HOW Tavistock can capitalise on being named the country?s best market town was the subject of a meeting last Wednesday.

Everything from sports and arts weeks to a park and ride system to audio town trail guides were highlighted as ways to build on the town?s recent success in a national survey run by the Council for the Protection of Rural England.

The meeting was called by mayor Norma Woodcock and attended by around 40 representatives from local groups and members of the public who were asked to come up with ideas on different topics such as tourism, parking, recreation, history and the pannier market.

Cllr Woodcock said people in the town were feeling pretty good about Tavistock being chosen as best market town in Britain: ?We all know it is the best but it is nice to be recognised for it.

?The reality is that next year there will probably be another best market town and while we still have the title we need to capitalise on it.?

The town council is looking to identify projects which can be completed by the end of the year, but also longer term schemes which involve all the organisations in the town working together. Key-rings have already been produced to promote Tavistock?s new status.

John Taylor, of Tavistock Forward, said a central, comprehensive website was needed, linking the town council, business community and tourism. This was one idea which could be achieved by Christmas and at the relatively low cost of around £500.

A longer term idea was a park and ride system as Tavistock was likely to see lots more visitors over the next couple of years. Parking in the town was already a major concern to the town?s residents and workers, the meeting was told.

A town logo incorporating the ?UK?s best market town? was suggested, as was a jingle.

Representatives from Tavistock Lions Club and Rotary Club talked about promoting the town trails with plaques highlighting old buildings, points of interest and refreshment stops along the way.

A new guide was needed and this could be in the form of an audio cassette or a leaflet which would be available in the car parks.

It was agreed that the town as a whole needed more signage and possibly a brown tourist sign encouraging traffic from the A30.

An information pack about Tavistock for exchange students and inclusion on the international tourism website to attract foreign tourists was suggested by 17-year-old Lesley Greenway, who also talked about the progress of the Youth Cafe project.

More use of Bedford Square and the town hall for community as well as commercial events was requested and possibly a visitors? viewing gallery at the cattle market, one of only a few small cattle markets left in the country.

On the sports, arts, recreation and leisure side, ideas included an annual arts festival, street banners, a street market on Sundays in Duke Street, an art collection in the museum and a day where people could try out different sports at various locations in the town.

Gill Gorbutt said there were so many good ideas for Tavistock but what was needed was a central co-ordinator so everybody knew what everyone else was doing.

She was referring to various consultation documents which had been put together over the last five years detailing ways of making Tavistock a more interesting place.

?We were looking at a town manager a long time ago but there were difficulties with finding the funding for their salary,? she said. ?The only way of getting funding is everyone pulling together in the same direction under one banner.?

Cllr Woodcock, who had asked each group to look at ways of developing their projects and identify funding opportunities, promised to collate all the information from the meeting and feed it back to the community.