The BID has already organised 4 free courses for Dorchester businesses in less than 6 weeks. These have featured an inroduction to the Retail Passport and initial training in it, Customer Service and Visual Merchandising.

Don't miss this opportunity!

We are working closely with the Retail Skillshop and all our courses are going to be free or at a very reduced rate for town centre businesses.

Contact Phil at philg@dorchesterdorset.co.uk or on 07799 494886 if you would like to be informed about future courses.

The fact that these courses have been provided free has already benefitted the BID by £6,000 in in-kind contributions.

Following last year's extremely successful demo project to begin replacing plastic shopping bags with reusable cotton and canvas ones, this year's bag has been designed by Sian Jones, a pupil at BID area school Sunninghill. Phil Gordon organised a competition to find a winning design and was overwhelmed by the standard of the entries.

The six finalists had their designs market tested by a team from the school and the judges chose Sian's entry for its simple but very effective design and for its attractiveness to shoppers. Runners up were Victoria Halford, Jamie Williams and Tiffany Smith and our thanks go to Head of Art, Sally Dyke for supporting the project.

BID area businesses very generously gave an amazing £2000 worth of prizes including tickets to all the town's museums so many thanks to World Heritage, Dorset County Museum, The Keep Military Museum, Waterstones, Moo Moos, Dancia and Toymaster.

Thanks also to Dorset County Council for supporting the project to the tune of £2,000 - meaning that the project has already attracted extra funding of over £4,000 in voluntary and in-kind contributions!

The following are a few of the other initiatives now under way:

support for the Chamber of Commerce Town Promotion Group Welcome Pack pilot scheme. Accomodation providers in Dorchester and the immediate area provide guests with an attractive pack of maps and brochures to enhance their stay.

support for the Dorchester Music and Performance Group Summer Saturday Live programme of free musical performances in South Street on Saturdays.

support for Dorchester Carnival. As you can see events like this increase footfall considerably.