Broughty Ferry Traders Association review of 2014 and looking forward to 2015

14Jan 2015

It’s fair to say that the Traders had another busy year in 2014.

The AGM saw the long-standing Chair, Sandro Paladini of Eduardo Alessandro Studios, step down to be replaced by Steve James of John James Roofing. Luckily BFTA has managed to retain the experience, wisdom and knowledge Sandro brought to the Association because he graciously accepted the formal role of Secretary.

Steve has been a one man dynamo, recruiting new members including Trades and Services – representing an even more diverse group of Broughty Traders and coaxing the membership to 100 members and beyond. In particular, BFTA was pleased to welcome Visocchi’s, the town’s multi-award winning Italian purveyors of gourmet Italian delights, as the 100th member.

The summer in Broughty Ferry always kicks off with Gala Week. The hard working Gala Committee, Chaired by The Hotel Broughty Ferry’s Gerry Stewart, managed to make this the busiest one to date! Most importantly Gala Week raised more funds for local good causes than ever before.

A highlight of the year was BFTA’s involvement in the prestigious Academy of Urbanism’s Best Neighbourhood Award. Notably, committee member Willie Watt of Nicoll Russell Studios did us proud with a wonderful presentation about the town when the assessors came to visit and Dundee City Council were extremely supportive of the bid. Broughty Ferry was one of just three nominated neighbourhoods in the UK and was the only Scottish nominee in any category. The Traders were represented at the Awards Ceremony in London by Steve James and Jan McTaggart (from Clementine) who collected the Runners Up certificate which is on show at the library.

BFTA continues to represent the interests of business and the community and is actively involved in discussions about developing Dundee’s Waterfront and in the City’s tourism strategy.

The 2014 Xmas Lights Night was another resounding success with a carnival on Brook Street and entertainment provided by local schoolchildren, local band Gleadhraich and Radio Tay. The posters with designs by local school children undoubtedly helped attract a record crowd with officials on the night estimating a turnout of almost 6,000 – almost double the number of the previous year.

The lights shone throughout December, adding sparkle to a special Sunday when Santa appeared at the first Gray Street Grotto while the Land Train toured the Ferry raising funds for local good causes.

So... how do we follow that?

Our new website, packed with information about retail, trades and services with links to community and events information launches early in the year at www.cometobroughty.com. Keep up to date with the Ferry latest news on our Facebook
page, Broughty Ferry and follow us on Twitter @BFtraders. Its where you can find out about Gala Week, the next Xmas Lights Night and all the other things we’re trying to achieve for Scotland’s Best Neighbourhood in 2015!

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