A CHANCE to see the site of the proposed Hatherleigh Rings project and to put forward you own ideas for the scheme is on offer to residents next week.

Yvette Martin-Fleming, the artist who came up with the inventive labyrinth design, said the aim of the meeting on Tuesday, June 8, was to re-introduce the whole concept of the Hatherleigh Rings project as it now stands, to the people of the town.

At the meeting there will be a chance to see the site and a model of what the Hatherleigh Rings will look like, and listen to speakers explain how the project has evolved so far.

Yvette said: 'We have had three positive years now of working in conjunction with the local community to really understand what we all want from the Hatherleigh Rings, and we have been able to find inspiring ways to truly combine local needs within the design.

'We feel we are now ready to finalise the design and feasibility study and move forward to the next stage.'

However, Yvette said the project team needed to be sure that everyone in the Hatherleigh community felt they were getting an equal chance to be involved and that they understand the project enough to evaluate ways in which they can personally benefit from it.

Yvette said this was really the 'last chance' to accommodate positive changes before the final feasibility stage, and so she urged people to come along to the meeting.

She said once people felt they really understood the whole concept of the project, they would begin to think of ways in which this project could benefit them, their family and their business.

Among the diverse opportunities the labyrinth could offer are a modern acoustically designed space where bands and singers could practice and hold gigs, and theatre groups could put on productions.

It would also provide a large, light and inspiring seminar space for talks, lectures or classes.

Yvette said local business could also benefit from extra trade from people attracted to visit Hatherleigh by the project.

The meeting will begin at 6pm at the proposed site, close to the cricket ground on the outskirts of Hatherleigh, which will be signed from the roundabout.

This will give people a chance to see where the site is in relation to the town, the model placed in the central point of where the labyrinth will stand and what South West Forests plan to do with the remainder of the 15-acre site.

This will be followed by refreshments at the bowling club and the chance to see an exhibition showing a plan view of the labyrinth, its paths, leats and walls.

From 7pm, there will be several brief introductory talks by Noel Cartwright, of the Hatherleigh Arts Project; Howard Jones, a mentor for the scheme from the Eden Project; Judy Pride, of Community Action for Rural Devon; Jim White, from South West Forrest; Claire Gladstone, organiser of the Hatherleigh Festival and Yvette Martin-Flemming.

An open question and answer time will follow.