Bournemouth and Bognor Regis came together last Tuesday evening (15 November) at Oxfords Bar in Bognor Regis town centre. Not literally, but in the form of Matt Desmier, innovation consultant, event organiser, one-third of Think Creative Do and one of the UK’s top 100 Digital Champions.
"People. Assets. Networks" @mattdesmier talking about the success of Bournemouth's creative + digital community for @bognorregishub event. pic.twitter.com/teMjNJpN9N
— WiredSussex (@WiredSussex) November 15, 2016
Matt was the guest speaker at this month’s community check-in event for the Bognor Regis Creative Hub and talked to us about Bournemouth’s transformation from a town known as a ‘retirement capital’ to one recently recognised as the country’s fastest-growing technology hub. Matt’s experience and methods were inspirational and provoked a lively discussion about how the same could be made to happen in Bognor Regis. Changing the narrative and having the confidence to change people’s perceptions of the town is our new mantra! As we’ve discovered, there’s much more to Bognor Regis than the beach and Butlin’s and the creative digital community can play a big part in shifting how people view the town.
We also heard from Anne De Sausmarez of West Sussex County Council who gave an update on the project to develop the two disused waiting rooms at Bognor Regis railway station into a collaborative work space. Anne told us that the Council are at the complex stage of lease negotiations and getting the plans approved, but they’re hopeful that by the end of the year they’ll get the go-ahead to go out to tender to bring in someone in to run the space for the creative digital community. That’s the next big step forward for the community, so watch this space for more news and updates.
Our own Jenni Lloyd then shared the results of the Creative Enterprise Snapshot Survey in an infographic format. The survey was completed by local businesses and individuals to help us map out the size and character of the local creative digital enterprise community. Again, there were lots of questions and discussion about the results and the infographic records the project starting point and will be the benchmark as the community continues to build.
This was the third in our series of check-in events and it’s great that we’re seeing more people coming along to each event and sharing their views.
The next event is on Tuesday 13th December, at The Pier, Bognor Regis, for a Christmas social. So, book your place here and we’ll be sending out more details next week.
Keep in touch
For live updates and news please follow us…
Join our mailing list
Facebook
Twitter