Look & Learn visits
As well as holding regular
networking meetings around the county for people
to share information, the Forum organises Look and
Learn visits to communities in and around
the county which have developed innovative
regeneration ideas.
For the latest Look and Learn visit
reports, click
here
Previous look and learn visits
GMTF 'Look and Learn' Visit to Faringdon, June 17 2010
To read the full, illustrated report of the
visit, click on the image (right) to open the pdf.
Fifteen representatives from ten of our member towns
popped over the Oxfordshire border to visit
Friar's Court, Clanfield on June 17 to
learn how the Faringdon Project set up
their Ecoweek, the project that
received the overall National Award from Action for
Market Towns at last Autumn's Conference.
The long journey and the five and a half hours spent
at the farm of John Willmer and his son Charles
was worth all the effort. If ever there is a man to
inspire people, John will celebrate his 90th birthday in August. A
sprightly gentleman, he has taken on board all ideas
of alternative energy with relish and has proved to
Defra (from the days of
MAFF) that nothing is
impossible.
Ledbury
on September 2nd 2010
Found out more about how a Victorian
Cottage Hospital has been transformed into a
community business hub as guests of the Ledbury Area Development
Trust.
The Old Hospital
Studios is a flagship project and
shows how a Victorian Cottage Hospital can be updated
for the twenty-first century providing a valuable
asset for this picturesque border town. In the
meantime, a new private finance initiative has
provided the town with much-needed modern community
hospital facilities. The Ledbury Area Development
Trust now has its headquarters within the refurbished
Studios and is managing this excellent asset,
primarily targeted at local, young entrepreneurial
businesses.
Ledbury Area Development
Trust is a not for profit organisation set up in 2005
following acceptance into the Market Towns Initiative
managed through Advantage West Midlands. Consultation
work with local people resulted in £2.9m being
made available by Herefordshire County Council
for the Master's House/Library project close to the
town centre car park that
incorporates a Tourism and Visitor Centre and
establishing a pilot project for using eBay for the
benefit of the local community.