Blooming Oundle is a voluntary project started in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic to spruce up the town and introduce flowers and planting to new areas.

The project was initiated by the Business Association and local environmental organisation, Transition Oundle. The ethos was to encourage a ‘can do’ attitude in the community… to fix the things we can fix, to take responsibility for improving the public spaces on our doorstep and to connect more people with what is growing around them. The overarching objective was to improve the experience and environment for those who visit, live or work in the town.

Blooming Oundle soon took a life of its own with up to 50 volunteers taking part in the planning and execution of the cleaning and planting. As a result new planters appeared at town entrances and large barrel planters were placed at locations in the town centre, and initiatives were started such as ‘seed swaps’, school partnering, and gardening clubs.

The scheme has been supported with donations and sponsorship from a number of local companies, including Nene Valley Brewery and The Barn Garden Centre, and also with small grant contributions from Oundle Business Association.

If you would like to see the latest activities or get involved please find out more at www.facebook.com/BloomingOundle

Another Oundle Business Association led initiative in association with Oundle Town Council bore fruit with the launch of the all new ‘loveOundle Walking Tour App’ in 2022. OBA Chairman Paul Eveleigh was delighted to see the project delivered as the last part of the loveOundle town marketing initiative to boost visitors to Oundle and engagement. The project was funded through a grant from Oundle Town Council with the App being free to down load from the two main App Stores. When used the App provides maps and commentaries that automatically play when visitors reach a point of interest in the town.

The App stated off with two tours to take: the ‘Historic Town Trail Tour’ and the ‘Oundle Tree Trail’ with more tours to be added through a self managed content management system as and when members of the Oundle Community submit their tour information. Anyone in the town can present ideas for tours or put one together a new one – it is surprisingly easy!

Again Oundle Business Association has worked with Oundle Town Council to bring a real benefit to the town. The aim of the App is to enrich visitor experiences and provide yet another good reason for coming to Oundle and then staying a bit longer.

More information and links to the App Store pages can be found at: www.loveoundle.org/walking-tours

Duiring the pandemic and various states of lockdown things were tough for local businesses, especially those on the high street and those traditionally relying on face to face trade.

Originally set up as a temporary idea in the run up to Christmas 2020 at what should be the busiest time of year for many traders, Oundle Business Association initiated the Shop Oundle Project to create an online space where businesses in the Oundle area could easily promote their products to local buyers. To get it off the ground a logo was designed and a Facebook Group set up. The initiative soon atttracted over 1,000 users with over 100 businesses registering and posting.

With regular posts and attentive curation by a small project team Shop Oundle made a great impact running well into 2021 until shopping restrictions had fully eased. This was a typical comment…

It has been a very useful service not only to help us connect with shops etc in Oundle but also with small businesses in the area where people make or sell things from home.

Although now ‘retired’, you can still see the Facebook group page if you would like to see what it was all about: www.facebook.com/groups/shopoundle

In 2019 around 80 new bike parking spaces were installed around Oundle, making it easier to visit the town’s shops, cafés, parks and Fletton House by bike. The initiative was led by Oundle Business Association, with support from local environmental organisation Transition Oundle and Oundle Town Council. Some funding was also secured from the East Northamptonshire Communities Facilities Fund.

The stands weren installed to provide more parking for local shoppers and town users as well as to provide facilities for larger groups of cyclists riding through the beautiful market town every weekend, thus supporting local businesses and maintaining a vibrant high street for our town.

Many look like traditional bike stands (with some also providing shelter) and some are the type of stand more often found at cycling events – where bikes are ‘hung’ by their saddles on the bar and can be secured using a bike lock. The stands are located in the Market Place, outside Fletton House, at Barnwell Country Park, opposite The Greedy Piglet café, in the yard of the Oundle Courthouse, on West Street (outside the Oundle Bazaar and the Queen Victoria Hall) and outside the town’s Co-op and Tesco stores.

In May 2019 Oundle Vintage Festival took place for the first time with the three main streets of Oundle closed off for the day and filled with an antique & vintage market, a mini-railway, steam traction engines, pipe organs, classic cars and motorbikes, classic cycles, vintage farm machinery and a variety of traditional fairground rides, along with a Festival Stage featuring retro bands and vintage dancers, all surrounded by a variety of street food stalls.The night before the main event a Rock ‘n’ Roll dance also took place.

The festival event was conceived by Oundle Business Association who identified a lack of major events for a town of Oundle’s size. The festival was to act as a draw for visitors on the day, but also highlight Oundle as a year round visitor destination. This coincided with an appeal from the Friends of St Peter’s Church who were in desperate need of funds to repair the Town Clock.

A dedicated event organising group was set up that reported into the main OBA committee, with the Association assisting with banking and grants. The 2019 event not only received rave reviews from the estimated 5,000 visitors, but raised just over £10,000 for the Town Clock & Bells Repair Fund. Originally put on as a one-off, the Business Association took the decision to run the festival as a regular event following universally good feedback from festival-goers and many calls to repeat it.

Unfortunately the planed event in 2020 had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. Hopefully the event will return bigger and better than before with future proceeds being directed towards the newly established Love Oundle Fund to be overseen by Oundle Business Association with the aim of providing grants that will improve the fabric of the town for the benefit of residents & visitors. For latest news keep an eye out at: www.oundlevintagefestival.co.uk