MINUTES of a meeting of the HERITAGE CENTRE COMMITTEE held on THURSDAY, 17 APRIL 2008 at 7.00 pm  in the Guildhall, Barnstaple.

PRESENT:                                             Cllr Miss C Upcott

                                                            Cllrs s Upcott, Mrs V Elkins, Mrs S Haywood

Also in attendance:  Mrs A Jenkins (Town Clerk) Mrs C Parsons (Corporate Services Manager/Clerk), Miss D  Teague (Commercial Manager) and Mrs J Parker (Creative Manager)

HC51   APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

            Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Phillips, Mrs Hunt and Brayley.

HC52   DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

            No declarations of interest were received.

HC53   MINUTES

RESOLVED:      that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 28 February 2008 and Page 386 from the Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 January 2007 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

                                                                                                                        (2.2abs)

HC54   BUDGET MONITORING STATEMENT

The statement having been circulated prior to the meeting, it was announced by the Town Clerk that the once attached to the agenda were in fact incorrect figures and another statement was circulated showing the correct figures.

The Town Clerk reminded members present of the challenge to reduce the deficit on the budget over a four year period and how these new revised figures showed that this had been achieved.

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2004/2005       £16828

2005/2006       £11987

2006/2007       £4046

2007/2008       £483

The Town Clerk asked for it to be recorded that she was extremely proud of the Heritage Centre staff and the volunteers, especially Denise Teague, Julie Parker and Sue Howson and for their hard work and perseverance at meeting the challenges they had been set and meeting difficulties head on, and for their hard to bring about these changes to the Heritage Centre deficit.  Although this challenge had been met the next target to be met would be to reduce the budget further by sustained increases in admissions and sales.

The Creative Manager had produced a national recognized exhibition for under £10,000 and this was to be congratulated and together with the revised marketing strategies at the Heritage Centre, both the Commercial and the Creative Managers should be given every accolade that the Town Council could give them and for the members of the Heritage Centre Committee to be very proud at what had been achieved.

It was therefore proposed by Councillor S Upcott and Seconded by Cllr Mrs V Elkins and RESOLVED that the new Budget monitoring statement with revised figures be received  and noted.

                                                                                                                        (NC)

HC55   STATISTICAL REPORT - MARCH 2008

The statistical report for the exhibition and shop were circulated prior to the meeting, and it was

RESOLVED that the report be received and noted.

                                                                                                                        (NC)

HC56   REPORT BY THE TOWN CLERK

The Town Clerk reported to members that the main marketing tool for the next two years would be the cinema advertising that  was now being shown at the cinema, which consisted of the 5 photos previously chosen and a one end screen frame of 20 words.

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            The Committee were shown the pictures and the wording.

A new leaflet had been produced with a printing run of 5,000 to commence.  A new distribution network which distributed the leaflets further out into motorway service stations, little Chefs and major tourist places.

During the Town Clerk's report, the Creative Manager reported on the repairs and maintenance that had been carried out to the exhibition site since the appointment of the new Property Services Manager, the handrails had been fitted to the slope outside for safer access and new sign had been erected onto the archway into the exhibition saying "Journey through Time".  These repairs had also coincided with the installation of new smoke detectors in the exhibition.  Italian translation was not available at the Centre and it was hoped that more languages would become available for visitors in the near future.

A week of events would take place in September promoting the 10th Anniversary of the Heritage Centre.  On the 1st April the Heritage Centre put on an extra exhibition for April Fool's day, where there were modern  alternatives placed in the exhibition for visitors to find such as the Medieval Mayor's feather quill was replaced with a biro. This was very well received by those who visited the exhibition on the day.

RESOLVED:  That the reports by the Town Clerk and the Creative Manager be received and noted.