We are delighted to say that we have received 12 applications for funding from the £15,000 Great British High Street Prize Fund. Altogether, these amount to nearly £52,000.
In alphabetical order, here is a summary of the applications:
BUSINESS AMBASSADOR – CRIC – approx. £3,500.
A paid post working with and on behalf of the town’s businesses to promote the town across digital and non-digital media. To think strategically and identify opportunities for cross-promotion. To build on the ‘team Crickhowell’ ethos developed during the GBHS campaign and work with Crickhowell Volunteer Bureau, the local Litter Picking Groups, Rotary Club and other groups to develop a volunteer team to identify and carry out regular town clear-up/maintenance activities.
CLARENCE HALL AUDIO VISUAL UPGRADE – Clarence Hall – £2,350.
To contribute to the ongoing upgrade of the audio-visual facilities at The Clarence Hall, which is the biggest event venue in the centre of town and used regularly by townspeople and businesses, as well as the regular Cosy Cinema. The improvements include a new DVD/Blue- Ray player and an upgrade of the induction loop used by people with impaired hearing. An up-to-date and reliable A/V system is seen as an important part of ensuring the Hall’s future as a community and event venue for Crickhowell.
COMMUNITY MARQUEE – Crickhowell FC + RFC – approx. £4,800.
To purchase a commercial grade marquee, lighting and storage container to be used for community events around Crickhowell, including sporting events and potentially Christmas and farmers markets. This would cut the cost of hiring and could generate income for maintenance of the marquee and potentially other community projects, even if it was hired at a much lower rate to community groups. Events using the marquee would, in turn, bring visitors into town and reduce the reliance on local businesses for sponsorship of events.
COMMUNITY NOTICEBOARD – Crickhowell Civic Society – approx. £2,100.
To create a community noticeboard so that local small to medium-sized businesses can promote their products and/or services, community groups can advertise their activities and provide a central location for community news and issues. It would be free to all to use and discourage fly-posting of notices and large plastic banners “which many residents and community groups feel are a blight on the wonderful environment we’re so lucky to be able to enjoy in and around our town.” It would be maintained by the Civic Society.
CRICKHOWELL ROAD SIGNS – Brookfields Volunteers – £8,000
To replace the existing “Crickhowell” Road signs on the A40 with “heritage” stone signs like those found at the edge of Llangattock or some Valleys towns. The new town edge markers would, according to the applicants: “Announce Crickhowell as a place of some status, feature, and fame. These signs would certainly improve the aesthetic of and about Crickhowell and provide a greater impact for all approaching travelers.” Each sign would allow logos for local
FOUNTAIN – Natural Weigh and Dean Christy – £2,000 contribution sought.
To restore the fountain at the top of Crickhowell High Street to provide free drinking water. This, the applicants say, would improve the attractiveness of the High Street and encourage people to use reusable bottles, reducing the number of single-use drinking water bottles finding their way into the environment and adding to Crickhowell’s claim to be plastic free. The applicants say they would return the money to the fund if the idea could not be made to work.
NEARMENOW APP – Nearmenow.eu and Tony Jones of Crickhowell – £12,500 + VAT (£15,000)
To turn Crickhowell into a digital town, combining online effort into a single App which pinpoints up to 200 businesses on a map and allows them to advertise, message customers and sell products and services. This App is already in place in Cowbridge, who were winners of the “Rising Star” category in the Great British High Street Awards and can be used in other NearMeNow towns, allowing communities to work collaboratively. The offer includes advisors to work with businesses to make the app work for them. The company says: “In essence, we will have our own town app that we can help shape, at a fraction of the cost of building one.”
STATUE – St Edmund’s Church – a contribution of £5,000 sought.
To help pay for the restoration of an important statue in St Edmund’s Church, which attracts thousands of visitors every year. The effigy of Sir Grimbald Pauncefote now only consists of a number of broken parts, and it is proposed that these parts should be fixed in their appropriate positions to create a better representation of the effigy as a whole. Without it, this historic statue will continue to deteriorate. With the restoration “the story will come alive,” says the Church – especially when a digital intranet is installed to allow visitors to explore the story of the Church and Crickhowell online.
TOUCH SCREEN – CRIC – approx. £2,500.
To purchase a Touch Screen and relevant software to situate in the window of CRiC for visitors and members of the community to access externally to search the digital directory/visitcrickhowell website or dedicated app out of hours. This would give access to the directory of businesses and the ITowns Map. CRiC have indicated they are willing to work with other similar applicants to develop a common ‘brand.’
TOWN MAP – Tools for Self-Reliance and The Courtyard – approx £1,000
To design and install a physical map of Crickhowell to show visitors the location of shops around town, including businesses off the High Street in the Courtyard and on Bridge Street. The Map would be placed in a waterproof case in the main Car Park and could also include symbols for other town features such as Information Point, ATM, Water refills, B&B, etc. Finger point signs would also be installed to guide visitors to The Courtyard Shops and increase footfall. They say affordable businesses premises are needed because the High Street is full.
VISITOR GUIDE – CRIC – approx. £2,500.
Tie in with Totally Locally and Crickhowell Black Mountains Tourism initiatives to produce a printed Visitor Guide/Directory which represents shops and businesses and capitalises on the GBHS win. The guide will be designed in a format that can be easily updated in future and is transferable to a digital platform.
YOUTH CLUB – Jody Price and Emma Bevan – £3,170
To establish a Youth Club for school-age children which would be held on Friday nights in the Parish Hall. A maximum of 40 children will be permitted to attend. The club would aim to forge links with local businesses and volunteer organisations and offer valuable skills to young people. All those helping to run the youth club will have new or renewed enhanced DBS checks. The bid includes 1 year’s rent, the purchase of equipment such as a First aid kit, a fold-up pool table/associated balls/cues, crafts resources and materials, Music/DVD player, Monitor screen/tv, etc. Activities will those suitable for children with learning needs or disabilities, and this will be supported by the Magic Parent Group network.
By walking around the town with paper petitions, creating online petitions and encouraging people who are on social media to vote online, these groups have all passed the threshold of 100 votes required to go through to the next round. All the applications have sponsors and rough costings and are ready to go forward if they receive funding from us. We will be notifying all applicants of alternative sources of funding should they be unsuccessful. The Brecon Beacons National Park’s Sustainable Development Fund have offered support and help with wording applications for theirs and other award schemes.
In line with the process we outlined at the start of this process. The applications will now be considered by a representative advisory panel made up of different groups who work to make the town better, along with people from different sections of our community, including people who were born and bred in the town, young people and disability campaigners. They will be scoring the applications against this score sheet, which was made available to all the applicants and sets out the criteria of the competition. This process has been approved by the Great British High Street organisers.