The meeting at the award winning Princetown Visitor Centre last night to hear the Dartmoor Partnership Board explain the reasons for the business to be wound down, and for the launch of Visit Dartmoor went very well.

A short welcome by Kevin Bishop, Chief Executive Dartmoor National Park (National Park Officer) was followed by an address from Jonathon Hall, Company Secretary Dartmoor Partnership. He explained how and why it had been necessary to take drastic action very quickly, in order to avoid insolvency which would have caused massive problems to everyone, most of all the members. He made reference to the fact that Stella West-Harling M.B.E. is forming a Dartmoor Strategic Partnership from a very wide band of Dartmoor organisations and businesses to work together and utilise each others contacts and networks to gain maximum exposure for any Dartmoor based initiatives. Visit Dartmoor will be part of this group, so will hear first hand of any opportunities for our members.

Then it was our turn. I briefly outlined who we are, how and why we have formed this new company to become the new Official Dartmoor Tourism Organisation, and some of our plans for the future. We have produced leaflets and posters with all this information on as well, which were given to the attending guests, along with a copy of our latest issue of Active Dartmoor magazine.  (Click here to read the magazine)

We then invited questions from the audience, which was enthusiastically responded to!

One of the main questions was how are we different, and why will we succeed where the Partnership failed. The main points we have in our favour are our long experience of marketing Dartmoor, supporting Dartmoor businesses, a huge Social  Media following, and that we are a small, privately owned non-profit company. We already run two other very successful businesses, which means that for this first year we can support ourselves while we build the business up, using all the facilities and resources we have in-house. All profits at the end of each year will be reinvested into a fund with the sole purpose of further supporting Dartmoor businesses, and promoting Dartmoor to the wider world.

We announced that we will be launching a brand new website by the end of February, which will be very easy to use for everyone, and a vast improvement on the current site. We WILL maintain the domain name and our Google ranking, as both domain names will be directed back to the new site, this is extremely important!

Finally, other members of the closing Board (Andy Bradford of Brimpts Farm, Tom Stratton from Duchy of Cornwall)  introduced themselves and made the point that they were open to comments and questions while Luscombes drinks were consumed and Fox Tor Cafe mince pies enjoyed!

We were very touched by extremely supportive comments during the meeting itself, from Dave Openshaw of Fox Tor Cafe, Tony Cobley, who is an extremely talented photographer, Adrian Colston, General Manager, National Trust Dartmoor, Richard Drysdale Visitor Services Manager for Dartmoor National Park. We were also really pleased to have Maurice Retallick supporting us, he is the Deputy Chairman, Dartmoor National Park.

We then had a general mingling and networking session where we were able to meet lots of old and new friends, arranged meetings, and listened to ideas and suggestions by members.

We will always be very happy to receive feedback, questions and suggestions, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.