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Firstly, we'd like to say thank you to all the fabulous Oxted businesses for making the Love Oxted Late Night Shopping such a wonderful event, despite the biblical rains! Feedback from residents and visitors has been really positive and we've received so many lovely comments on social media. After a rather late start, the rain finally abated and it was a great night with lots of shopping, eating, drinking and fun with our street entertainers and local musicians.
A special thanks to Tandridge District Council and Limpsfield Chart Cricket Club volunteers for cheerfully manning the barriers through the rain, to the St Mary’s carol singers and to Jamie Foreman who was an absolute trouper in rallying the crowds to officially open the event. Also to Merlin Lighting who dealt with a lot of weather-related technical issues that night in order to light up Oxted.
The Christmas event is a huge undertaking and we want to make these events work for you all. While we will always have a challenge with this event (and others) in terms of encouraging footfall to all parts of the town, this year's event was a great improvement on previous years, but we would appreciate your feedback and suggestions in terms of timing and activities, which we will try to incorporate into future events. Thank you to Sammy (La Maison), Heike (Woodward Menswear) and Jo (Piper's Florist) for stepping up to help with the organisation of the event. It was hugely appreciated.
Please Get Involved
We are a very small BID and compared to other BIDs, we have a tiny team at the moment with Adrian Pointer, Anne-Marie Dickinson, Craig Custance as Directors; Andrew McKenzie-Smart as accounts manager, Tracey as BID manager and Sophie as Marketing Manager. We really need YOUR help, and would like to take this opportunity to ask you to please get involved:
- by signing up to help for the events team (for Christmas and other events)
- by joining a business category group or
- by volunteering as a member of the BID Management team
Please email tracey@loveoxted.co.uk.
We are very happy to see new businesses, IG Equine, Hammonds and Kinjo doing so well and will be welcoming more new businesses in early 2023. You may know that HSBC and NatWest will close early in the new year, but you can still do much of your everyday banking at the Post Office. We understand that OLRG is looking into applying for a Banking Hub for Oxted.
We have been very sad to see some long-standing businesses go in 2022, particularly Personality and Paydens Bookshop which closes at the end of the year. This lovely shop (formerly Brocks) has been around for generations in Oxted. We all need to play a part in encouraging everyone to #shoplocal and we will be looking at specific activities we can employ in the coming year.
Social Media & Digital Marketing
We hope you like the new Love Oxted website - www.loveoxted.co.uk, and our new Oxted Map which we will be using in the form of online and print advertising, and as visitor signage at key points throughout the town.
We will continue to feature posts on Oxted in general and specific businesses in 2023.
- Please send Sophie any events you have coming up and any news you may have.
- Please also continue to keep an eye on our social media for news @loveoxted.
- Please TAG @loveoxted in your social media posts so they show up on our feed. NB. This means actually adding the tag in the photo, not just writing @loveoxted in the text or comments.
In the New Year we will also be offering you an opportunity to have one-to-one time with a local digital marketing expert, Digital Bench Media, and would be very happy to also offer some sessions on social media basics to any business who would like it. Please let Sophie know if this is something you'd be interested in, and we can organise some group time.
Please don't hesitate to email Sophie if you need any help with anything specific, such as linking your social media accounts or setting up on Instagram etc.
New Event on Master Park
The Master Park team has let us know that there will be a new event - The Oxted Food & Drink Festival - being held on Master Park on 5th to 8th May – 4 trading days over the bank holiday. You may have already been contacted by the event organisers as they are very keen for local food and drink businesses to be involved.
The event will showcase "Street Foods, bars of distinction, alfresco dining, live music, children's entertainment, select grocery food & craft all served up with big helpings of humour, colour and character". Local food and drink businesses are particularly welcome, as well as those selling home or garden-related products and local crafts.
We strongly urge all local relevant businesses to get involved as this will be a great way to attract visitors to the town and showcase your business to them for future visits. You can contact the organisers, Sue or Emma for more information via email info@marketsquaregroup.com. The Oxted event page on their website is: https://www.marketsquaregroup.co.uk/core/eventdetails?id=564
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
The Oxted BID Team.
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