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The Community Dragons of Future Possibility

The Community of Dragons event breathed a fire of communal positivity last Thursday evening. The evening in the Seven Stars Ballroom ended with pledges and support for all four business plans that were pitched on the night.

Jay Tompt of the Reconomy Centre
Jay Tompt (Image by Adam Glennon)

Jay Tompt and Hal Gillmore were natural presenters confidently amusing the large audience and managing to turn “12 years” into a catchphrase that would have made the Fast Show proud.

After a roundup of previous years business successes, the pitches began with the effervescent Mama Tokus who within seconds had the entire room singing a gospel standard and still managed to insert the remaining section of her 5 minute pitch into a cogent and clear explanation of her idea to create and market a downloadable party with music, singalong lyrics and even party hats. An enthusiastic question and answer session followed. It was a lot less testy than anything from Peter Jones or Deborah Meaden but enabled people to clarify any missing information and dig further into the business idea.

Peter Shearn of Totnes Pulse at the LEP Forum
Peter Shearn (Image by Adam Glennon)

The Pulse Pitches

This process was repeated with Peter Shearn of the Totnes Pulse giving a short history of co-founding the publication with Mark El-Kadhi and a quick story of how last autumn, this very edifice was joined by BBC reporter Zoe Clough and Sky Arts film-maker, Jim Funnell to crystalise the format into a Community Interest Company. The new set-up was quickly joined by Adam Glennon and Mike Craddock as regular contributors alongside others.

Next up was Steve Rogers of E-cocars who presented an explanation of the car-sharing club and a vision to expand their network of cars and members for the town of Totnes. The emphasis of his pitch was on the huge expense of owning and running a car for personal use that stands idle for 95% of the time. It seems obvious that a group of people sharing a small number of cars is dramatically cheaper and better for the environment.

Finally Andrew Gilhespy stood up to explain that tha vast majority of wheat grown in the UK is used for animal feed and that most of our flour for baking is imported. Not only is this environmentally wasteful, it also undermines farmers ability to run profitable farms. Andrew and his team at the Fresh Flour Company are dedicating themselves to making a radical change in the industry using locally grown grains to help build local resiliance into the food network.

Totnes Mayor Emily Price & Councillor Jeff Chinnock
Totnes Mayor Emily Price & Councillor Jeff Chinnock

Totnes Generosity

Following the presentations Jay and Hal stalked the room amiably goading the ‘community of dragons’ into engaging with each of the projects. They didn’t find the process very difficult as each idea, received pleadges of marketing & social media assistance, business planning was offered and pledges to help out in several ways. Mama Tokus was offered multiple party try-outs, The Totnes Pulse offered subscriptions as well as funding, E-cocars with new members and a push to extend into Harbertonford and Buckfastleigh and The Fresh Flour had a commitment to ensure they got their products on sale in Green Life!Totnes Local Enterprise Forum

 

The Re-conomy Centre are firmly pulling their weight when it comes to their core principles of regenerating the local economy. In a world that is becoming increasingly un-stable and factionalised, Jay Tompt and the team are demonstrating in practical terms that there are much better ways and that building resilience into local economies can not only make this region stronger, but also creates powerful bonds that encourage a happier, supportive community.

 

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