COMMUNITY is at the heart of Linda Harper’s plan this year as she takes over as chairperson of Okehampton Chamber of Trade.

Before her appointment as chair, Linda Harper had been a member of the chamber and was asked to become its treasurer last year.

She officially took over at the helm from her predecessor Jade Oliver-Deacon last week after a unanimous vote from the members present at the annual meeting.

Although having only lived in Okehampton for four years, Linda said that her work with a variety of community groups had given her an understanding of the town, its people and businesses.

Alongside her new role, Linda runs her own accounting business, is the chair of Okehampton Community Gardens, finance officer for Okehampton Community Recreation Association (OCRA) and a member of the Ladies’ Circle.

She said that she liked to be kept busy and looked forward to her new challenge as chair.

She added: ‘I put myself forward for chair because I felt the chamber needed someone who could put more time to it. What attracted me to the role was that I meet a lot of people and business owners and I’m always keen to hear what people have to say about improving the town.

‘A lot of new people to the town think it is a lovely place to live. They can go for lovely walks by the moor and I believe Okehampton has a lot of good qualities. But, there are also those who see a lot of issues with Okehampton. But I am not one of those people to sit back and complain about issues, I would rather get involved and be a part of the solution.

‘Vice chairman Lyn Evans and I will be working towards a five-year action plan for Okehampton, which will take into consideration everyone’s ideas for the town.

‘Lyn used to be a business advisor and with his expert knowledge I am confident that this plan can be created by speaking to the various businesses and residents of the town.’

In her new role as chair, some of main issues Linda wished to address were the town’s traffic and infrastructure problems and boosting social media presence as well as increasing the amount of market events in the town.

One particular event Linda was excited to hear about was Dumpling Day — a traditional festival featuring market and food stalls which took place in Okehampton until around 1988.

Linda said: ‘After being involved with all of the town’s food and music festivals, I have realised how successful these events can be for the town and how the festival has grown year on year. I hope that introducing more markets and festivals will help people to view Okehampton as an exciting town to visit.

‘There used to be a Dumpling Day in Okehampton, I want to bring market events like these back, including the possibility of a Christmas and Easter market.

‘Fifteen to 20 years ago people used to drive from miles away to come Okehampton, as it was a thriving market town. I am looking at ways we can revive the market status of Okehampton. I think that bringing people to the town for markets would have a positive impact on local businesses.

‘I also wish to focus more on the chamber’s media presence. Last year I stepped up to run the digital display screen in Red Lion Yard and increase the Facebook engagement of Everything Okehampton.

‘I think it’s really important for people to know what’s going on in the town, that’s why I have put together a small team of four to look after and improve all aspects of our media and social media presence.’

Linda said she planned to work hard as the chamber’s new chair and expressed that by 2018 she hoped to introduce at least one new annual market event.

She added: ‘For me, the most rewarding aspect of being involved with the chamber is the fact you feel really connected to the community and it’s also about the sense of giving something back to the town. A community can only remain as strong as the individuals who live there. We have great community spirit in Okehampton and that’s something I would like to develop more.’