The Irene was sailed across from Minehead to Barry by a group of young people from the YMCA and West Somerset Community College. The visit was arranged to celebrate the historic trading and cultural links between South Wales and minehead and it is hoped will become an annual event. The Mayor took part in an exchange of hampers at Barry, South Wales on board the tall ship 'The Irene'.  Hampers of local produce were exchanged by young people of West Somerset and Barry in the hope that exchange visits would become a permanent event in the future. This was part of the first Minehead Harbour Festival held that weekend and the Mayor said that she would personally like to thank Steven Hooper the Visioning Manager for a very well organised event.  The Hamper was raffled at the Festival on the Saturday with monies going to The Hope Centre in Minehead.

Cllr. Val Welch The Mayor of Minehead was pleased to be invited to attend the West Somerset College Presentation Evening.

At the presentation Ceremony on Wednesday 10th July held in the Council Chamber of Minehead Town Council the Chair of the Allotments Committee Cllr. Paul Grierson introduced himself and the Mayor Cllr. Val Welch to the assembled guests and thanked them for attending the function for the presentation of the Dick Collins Challenge Cup for the best kept allotment. He said that it had been particularly difficult this year to separate some of the plots as the standard had been very high, in some cases it had come down to very small margins between the winning plots. It had been very hard to decide on the winners at Marshfield Road and Poundfield Road as the bar had been raised again from last year and fractions of a point decided final positions. All the sites had been very well work and it was satisfying to see so many people working plots.  The Mayor Cllr. Val Welch thanked Cllr. Anthony Barry for resurrecting the Competition last year and expressed her pleasure that the Competition was still "growing" and no doubt year on year would continue to be strongly supported.  Cllr. Grierson thanked the judges for all their hard work and support.

The Overall Winner was announced as Mr Peter Phillips from the Marshfield Road Allotment Site who was presented with the Dick Collins Challenge Cup for the Best Kept Allotment, he also received a £15 garden token and certificate. In the photograph below from left to right, Cllr. Paul Grierson, Mr Peter Phillips and The Mayor of Minehead Cllr. Val Welch.

For full details of prize winners and more photograph please of the presentations please look on the allotments page. After the presentations a buffet was provided with soft drinks with a glass of wine. The weather on the day was very hot and the refreshments were very welcome.

The Mayor Cllr. Val Welch attended the Home Start AGM and the CLOWNS AGM to finish off a very busy day.

The Mayor of Minehead Cllr. Val Welch was invited to attend a ceremony at the Creech Castle in Taunton for the un-veiling of the new Somerset Flag.  

The first round of judging took place at the offices of the Somerset County Gazette with a panel of seven judges which included one of the world's leading flag experts Robin Ashburner who lives in Somerset as well as Deborah Meaden, Dragons Den Investor and Somerset Entrepeneur and Tom Mayberry Head of Heritage at Somerset County Council. The judges looked at nearly three hundred designs and were amazed at the very high standard of entries, they had a difficult task in narrowing the field down.

On the day thirteen finalists, the panel of judges including Deborah Meaden who made the presentations and invited guests from across the County attended this historic occassion.