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I have just, a long with OH, joined the Wadhurst Traders Association.
The guy that runs it has the herbal shop near me & he has just emailed to say they would like to start a market again in Wadhurst ( It has been 26 years since the last one) on Thursday afternoons from 2.0 until 5.30pm & has invited me to have a stall there with the first 8 weeks free then only £5.00 per table. I jumped at it and have also booked two tables for OH on the stage of the hall where he can have his fabric remnants upholstery supplies & the guy has also said he can display any small antiques & bric a brac of which we have loads. He wants it to be varied and different each week to keep the customers interested.
It wont be until middle of September but that gives me plenty of time to plan my stock & display.
Little S has an after school club on Thursdays which does not finish until 4.30 so she can walk down to the hall which is only 5 mins from her school.
Hopefully it will work out well.

That sound interesting (and convenient).

That sounds brilliant CL - how perfect!!!!

All ready for the start of my weekly market next Thursday & guess what.
THERE IS A BLO...Y petition against it. Shop holders say it will destroy business?? How narrow minded the people of Wadhurst are. There are some old school people sitting on the Parish council with nothing better to do than to try to stop anything new. They are wealthy retired and do not need to earn a living.
We will not be stopped as we are a market town & I will fight them about this. (I am so angry about it)
They have omitted to mention on the top of the petition that the market traders are all locals with new or small home run business and would not be any threat to the local shops.

Oh no, I hope that it works out ok, sadly a narrow minded few often cause chaos for others, hopefully they will not win in this situation!

Great idea about the market but sad some are against it. It is so typical. Competition is good, will force them to take a look at their service, prices, quality.
Go get 'em girl!  :)

That's such a shame CL hope it works out for you  :)

That is absolutely outrageous, and I hope you succeed in fighting it.

I think there might be some legitimate reasons to block a market application (parking, traffic flow, safety etc) but certainly not that you might compete with existing shops ...

I think that is just bizarre. I thought that was what free enterprise and the 'market' economy was all about.

That's kind of like saying they should shut down all boot sales and internet sites, as they ALL compete with brick and mortar shops.

Morons.

Here's hoping common sense wins the day. If anything a market brings more people to a town so the shops will win too.
Fingers X'd it works out :)

It is being held in the local commemoration hall so will not cause any problems with traffic & parking is always a problem anyway but we are all parking in the local car park so we will not be parking in front of any of the shops.
Thank you all for your support.

Erm, aren't market towns supposed to have a market?

It may help the shop holders rather than hinder them - people will often go out of their way to visit a market, and perhaps if you point out that would benefit the shops too, it would shut them up.  Twits!

How utterly narrow minded.  Surely market days are the busiest days in a town and bring in more customers than detract from the customers to any other shops? Utterly utterly stupid. 

Huh! What about Heritage, Traditions etc.??

(anything in the archives re charter, market rules etc.?)

Not sure will have to look it up but Wadhurst is one of the many market towns in East Sussex & all the other towns have kept there's such as Heathfield, Hailsham Battle but ours got stopped many years ago as did our carnival & now they would like to stop the Scarecrow weekend??
Many of the people complaining are wealthy out of townees (Noses in the air type who never do anything for the village).
I stood in the post office today in line waiting & saw people looking at the petition & when one of them went to sing it I told them out loud that it was locals who were attending the market with local made crafts & produce which the petition failed to mention. They were surprised & then refused to sign it. :mwaha:

Maybe you (or someone) should prepare a little banner than you can stick over the petition sign - stating the number of local people involved in the market?  I was in our local market on Sunday and the organising company had signs around the place saying things like "50 local people employed directly in this market" and things like that.  In these recessionary times, it's well worth pointing out that people's livelihoods could be affected if this petition wins. 

(anything in the archives re charter, market rules etc.?)
[/quote]
Found this
www.wadhurst.info/wadhurst/trefoil/allabout.htm -

Now what is the significance EJ

I feel really annoyed about this Kim, everyone knows that a market always brings in extra trade for everyone in the town. I am also surprised that the post office is having this petition against it. It wasn't long ago that the local post offices were asking for our support for them to stay open and they should really be unbiased about this. I would think that you visit this post office regularly with your parcels and you should mention this and ask them if you can put a sign up saying your side of this, that it is for crafts and handmade quality local items, this is a market town etc. you could hand out these leaflets around the town. Some people will sign aything that is put in front of them without knowing what it is about, so they need to know the facts Who are  thse people who don't want it? do they know what sort of market it is going to be or do they think it is going to be tat? Perhaps your local paper would like to do a story on this, bringing back a tradtion etc you could get together with other would be stall holders. I have lived in a village since I got married in my teens and I have not become a village person in all that time and I must say I hate this side of village life, some villagers live in their own little bubble and don't want anything to change and then the new comers you mention think they want village life but don't actually don't know what it is and want everything their own way. I am cross for you!

Papers have all ready been involved while I was away. They were called by the shop owners who are claiming the produce such as local made cheese,  wild game, Cakes & me with my soaps etc will cause the shops to loose customers. It was a pair of old spinster who owner a wool & haberdashery (It is like going into the past in their shop) shop that started it all saying it would be cause parking problems then they were concerned about the fact that a hand made knitting stall would be in the market. They forget that the wool has to be purchased from some where and as we are all trying to shop locally they could loose a sale though their negative attitude.
I have passed all your comments over to our man who runs the traders association & who is running the market. He said thank you to you all for your support and ideas.
He actually runs a herbalist shop selling creams soaps etc & it is also a natural therapy clinic http://www.hamblys.net/
and he is not concerned about my trading along side him.

I think I will move to Wadhurst and insist that no one else anywhere in the world sells soap except for me I would fit in really well then!Nearly everyone on here is trying to find ways of selling their products it is the main difficulty we all share there is a real demand for handmade products from all crafts & when a customer finds us they are delighted with our products but the hard bit is bringing the the crafters and the customers together & a market like this sounds brilliant it would enhance the area I cannot see any detrimental affect at all I would be surprised if these people could actually stop your market because some shops don't want the competition I expect that there are rules about exact reasons to ask for something like this to be stopped and 'because I don't want it here' is probably not a valid reason but of course you will be dealing with a local authority a bunch of people who have never had to earn their living themselves & are fully protected from the real financial world it is competition that keeps us all on our toes If you have a good product or service you will succeed if you haven't you won't & I think that this recession has helped get rid of the people who are not good because when money is tight people are looking for good value In my real business that annoying thing I have to do so I can afford to make my soap this is my 20th year last year was the busiest I have ever had & this year seems to be going the same way

Found this
www.wadhurst.info/wadhurst/trefoil/allabout.htm -

Now what is the significance EJ
[/quote]

I'll see if I can find out.

I do know that Hull Fair was granted by a royal charter - it's annual and the fairground would be a prime city development site; additionally the householders on the surrounding streets can have a stall in front of their property - or let the space.

http://www.wadhurst.info/wadhurst/trefoil/charter.htm (http://www.wadhurst.info/wadhurst/trefoil/charter.htm)

(note the "for ever")

http://www.wadhurst.info/wadhurst/trefoil/carpenter.htm (http://www.wadhurst.info/wadhurst/trefoil/carpenter.htm)

a local govt. brochure on Economic Tourism (http://www.wealden.gov.uk/Council/Comments_Complaints_Suggestions/CustomerCharters/EconomicTourismCharter.pdf)

This agency (http://www.quarterbridge.co.uk/) may be able to advise (don't know what they'd charge though)

Thanks for that will look into it.

Well its D.Day :mwaha: Wish me luck.
I have been told the local bobby (Community officer) is to be present what are they expecting a riot  :o
Most of the shop ladies are of retirement age are they going to start causing trouble when we arrive to unload our vehicles. The whole business has got out of hand it is utterly ridiculous, still it has given us some good free publicity.
I have made all my products plus a few new items and all ready to go. All my files are up to date I have my insurance with me and relevant paper work MSDS folder etc because I am sure Trading Standards will be called just to try & make more problems for us.
Such a shame as I have known these people for some while. I go into their shops to support them & even supply one with some of my products & I was going to advertise the shop telling people that they could go there to find some items when the market is not on but I am now thinking twice about that.

Fingers crossed Kim.

I wish you the very best of luck Kim I am sure you will be OK,

I think if these protesters turn up they will be seen as a bunch of nutcases and will do themsleves no favours at all

Please let us know how it goes, I'm dying to hear

Good luck Kim. Hope it's not too miserable a day.

Hope it all goes well and not too much grief!

Good luck Kim!

Hope it all goes off peacefully and the shopkeepers see how silly they are.

just a quick up date as I am now unpacking stock and repacking motor home to go off on a rally this weekend. No peace for the wicked :mwaha:
All went well had lost of shoppers sold more than I expected for the first day and OH sold a lot of fabric remnants and also got some work out of it.
No real trouble they did come round scowling at the stalls and taking notes of what we were selling. Press were there talking to shoppers and got good feedback.
They did call in trading standards but she did not know a lot about my products & wasn't realy interested when she saw the labels on them all. She was more interested in the food stalls and rightly so.
OH took a couple of pic's which I will put on on Monday when I get back from Bentley Wild fowl.
Once again thank you all for the support we will have to see what happens now.

Ooh looking forward to the pics!

So pleased that it went so well Kim, I think that all this nonsense will fizzle out and you will be fine. Looking forward to seeing you photos

Looks as though their campaign has backfired on them and given you publicity.

Let us know what the local papers say.

The organiser, who runners the Wadhurst Business Traders Association, said he has now been threatened with legal action ???

Goodness, this is just getting nasty... I wonder what the agenda behind this is?

Glad it went well for you but what a nasty business for you to have to deal with. 

Who owns the charter - Parish Council or County Council? Could be relevant.

Not sure on that one will have to find out.
Here are a couple of pictures I seem to be looking elsewhere & banner is slipping

CL the table looks gorgeous.

It certainly does!

Lovely table.

Legal action for what? that will be interesting to hear! The 2 old girls with the wool shop who is minding their shop while they are out being silly? they could be losing sales!

I think the local newspaper is your best bet, they will ask these people questions and their answers will sound really stupid and put you in a very good light. Great publicity for you people will hear about your market when usually they may not and I am sure you will have more customers next time

Keep us posted this is going to turn into Eastenders!

Update.
Market day again yesterday with a lot of new face attending.
Steady flow of people throughout the afternoon and sales are not to bad. Most people are already saving for Chr.....s so I think it will get busy within the next month.
No more trouble so far from shop holders. Some of the people visiting the market have said they made a point of going to the shops after wards and commenting about the market & how they will come to Wadhurst each Thursday now to do their shopping and support the community as a whole.

Oh thats good.

Just a pity about all the needless stress that has been caused.

Just when I thought it might go peaceful. They have now called in the Inland Revenue to check each business & the local council to make sure each trader that is working from home is registered to do so and is paying business rates ???
I really feel like asking trading standards to go check on one of the shops who I know is selling creams made by someone without any ingredients or batch numbers

Tit for Tat, An Eye for an Eye.

Go to the shop and ask why they're calling in Inland Revenue etc. when they themselves are selling goods illegally, not conforming to current regulations?

Dreadful - these people must have so little in their lives...why are they trying to destroy something that's historically such a big part of the community?

Oh Kim I was so pleased when I read your first post and so disapointed when I read the second one. I do think you all need to fight back, these sort of people need to be stopped. I don't think you need to worry about anything you do to them now, how underhand.

These shop owners don't deserve to have any customers they way they are behaving. Perhaps an informative leaflet, not nasty at all, giving the facts, local crafts people, bringing potential customers to the businesses in Wadhurst etc and that you are all bewildered about why they are behaving this way. Perhaps ask to have a meeting with you, they won't of course but it would put you in a good light. Perhaps the papers again could ask them what their problem is and hopefully make them look ridiculous as they are.

I didn't realise that this was a weekly market, I thought it was monthly, I will try and come down and support you, I am not far away

Thank you to every one I will keep you posted on up dates.

Still fighting a battle but am now on the Traders Committee so I can have my say & boy do I :mwaha:

you would think the local shops would try and make a profit from the market ? Rather than fight it ? How about them stocking more local produce and cater to the market traders with supplies ?? Silly of them, honest.

Like that knitting shop. They could be raking it in, if they would get together with the handknitting lady and she could point people to that shop for supplies and they could supply her with wool ? Possibly even locally spun wool ???

Business rates....hmmm, do we have to pay them ?

They are so stuck in their ways. Weird lot they do not want strangers coming in to the Village (Town but we call it a village) ???

you would think they are based in Y'shire....honestly... "you are not from round here", lol

anyways, if the weather is not too horrid, I might try and come down this week. It shouldn't take me too long to get there from Croydon ?

Local goods for local people - shades of Royston Vasey!  :mwaha:

but seriously, this is not the way to behave if they want more income into the village/town and eventually into their own shops - very stupid

Hey! Less of that please there's nowt wrang wi' Yorkshire folks!!

That attitude is typical of many rural small towns across the UK.

lol, sorry, didn't mean it offensive, my OH is from there.

Was going to mention Royston Vasey myself earlier but didn't want to offend!

"This is a local shop for local people, there's nothing for you here"  :mwaha: