Vital and Viable Horncastle December Update

What a year it has been and certainly not the one we were expecting. We want to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience with the Vital and Viable project. We are aware that we built a lot of momentum with bringing the Institute of Place management to look at our four inland market towns and then delivering the subsequent workshops. It was truly inspiring to meet so many people who are interested in their towns and people who want to make a difference to where they live.

As you will be aware, our team had to prioritise the delivery of the Government funded grants to businesses as part of the Covid-19 emergency response. This work continues on as we respond to the second lockdown, supporting the distribution of the various business grant schemes that Government have made available to business affected by the lockdown and now our Tier 3 status. We are pleased to say that we've currently issued over £2.6m of much needed funding to local businesses through the current schemes. More details about the schemes can be found on our website.

Our Vital and Viable project has still been a key focus, though disappointingly we haven't had the resource needed to take it as far as we had planned for 2020. But don't worry, we plan to come back in 2021 with a bang and we are delighted to share with you the Action Plan for Horncastle. This plan has been developed purely from your feedback. We've listened to everything you told us in our workshops and collated these plans with a view to explore all the ideas you generated. We can't commit to delivering every aspect mentioned, but we are keen to see how we can work with you and seek funding for as many of the goals and aspirations you've suggested. Therefore, if there is a particular area you would like to support us with please do get in touch! Our first newsletter in 2021 will set out some of the projects we plan to initially focus on.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas. We plan to host a town meeting to discuss Vital and Viable once we are allowed to and look forward to seeing you all in 2021!

Bringing Hope and Light to East Lindsey

Our month-long community light project, Hope and Light, is now underway in Alford, Horncastle, Louth, and Spilsby. With traditional Christmas markets not happening this year, we wanted to provide something special in our market towns this December.

Created by the Different Light Collective, the project sees our four Vital and Viable towns each play host to unique light projections which have been designed thanks to an overwhelming response by the local community. Following the release of templates for each town in early November, over 1,000 completed designs were returned with residents, families, businesses, organisations, churches, care homes, and schools all getting involved.

Short films that showcase the unique artwork are being projected in prominent locations in the towns.

The projections are complemented by a festive window display that brings an empty shop in each town centre to life, with a digital screen showcasing the films as its centrepiece.
The projections and window displays are available to view at the following locations:

Alford: Projection - South Market Place, opposite Alford Library; Display - in the Library window
Horncastle: Projection -St Lawrence Street, at the rear of Poynton's Shoes; Display - 8 High Street
Louth: Projection - Eastgate, above Heron Foods; Display - 19 Mercer Row
Spilsby: Projection - High Street, near Cooplands; Display - The Old Butcher's (next to the Red Lion).

In addition to the displays and projections, we are also encouraging those visiting the towns to share their Hopes and Wishes for the coming year by completing a special weatherproof tag and affixing it to a display in the town centres. Tags are available from various shops within each town centre, please look out for a special poster (or visit www.different-light.co.uk for a list) and completed tags can be fixed around the Christmas Tree barriers in Spilsby and Horncastle, the Manor House railings in Alford, and a designated tree in Louth Market Place.

We are keen to look at how we can grow this project for 2021, so please let us know your feedback, thoughts and ideas for future winter events.

Shop Local, Stay Safe, Be Kind

This marketing campaign continues through December with the aim to encourage shoppers to look locally for their Christmas shopping. The theme is 'From turkey to toys, crackers to cranberry sauce and from perfume to parsnips our market towns have it all'. We are running a 'Win a Lincolnshire Christmas' competition through our Love Horncastle social media accounts, so please help us to spread the word.

We have partnered with Lincs FM to support their Ring in Christmas campaign, so listen out for that in December, with mentions of our market towns being safely open for you to shop local.

You will also see a number of printed adverts and accompanying articles in local and regional publications to support the shop local safely message.

Please keep in touch:

Lydia Rusling
Head of Economic Development and Growth

Email: Lydia.Rusling@e-lindsey.gov.uk
Phone: 01507 613463

Samantha Phillips
Economic Development Officer
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Email: Samantha.Phillips@e-lindsey.gov.uk
Phone: 01507 613119

Lisa Collins
Place Manager

Email: Lisa.Collins@e-lindsey.gov.uk
Phone: 01507 601111