Changing face of the High Street

I was invited this week to the Letchworth Arts and Leisure Group coffee morning to discuss the changing face of the High Street. Joining me was a representative from the Heritage Foundation and a group of wonderfully passionate and enthusiastic members from the LALG collective. The LALG will be 25 years old next year and their membership has swelled from an initial fifty households to over 1500 and shows no sign of abating. In fact just last weekend the LALG signed up nine new members at the ‘Who Do You Think You Are, Letchworth’ weekend, hosted by The Arts Centre.

The talk was thoroughly enjoyable and my thanks must go to William Armitage for organising the morning as well as the committee of the LALG for making me feel most welcome. I was initially worried that I was going into the Lion’s Den. A hardened group of locals discussing the attributes of the town centre may well have been a hiding to nothing but this could not have been further from the truth.

Instead I listened as comment after comment avoided the obvious pitfalls of multi-national shops and clone towns and instead talked of innovation, sustainability and accessibility. Consumer offers that match demographics and creating reasons to visit Letchworth like no other; Uniqueness mixed with entrepreneurial enterprise.

Whilst the consultations continue we must maintain the short-term aspirations of the town and to that end another wonderful weekend passed with the recent activities held in Broadway Gardens. The team at the Arts Centre worked over and above to deliver an amazing event and once again the heavens were kind as unbroken sunshine greeted the thousands that flocked to Letchworth. Photos are online here

This weekend will see a respite in our Garden City and we graciously hand over to Hitchin for Rhythms of the World and wish the team there all the best.

Back in Letchworth we’re concentrating on our entry in to the annual ‘Anglia in Bloom’ competition. We will be taking the judges around the town to visit some of our best green features including Norton Common and the new allotments in Jackman’s Estate. Hopefully I can report some good news next week.

There is just enough space to report on the winners of our ‘Design a Card’ competition that was run in conjunction with Garden City Crafts who are based in The Wynd.

1st prize was the “Animal Antics Bumper Card Making Set “ won by Molly Knight
2nd prize was the “Laura Ashley Deluxe Card Kit” won by Alison Dent
3rd prize was a “DoCrafts Goody Bag” won by Christopher Baker
4th prize was also a “DoCrafts Goody Bag” won by Clare Welch

Our congratulations to them all. Finally – mentioning the Wynd has reminded me to remind you all that the work being undertaken in the Wynd is truly transformational. Make sure you take a look next time you are in town.

I’ll see you there.

For your chance to comment on the plans for Letchworth Town Centre please visit the Next Steps Website