THE Okehampton Chamber of Trade reported a successful annual meeting at The Fountain Inn on Thursday last week, with fresh blood joining the committee.

Linda Harper (of Harper’s Accounting) agreed to stand again as chair, as did Lyn Evans (Swifts Property Services) as vice chair and Caroline Mott as treasurer, with Shane Green (SGW Window Cleaning) as the new secretary.

New members Michelle Symons (A Little Gift Company) Rebecca Green (Mooplehog) and Morwenna Brady (The Heart Space) were welcomed to the committee alongside existing members Christine Marsh, Mish Flexman and Gail and Mark Turner (Donald’s Menswear).

The meeting heard that the Christmas lights in the town centre had been successful, and thanked the organisations in the town who donated money towards them. These were Okehampton United Charity, Okehampton Town Council, Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council, Waitrose, Countryside Furnishers, The Toy Shop, Donald’s Menswear, Peter Peter & Wright, Okehampton Rotary, Okehampton and District Lions Club, the Rotary Club of Okehampton, the Co-op, A L Martin, Aims Accountants, Davidsons, Barkwells and Lyndridge.

The chamber also thanked Louis Enderson, Steve Bolt and Mike Harding for all their hard work in carrying out all the repairs to the lights and putting them up. They have also been involved in other projects to enhance the town, including replacing the hanging basket brackets, the lights on West Bridge and around St James’ Church. The trio have been made honorary members of the chamber by way of a thank-you for all their hard work.

‘We are very fortunate to have an amazing team working behind the scenes making it all possible,’ said Linda Harper. ‘We welcome new volunteers who may be interested in helping with the hanging baskets, the banners and flags, and of course the Christmas trees.  We saw a number of new faces coming along to help put up the Christmas trees on a cold November morning, including members of the public – we are very grateful for all your support.’

Committee member Christine Marsh was thanked for her help as secretary during 2017, and Matt Welveart of Lean Marketing and Jade Oliver-Deacon of The Toy Shop for all their support on the committee over the past 12 months, and Mish Flexman was thanked for coordinating food and music at meetings.

The chamber has a new venue for its breakfast network meetings on the third Wednesday of each month, the Pavilion in the Park, starting at 7.30am. The first one this year will be held on February 21, with guest speaker Rob Smith from financial advisers Davidsons.

The organisation will also be holding regular evening meetings on the third Thursday of the month, with the first one of the year being at Waitrose coffee shop at 7pm, with guest speakers from OkeRAIL.

‘I am very pleased to have the position of chair for a second year,’ said Linda. ‘We aim to continue our work as outlined in our Strategic Plan, the first being to attend the West Devon Parking Strategy Meeting (held on February 5) followed by a meeting with David Black, head of highways at Devon County Council, to discuss the problems with congestion in town.  We will continue to work towards bringing more events to Okehampton.’

A copy of the strategic plan is available upon request from [email protected].

The Chamber of Trade is always open to new members, see www.everythingokehampton.co.uk.