As we all come through what has to be the most extraordinary time our town, nation and planet have been through in peacetime, I hope that everyone is beginning to feel some sense of normality. As our shops and businesses tentatively re-open, now has to be the time where we recognise that supporting local enterprises is the best way for us all to benefit from an economic recovery.
Don’t just take my word for it, our national papers including The Times, Telegraph, Guardian and Independent have reported this and experts in their field are advocating keeping things local. Many people are shopping differently and after nearly four months of lockdown and the potential threat of COVID-19 still looming, it is hardly surprising that people want to try and keep safe. Suggestions on how to stimulate the economy range from offering every adult a £500 voucher to spend in a town’s businesses (Resolution Foundation, 2020) to encouraging independent businesses to collaborate by sharing content, recommending each other and working together to create a unique ‘sense of place’ (Totally Locally, 2020).
In Ramsgate, we are lucky to have a wonderful business community and I am sure they will continue and increase their support of each other, but we also need our residents and visitors to come into town and spend! Remember, for every £1 spent locally, around 70p stays in the local economy compared to a big fat zero when it goes to the big boys online!
Ramsgate Town Council has funded a local campaign which will include banners, bunting and posters along with these funky flip-flop floor stickers (try saying that after a bottle or two of Gadd’s) which I hope you will like. All created by a local designer and printed by a local company of course. They also created and printed our Ramsgate in Bloom logo and posters, which I am hopeful we will have news on in September.
Events are clearly few and far between this year but I am excited to see the Ramsgate Festival of Sound is going ahead with their event from September 6 to 13, which will include the popular Sonic Trail and lots more! Keep an eye on their website (
www.ramsgatefestival.org) or social media pages for their programme.
Other local event organisers are collaborating with a Margate based initiative to support coastal towns by having a special week of events and activities during the October half term. Check out their website at
www.backandfill.uk for more info.
In view of the year we are having, I thought it prudent to add that I am writing this in July so am hopeful that the content is still relevant when it is published in the autumn!