organisations represented:-
The Laurels B&B (Phil and Helen)
Broomyshaw Country Cottages (Joyce and Amanda)
The Heath House, Tean (Sophie and Justin)
Rudyard Lake Steam Railway (Alan Bentley)
Foxtwood Cottages (Alison)
Dove Farm (Jane)
Joshua Day Boat Hire (Rupert)
Barks Holiday Cottage (Catherine Doel - Chair)
Roaches Holiday Cottage (Olivia)
Foxlowe (Olivia)
Peak Wildlife Park
EQM CIC (Faith Johnson)
CVLLP (James Sells)
Apologies;-
Simply Staffordshire
Enjoy Staffordshire
Lower Micklin Farm
Meeting
Thanks to Peak Wildlife Park for their generous donation of the meeting room and coffees.
Updates from attendees:
Leek and Rudyard Steam Railway - now setting up and planning to open this spring. There are plans to extend the line another mile towards Leek this year.
Heath House Open Day - 7th and 8th May Heath House will be open for visitors, the following Friday 13th May they are also holding an event for local businesses to visit. An invitation will be sent out via SPDTA to all members.
The Laurels - re-opening event coming soon
Dove Farm - Jane updated us about the plans to build an electricity generating turbine and fish ladder around the weir at Norbury on some of their ground to help salmon carry on up the river.
1. SPDTA Membership
a)SPDTA now has a website up and running http://spdta.org.uk/ thanks to Catherine, all members are welcome to add their business profile.
b)ES are offering to fund our membership or SPDTA if we want to be a paid group - this would help toward the cost of the webhosting, a vote to go for £20 a year membership to SPDTA was proposed by Rupert Smedley, seconded by Jane Stretton and unanimously passed by those present. This means that the SPDTA group can claim money back from ES for those who are members of that organisation. An online membership form will be created.
2. Update from Enjoy Staffordshire (ES);-
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#staffordshireday is on 1st May, ES are asking for members to notify them of any events, promotions or activities they have running either on that day or around then and they are happy to promote it for you. http://www.enjoystaffordshire.com/StaffordshireDay.aspx Here’s the note from Richard: “There are various ways to get involved. We’re looking for people to organise their own Staffordshire Day events, or re-badge something they’re already organising as a Staffordshire Day event. Secondly, some attractions, hotels, and restaurants are putting together special offers or promotions for the day, e.g. reduced entry, 2 for 1 deals etc. And we’re also looking for competition prizes to give away on social media on the day. Anyone who wants to get involved on any of these levels will be featured on the Staffordshire Day page of the Enjoy Staffordshire website, as well as on Facebook and Twitter in the run-up and on the day itself. We’ll also be doing some local PR so there’s an opportunity to be involved in that too.”
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Grant money from the Community Arts fund is available for any Staffordshire Day arts based events or workshops - Community groups can apply for £100-£1000 for arts activities through Staffordshire County Council’s Community Arts Fund. That could be anything from music and dance, to photography and arts & crafts workshops.
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Just so festival organisers (Wild Rumpus) are holding an event at Rudyard over that bank holiday - http://www.dayatthelake.org.uk/the-event/ where they are recreating a tightrope walk across the lake.
3.Tourism Mini Conference
SMDC are holding a mini conference and literature swap on 10th March at the Council Offices & Nicholson institute in Stockwell Street Leek 10-1. Event pdfs - invitation and booking form
4. CVLLP
The Churnet Valley Living Landscape Partnerhip - officially concludes in August
a) SPDTA is managing project CVLLP32 “People who shaped the Valley”. Outcomes include downloadable themed walks, geocaches and historical information that can be used and shared by SPDTA members. Volunteers interested in collating stories and walks relating to famous people in the area should liaise with James (james@spdta.org.uk)
b) End of project event for CVLLP will be held at Tittisworth on Sunday 12th June 2016 - keep an eye on this page or sign up to receive the events newsletter (see below). The SPDTA will be involved in the event, having a stand etc, so if anyone would like to help out please contact James.
There’s an exhibition planned and discussions about rolling the project on beyond this date in some form.
http://www.churnet-valley.org.uk/ - sign up for the newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/ChurnetValley/?fref=ts to join in the fun with the Friday photo challenge!
c) There is a new community resource being created: http://churnet-valley.guide/ - where people can download walks etc.
- Local businesses can now add their details which will appear on the map along with any points of interest.
- Those keen on photography and the local area of the wider Churnet Valley can contribute photos and stories to the guide.(area covered is roughly Peak District boundary to Ellastone, Kingsley to Mayfield)
5. EQM
There will be an event soon explaining how you can use sustainability to enhance your business - date to be confirmed.
6. Damson Day
Alex Prince from Bleach Farm, Cotton is going to hold a “Blossom Sunday” for anyone interested in the history and use of damsons. It is intended to map the damson trees across the area on that day. Also later in the year a Damson Day with family activities. Anyone interested in finding out more about this should get in touch with Alex via the Contact page on this site.
7. Peak Wildlife Park
Tamsin gave us a quick update:- they are gradually opening up the park again, with the aim of keeping fewer animals but in a more natural ecological way. More emphasis is being given to breeding of endangered species where they are working with other UK zoos on gene pool diversification, and they also hope to go into the European gene pool too. As far as the visitor is concerned, the Park is offering a more immersive experience where you can enter the animal enclosures.
8. AOB
Grant opportunities - Arts fund or Leader
Alton Towers - Mark Kerrigan has left! it is unsure who will be taking his place.
[MEETING ENDED] We were then kindly treated to a guided tour of Peak Wildlife Park.
