Review of the year:
We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all the businesses and organisations for the support through 2022. It’s been another challenging year for everyone but hope that we have made a difference with our activity.
Here’s a brief look back as just some of our activity from 2022…..Check out this link for some of the photography capturing out events in 2022. First full year of markets come to an end…. – Hamilton BID (hamiltonourtown.co.uk)
January: Feedback!
We launched our survey on what businesses would like us to do over the next 5 years. We received a huge response which has helped inform the business plan in support of the area.
February: Social media and videos.
The ‘Our Streets’ video campaign was launched featuring an area of town each month on our social media channels through until September. On average in 2022 our Hamilton Our Town digital channels reached in excess of 350,000 per month and we grew in followers to over 13k from 5.5k key just 2 years earlier. We were also proud to offer businesses free professional photography to support the promotion of the town as a quality destination for visitors.
April: Gala’s & Markets.
In April we launched a brand-new Easter Gala format for the town taking place over two separate Saturdays in April. We were delighted once again to include town centre businesses within the market and even more delighted to have attracted in the region of 5 – 6k additional visitors over the two dates. These were the 1st Market dates working with our new stall provider David Johnstone Stall hire from Chatelherault market enhancing the quality of the market significantly. We were also delighted to continue our new relationship with Halo Arts and education in support of the event production.
May: Signs and committees.
We were delighted to help spruce up Quarry Place through a change in signage, introduction of business listings, removal of overgrown area at the TSB and painting of graffitied areas. We also hosted a visit to the town by MSPs from the Parliamentary committee on the future of town centres.
July: Mela’s Markets and Gala’s.
We were proud to host three separate and brand-new town centre events across July and August. A highlight was our Mela event featuring a fusion of cultures in an inclusive, vibrant well attended community event. We have estimated that over 8 – 9k in additional visitors attended these events.
August: Networking, business plans and Marshall’s.
We hosted our 1st networking day and launched our new business plan. Huge thanks again to everyone that attended, and we look forward to launching our 2023 networking dates. We also launched our Taxi Marshall trial in support of the pub watch group.
October: Campaigns & ballots!
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to vote yes for us at the ballot in October. This produced the highest turnout and highest percentage yes vote in our history.
November: Winds and Shopping Centres!
26th November should have been our Christmas light switch on, however the wind blew that idea away! However, thanks to the Regent centre the show did go on and we moved the market and event indoors for the very 1st time. We were blown away by the response with a huge 5k of additional visitors recorded as coming into the shopping centre on the day.
December: Reindeers and heroes.
We were delighted and relieved to be able to move the light switch on markets and hero award to the 3rd of Dec. This time we were amazed by what has to be our highest attended event of the year with estimated additional visitors reaching the 7k mark on the day which also included the Reindeer parade. Sadly, due to extreme weather and other factors out with our control we were unable to host our final date on the 17th December. However we look forward to our next events which should be at Easter 2023.
This is just a sample of our activity. If you are interested in making a difference to the town, we have vacancies available for our volunteer board. Please get in touch if interested at malcolm.thomasharley@hamiltonbid.org
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
