Onedin Star Jessica sails back into Dart Harbour on ‘poignant’ cruise ship visit

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The visit of cruise ship Minerva to Dart Harbour on Saturday June 14 was a special event in more ways for one very special visitor: the Onedin Line’s Jessica Benton.

Ms Benton played Elizabeth Onedin in the famous and hugely influential series, which filmed in Dartmouth throughout the 1970s and into 1980. She and her husband, renowned photographer Charlie Waite, described their visit as ‘a poignant experience’.

Ms Benton returned to Dartmouth onboard the Swan Hellenic ship MV Minerva. The ship’s visit was the second cruise ship visit of the season and saw the Dartmouth Cruise Ship Group working together to create the perfect visitors for passengers.

The group, made up of the Dartmouth Tourist Information Centre, Dart Harbour, Dartmouth Town Council and the Dartmouth Business Improvement District, put together a programme to welcome the ship and the reaction as very positive.

Tourist Information Manager Lesley Turner and Donna Watson went out onto the ship early in the morning with Tricia Daniels to chat to passengers about the town, its shops and visitor attractions.

TIC Staff stood on the Town Jetty throughout the day, handing out guides, maps and a special edition of the Dartmouth Chronicle with a feature aimed at passengers in it.

Dartmouth Town Mayor Rob Lyon and his Mayoress Di travelled out to the ship onboard the heritage trawler Pilgrim from Brixham, which also sailed around the ship, to the delight of passengers. The Mayor presented a Town Plaque to the Ship’s Captain, along with a painting of the Minerva kindly donated by Dartmouth artist Paul Barclay.

Dartmouth Cruise Ship Group Chairman Tricia Daniels said: “It was a lovely bonus to meet Jessica Benton and hear her memories of visiting the town – the last time she visited was when they filmed the show’s final two episodes more than 30 years ago!”

Dartmouth organisations work together to welcome first cruise ship of season

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Cruise ship Serenissima was welcomed to Dartmouth last week in a coordinated effort by several town organisations.

Dartmouth Tourist Information Centre, Dart Harbour, the Dartmouth BID and the Town Council all worked together to welcome the 90m ship as she pulled into the river on Friday May 30.

And the effort paid off as visitors and crew alike said they were blown away by the efforts of the town’s organisations – with many passengers vowing to return.

TIC managers Lesley Turner and Sue Stone, along with the newly formed cruise group’s chairman Tricia Daniels, went out onto the vessel to chat to visitors and hand out town guides.

They also stayed on the jetty all day to offer help and assistance to visitors getting off the ship to see the town. Many of the passengers took advantage of the opportunity as the sun shone down in the afternoon, showing the harbour off at its best.

Town Crier Les Ellis also welcomed visitors with a traditional ‘cry’ on the town jetty, encouraging them to walk around the ‘historic town with many Royal connections’ from which ‘the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to discover a new world in 1620 – and to this day we wonder why’ which drew a round of applause!

Lesley Turner and Sue Stone worked with Dartmouth BID’s Francesca Johnson to fill ‘goody bags’ with donations from South West food producers, including Burts Chips, Sweet Devotion, Clive’s Pies and High field preserves which were handed out to passengers.

Dartmouth Mayor Rob Lyon went out onto the vessel to present the Captain, Captain Etien, with a commemorative town plaque – and passengers lined up to have their picture taken with the Mayor.

The Cruise Group has already begun planning for the next visit of a cruise vessel: the 134m MV Minerva, which will pull into harbour at 8am on Saturday June 14, carrying up to 350 passengers.

Tricia Daniels said: “It was a great first visit and we found that the passengers and crew were very responsive to our efforts. To ensure more ships begin pulling into our beautiful harbour we need to ensure that we welcome each one that does. I’m so delighted at the way we all worked together to make Serenissima welcome – the TIC team, the BID, the Town Council, Les Ellis and of course the great Dart Harbour team.

“We would like to thank the businesses who welcomed the ship’s visitors with signs in their windows, and we hope even more will do so for the next visit of Minerva on June 14!”

Phil Scoble announced as Dartmouth Business Improvement District Manager

Phil Scoble is welcomed to the role of Dartmouth BID Manager by BID Chairman Paul Reach.

Dartmouth’s BID has announced the appointment of Phil Scoble as its new BID manager.

Phil will be working with the BID team full time from June 2, and will be working with them part time until then.

Phil has a varied background, but for the past nine years has been working in and around Dartmouth. He was Dartmouth Chronicle reporter for five years, and wrote a book about the town during his time there.

Since 2010 he has been working as a communications professional with a number of Dartmouth-based organisations and businesses to promote them, their products and services.

The appointment was made in the same week that the BID announced the location of its new office. The BID office will be based in the Palladium Arcade, at Number 8, which also has a window onto Anzac Street. The opening of the office is possible thanks to the generosity of Jason Pillar, who has offered to make the internal changes to the property needed by the BID completely free of charge.

Dartmouth BID Chairman Paul Reach said he was delighted to appoint Phil and looked forward to working with him.

“It has been a long process to find the right person and we are very pleased to announce Phil as our BID Manager,” he said. “We were determined to wait until we found the manager who could fulfil the many facets of the role and with Phil’s unique experience in Dartmouth and his track record of working with local organisations mean he is the perfect fit. These are very exciting times for the Dartmouth BID!”

Phil said: “I’m delighted to be taking on the role of BID Manager – it’s a very exciting job and I’m looking forward to working for the good of Dartmouth businesses and the community too.”

Dartmouth pulls together to attract more Cruise ship visits

The new Cruise ship group: (Back L-R) Deputy Mayor Rob Lyon, Dartmouth BID Chairman Paul Reach, town councilor Richard Cook and Harbour Master Capt Rob Giles. (Front – L-R) Dartmouth BID team member Francesca Johnson, Dartmouth Tourist Information Centre’s Sue Stone, Tricia Daniels and Dartmouth TIC manager Lesley Turner.

A group of Dartmouth organisations are pledging to work together to attract more cruise ships.

And the group is looking to make the most of the visits of ships so that businesses in the town benefit from each vessel that pulls in to harbour.

Representatives of the town’s BID, Dart Harbour, Dartmouth Town Council, Tourist Information Centre and advisor Tricia Daniels met to discuss strategies to attract more ships to town and how to make those ships’ passengers feel welcome in Dartmouth.

The group will be putting together a plan to bring more ships to the harbour and will be making a presentation about their progress at the TIC Springboard event in Dartmouth Market Square in the evening of Monday April 28. The presentation will outline the ways businesses can benefit from the visits.

Cruise ship trade is increasing worldwide and figures show visiting passengers spend on average between £80 and £100 in each port. The group hopes that the town can make passengers feel welcome and is looking for support from businesses to help achieve this.

Another aim of the group is to build interest in the town about visits from ships. The next visit to Dartmouth is on Friday May 30 from the vessel Serenissima – and the group hopes to inspire the town to greet the vessel when it sails into harbour at 7am.

Tricia Daniels said: “The meeting was very positive and bodes well for us. We are working towards a future that will see many more cruise ship visits to Dart Harbour. It is brilliant to see all of these organisations committed to working together for the good of the town. We will continue to explore how we can work as a town to attract cruise ships to Dartmouth.”

Dart Harbour Master Capt Rob Giles said; “I’m delighted by the meeting and how positive it was – we all have a common goal of attracting more cruise ships to Dartmouth and we are all determined to achieve that together.”

Francesca Johnson of the BID said: “The timing of this project is ideal because we can build this into the more comprehensive  “Brand Dartmouth” marketing strategy that is already being developed by the BID supported by our design agents Chaos of Guildford. This represents yet another example of how local organisations in Dartmouth can achieve so much more by working together as a team.”

TIC Managers Lesley Turner and Sue Stone said: “We wish to thank Tricia Daniels for her enthusiasm and persistence in bringing this group together. We are delighted to be working together to help increase the local economy and to provide a memorable visitor experience for visiting cruise ships.”

Please contact Lesley Turner or Sue Stone at the TIC 01803 834959 for further information on the Dartmouth Springboard event.

 

 

Dartmouth Academy students proud to support the BID

Academy teacher Nic Perrott, Ella Chivers, Marketing Director for Ribeye, Kate Ryder, co-owner of Café Alf Resco, Paul Reach, BID Chairman and Georgia Atkins, Luke Sharam, Charlotte Hooper and Charlie Parker from Dartmouth Academy at the BID launch.

Dartmouth Academy students helped out at the launch of the town’s BID project this month.

Four students – Head Boy and Girl, Georgia Atkins and Luke Sharam and Sixth Form students Charlotte Hooper and Charlie Parker helped out at the launch event, held in boat builder Ribeye’s new town centre showroom on March 5.

The BID – or Business Improvement District – is funded by Business Rates payers in Dartmouth and is charged with improving the business success of Dartmouth through marketing, business support and other schemes. It will run for five years and has a total budget of £1million.

Charlotte and Charlie were official photographers on the night and Georgia and Luke worked with Café Alf Rescos owner Kate Ryder and manager Leanne Tucker to hand out delicious food to the invited guests.

Nicola Perrott, Director of Learning at the Academy, briefed Charlotte and Charlie on their role as photographers before the event, and she said they did brilliantly.

“Taking the pictures for such a prestigious event is a great challenge for any photographer, but Charlotte and Charlie did brilliantly,” she said. “For all the students this was an experience that will help them as they move on in their lives as it was a professional and important event, and they conducted themselves very well.”

Dartmouth Academy Principal Nick Hindmarsh said: “The Academy is delighted to be supporting the BID which can be a very important scheme for the future of Dartmouth and help create opportunities for our whole community. We are looking forward to working with the BID over the next five years for the good of Dartmouth.”