News - CTA Meeting Minutes February 2010

Those Present:

Lesley Stephenson - Chairman

Chris Kelu - Bournemouth Council, Paul Johnson - Queens Park Launderette, Adam Wattar - Merit Print, Anthony - Wonderful Kitchen, Krissy Curren - Three Small Rooms, Nikki - Ancora, Stephen Huxley - Nippon Inn, Neil De Mynn - Post Office, Gordon Long - Martin and Company, Michael Golden - Martin and Company, Nick Hughes - Crystal Gallery, Hikmet - Baraca, PCSO Phil Robbins - Dorset Police

Apologies from: Margaret Barnaby and Hayley Curren

FEBRUARY MEETING:

Firstly it was mentioned that we are experiencing a growing problem with vagrants / tramps in both upper and lower Charminster that had been verbally abusive and generally being a nuisance. It wasn’t clear if it was just one gentleman or two but several traders reported problems and PCSO Phil Robbins made a note to look into it but said that they had been aware of a number of incidents. It was asked weather they could be “banned” from Charminster as it was a concern that they were people who had been banned from Bournemouth Town centre and then had “moved” into Charminster.

The launch of Experience Charminster was explained and the members given the following update since the recent note that had been circulated to all members.

1. A sample of the new Charminster Traders Association members door / window stickers were demonstrated by Adam from Merit print and will be printed and delivered to all members before Monday, 15th February 2010.

2. The Chinese lanterns which have been donated by The Bournemouth Chinese School are being distributed by Anthony from Wonderful Kitchen, some Traders still needed to let Lesley know how many they wanted and Lesley would be contacting them to confirm numbers. They should be put up by Monday, 15th February 2010. Nick from Crystal gallery kindly offered to assist any members who required help to put up the lanterns.

3. The 19 lanterns going up in Castlepoint will be put up on Friday, 12th February 2010 as there is to be a PR event on Saturday, 13th February 2010 at Castlepoint at 2.30pm where Chinese dancers will be performing to launch the Experience Charminster event. A variety of posters which Adam of Merit Print had designed were shown and a vote taken to decide which ones were to be used. These will be printed double sided and displayed at Castlepoint under the lanterns. At the event on 13th, Peter Matthews the General Manager for Castlepoint has said that we can hand out the Experience Charminster leaflets to further advertise the event. If any members are able to attend and assist with handing out the leaflets, can they please let Lesley know.

4. A sample meal deal sign was shown to the members and slight alterations were suggested so that members can add details of the days of the week that they are offering the £10 deal. 12 restaurants are participating and Neil De Mynn has offered to co-ordinate with the restaurants to deliver their Meal Deal signs and to get details of the menus that they are offering. The details of the menus need to be displayed on the Charminster Traders Associaion website. It was asked if we could have a Charmimster Traders Association headed paper for the meal deal participants to use to advertise the special menus. Adam said that he could arrange this.

5. Adam also brought along a demonstration leaflet, which is still being “tweaked” but gave the members a chance to see what it is going to look like. The feedback was good and members were happy with the results. It was decided that the first 10,000 printed would probably be given out at Castlepoint and over the first 2 weeks of the event. All businesses in Charminster Road are on the first run but members are in bold and will be in a larger print. Further print runs will only display the Charminster Traders Association Members. Advertising space has been sold to Wilts and Dorset and offered to Yellow Buses, but so far Transdev had not replied. They would be given a reminder and a deadline of Thursday morning to confirm or we would have to offer the space elsewhere. It was decided that we would try taxi companies and then possible Wilts and Dorset to see if they want to increase the size of their advert. The leaflet deadline for artwork is noon Friday as they are to be printed Monday, 8th February 2010 to be ready for the launch and the Castlepoint event.

6. Lesley showed a sample feature advertisement from the Bournemouth Daily Echo and gave the details of the costs for traders to advertise, with 3 different sized adverts available. We are likely to have enough traders wishing to advertise to have a double page spread and it will be published during the week of the launch. Members were also asked to confirm their preferred inset day for the feature and Lesley confirmed that we would go with the majority. The names and contact details of members wishing to advertise will be given to Claudine Dalton at the Bournemouth Daily Echo who will deal directly with the traders for artwork and payment.

7. The Local Eye - a free local business magazine has run a small advert for the Charminster Traders for free over the past 2 months. Members can choose to place an advert in the March issue so we have a similar event to the echo ad, which will be distributed in the first few days of March. Again, details of members wishing to advertise will be given to Chris at the Local Eye who will deal directly for artwork and payment.

8. There was a sheet for members to confirm if they wanted to advertise or not in the Daily Echo, Local eye and to state how many lanterns they required.

9. Lesley thanked the businesses that had already donated prizes and asked if anyone wanted to add to them for the Mothers Day Children’s drawing competition organised by Sarah from Flowers at 166. The competition is open to 3 age groups and the competition will be judges by the mayor. Anyone wanting to donate a prize needs to contact Sarah.

Finally the members were reminded about the Business Rates event at AFC Bournemouth on Wednesday, 17th February 2010 at 6.00pm and the importance of attending if anyone wanted clarification on how it was calculated or the appeals process. It was asked if a reminder could be sent via e-mail a few days before as several members said they wanted to attend but may forget. Lesley said that she would do this.