I was a reluctant alien in Wymondham in 1989, moving to a county I did not know, but it very soon became the place I call home. As an adult leader with Girlguiding UK, I had an advantage and was able to quickly make new friends in an already-familiar hobby.

Over the years, I have been unable to resist the challenge, fun and friendships offered through being involved in community life and though I have outgrown my Guiding years (too old!), I have replaced that with a commitment to Town Team and am currently Chair for this vibrant organisation.

My priority here is to confront the urban myth that somehow Wymondham Town Council and Wymondham Town Team are one and the same. This is not the case.

Town Team is an inclusive bunch of like-minded people striving to keep the beating heart of Wymondham alive. Through large scale events, Wynterfest, Vintage Day and the sadly cancelled Jubilee Fest, through initiatives, Light Up Wymondham, Wymondham In Bloom and through working with other organisations, Jazz Picnic (Rotary Club) and Food and Drink Festival, (Satellite Rotary Club) we want to ensure that Wymondham remains on the map, that shared experience is beneficial, that valuable memories are treasured and that through these experiences Wymondham remains a safe and low crime place to live.

We pay for our own insurance for our events and activity and volunteers, we have a treasurer who ensures we meet the legal requirement for our accounting responsibility, we receive support from Steve at Fosters Solicitors to ensure our legal standing is correct, we create our own advertising and marketing, we work with the South Norfolk Council to ensure our events are safe, and we work with Norfolk County Council to ensure our road closures are legal. We do not have an HR department, everyone is welcome, but we do have to budget, purchase, form fill, grant apply, the list is long but the volunteers are dedicated and the job will get done.

It is very frustrating when we hear among the crowd ‘The Town Council events are…’ ‘The Town Council have paid for…’ etc.

The support we get from the Town Council is invaluable. We apply for ‘match funding’ when we fundraise, so for example the Christmas Lights – we currently need about £15,000 to purchase new sets for 2022, we have raised about £5,000 – we can ask the Council to match fund so hopefully they will vote through £5,000 to match fund what we have raised. How will we get the remaining £5,000? Well if we take £2,500 from our reserves, we can ask the Council to match fund that too. 

However, the question remains that in an historical market town rapidly growing in size: is this enough from the Town Council, who have operated in the same way since I moved here over 30 years ago? I would be interested to hear your perspective.