Well the launch at Ampthill defied every expectation that we had, and was successful even in the face of some pretty strange circumstances…but mostly due to the incredibly bad weather that happened upon us that Sunday.

The original plans were to be in the main car park in Ampthill but Gazebos and Stands were not possible due to the strong winds and torrential rain…so in true Totally Locally spirit, Richardsons, one of the Independent shops came to our aid and allowed us to setup the Totally Locally stall underneath their canopy.

Even in some of the worst rain that we have witnessed on a launch it was fantastic to see people out in the town on the Sunday, supporting Totally Locally and more importantly exploring the local shops.

When the rains finally did break we were left with an hour where it was dry and we had a constant stream of people finding out about Totally Locally, taking part in the treasure hunt and collecting their Totally Locally and maps of the Ampthill shops taking part.

Whilst the turnout was perhaps dampened by the weather, the general feeling and coming together of the shopkeepers was that it was a positive start to reminding people of the great things that are already in Ampthill and just what they can find right on the doorstep.

From a Totally Locally point of view it was great to see and hear people talk to us about how much they love Ampthill and the shops, the pride they have in it and the willingness to share their stories.

Totally Locally Sam said,

“Having wandered around Ampthill town and speaking to many of the shops/businesses the general feeling was it was very positive feedback despite the horrible weather but many thought this was a good start to trying to bring more people into the town and would bring a lot of people into the town long term.  They were looking forward to doing another event in the summer where the weather would hopefully be a lot better. It takes more than a bit of rain to dampen the Ampthill spirit!”

It was nice to know that some of the shops had done well in terms of takings too, and we spent our £5 too, the Gordino Olives in Cooks Collection are something very special…something that we would whole-heartedly recommend.

Thank you to everyone who helped out on the day, especially Luan from Fairies ‘n’ Frogs who saved the day many times over.