New Town Council Committee Created to Plan and Manage Promotional and Cultural Events

Question: What will their role cover? Answer: Lots….

The new Town Promotion & Culture (TP&C) Committee sat for the first time last night – Tuesday 17 February. The role for this committee will be to manage and coordinate the schedule of events happening across trhe town, comprising a mix of civic and non-civic such as the Mops, Dark Skies, Christmas Lights, music festivals, community events and much more. Co-ordination is where it all starts, but key aspects are communications, budgeting, resource management and utilisation. And part of that is knowledge and experience and the sharing of such.

In summary, their role is to address everything that can enhance the experience of each event and to tell those beyond Marlborough about the town and what is happening here. Everything that has ‘been done’ in the past, but now will be in future but within a co-ordinated structure.

First decision – Cllr Caroline Wrench was elected Chair, this committee came about as a result of her proposal. An early decision was to decide to reach out to all groups who are or may be organising ‘Community’ events. All of the music festivals, LitFest, and any event that would be ‘Community’, i.e open to all and not a closed society / club event. But the Committee remit goes beyond just activities and events. Attracting visitors and tourists is key to the economy of the town and involvement in the ‘Great West Way’ tourist initiative was discussed warmly. Marlborough is ‘central’ geographically and more in the Great West Way route and had been one of the original towns/bodies comprising this programme but the full involvement was kicked out several years ago, as a ‘cost cutting’ measure. See ‘Tourists – who needs ’em‘.

Christmas lights: An issue already ‘up for discussion’ but whilst adorning the town centre with seasonal decorations is always a ‘good thing’, how, where, what style etc. are the considerations that matter. The current lights are getting a bit old and tired, already into their third decade of use.

One danger may be that this committee will cover everything, and that is an issue of direction and focus of how it works. The upside is that for the first time events will be considered in a way that looks to create the best for the town – those within and for those visiting. As in any effective committee the presence, dynamism and drive of the chair is essential.

One important aspect will be budgeting: making sure that the best use of what is spent gets the best return, also so that budgets don’t get underspent, nor overspent. It’s not that it wasn’t done properly or well before, but creating this group will ensure that all necessary and available resources can be channelled, as and when – and to where – to deliver the best result for us all. And also one channel for feedback and input. If it sounds bureaucratic, it probably is, but it is a layer of bureaucracy that is needed and can play an important role. So that’s the theory, now over to you committee……..