Earlier this year the trustees of the Heart Project took another long hard look at our Project Plan. We looked back at what we have achieved and what we didn’t manage to do and looked forward to deciding what we needed to do next.
The last couple of years have been turbulent times for most of us making it even more important that our charity keeps searching for the best ways to support our local communities and economic regeneration. Our previous plan thought about the short- and long-term effects of the Covid pandemic. Many of the downsides for communities sadly remain true: loss of businesses, loneliness, mental health issues and reduced income for charities and community groups.
As we highlighted, there has been an influx of people coming to live in our glorious part of Mid Devon and many more people work from home. Online shopping is far more popular, and businesses continue to reinvent themselves. There have been many more outdoor events, the lively programme of activities in Crediton Town Square is just one example.
Our new, updated Project Plan can be seen here. The focus of the plan is communication, consultation, engagement and working in partnerships.
As Covid restrictions have eased the relish with which people have returned to arts and community events makes us even more focused on creating a purpose-built performance and events space in Crediton.
Successful projects grow from a small start and this summer, with the support of Redlands Primary Care, we installed a marquee on land between the surgery and Tesco. From 10 to 28 August, with Arts Council support and key community partners, we organised a programme of creative workshops attended by more than 150 people of all ages.
The links between creative activities and health and wellbeing are well recognised and it has been very worthwhile to put this piece of land to positive community use with the hope of developing it further.
As you will have seen, this website continues to grow, and we are on a mission to tell more people about it. We have developed QR coded fridge magnets which offer instant access to different parts of the site. Our What’s On page is very popular and with the magnet on your fridge you are one click away from information about all sorts of interesting local events or a series of over 20 local walks.
We had stands at the Crediton Diversity Festival and the Crediton Farmers’ Market and were able to tell more people about the website. Enrolment for our new monthly newsletter is still building.
Engagement with our social media output on Facebook and Instagram goes from strength to strength giving instant support to our businesses, venues, community events. All website listings are provided for free. All we ask is that businesses link their online presence to ours. This important principle supports equal opportunity and creates a vibrant and inclusive picture of our area.
We are grateful to our sponsors for all their support which makes it possible to run this community website.
Some new trustees and associates have joined The Crediton Heart Project and their input is much appreciated. However, we remain a small group of volunteers with big ambitions for our area.
If you would like to join us, please contact our Chair, Rosemary Stephenson.
You can sign up here to receive our monthly newsletter focusing on different businesses and events each month.
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