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Shire Hall Scoops Two Cornwall Tourism Awards!
From left to right - Clare Trudgeon, Dawn Roberts, Monique Jeffrey-Jones, Debbie Noyce and Wendy Wright
Bodmin Visitor Centre is top of the pops - and that's official. The centre and staff have scooped the top tourism ‘Oscar’ for Visitor Centre of the Year, 2009, at the prestigious annual Cornwall Tourism Awards, held at the Headland Hotel in Newquay. Beating off competition from across the County, Bodmin proved they are the best at giving all visitors to the Information Centre what they want – good, up-to-date information and exceptional levels of customer care.
Being the winner of the Cornwall Tourism Best TIC Award is not a new experience to the team at Bodmin. They have entered seven out of the eight years the Awards have been running – winning the gold, four times and the silver, three times.
“It was very much a team effort,” said Wendy Wright, tourism officer. “We have great esprit de corps and always put our customers at the centre of everything we do.”
“The staff are always looking for ways to drive up their standards. This summer one of the most popular improvements to the VIC services was the creation of a range of leaflets on free and purse-friendly days out. ”
But the success didn’t end there. The Courtroom Experience visitor attraction which is a re-creation of a real Victorian murder trial, was awarded the Bronze award for Best small Visitor Attraction in Cornwall, with Pendennis Castle taking the Silver award and Penlee House in Penzance taking the Gold.
Wendy said “This was the first time the Courtroom Experience had been entered into the Tourism Awards so to be awarded the bronze was such good news. Bodmin has really been put on the tourist map.”
The team at the Shire Hall including Wendy Wright, Debbie Noyce, Clare Trudgeon, Monique Jeffrey-Jones and Dawn Roberts are now eagerly awaiting news to see whether the Visitor Centre has been short listed in the regional South West awards.
Results of the Beast of Bodmin are announced!
Nevena Solomon from Bodmin is the tops when it comes to design. Well that’s according to Bodmin’s Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor Bob Micek and his wife Rita.
Over the summer months, staff from Mount Folly Square’s Shire Hall invited visitors to come and design what they thought the elusive Beast of Bodmin might look like. There were over 300 designs – some traditional black-panther style, others with multi-coloured stripes and some were even covered with glitter and brightly coloured feathers- but it was Nevena’s ingenious use of recycled sweet wrappers and attention to detail that really caught the judge’s eye.
The Mayor said “There were so many imaginative designs but Nevena’s Beast of Bodmin really stood out. I love the way she used recycled materials. She really does deserve to win the top prize”
Nevena was invited to the Shire Hall where the Mayor and Mayoress gave their congratulations and presented Nevena who is eight years old, with her very own Beast of Bodmin and commemorative certificate.
The runners-up in the competition were 10 year old, Erin Cryer from Lancashire and Bet Saunders from Romsey in Hampshire.
For more artistic fun at the Shire Hall, come along and take part in the Big Draw event from Monday 26th October to Friday 30th. It’s free to all.
Contact us 01208 76616 or email
