PASW Regional Newsletter: Spring 2001
Regional Projects - The River Parrett Trail Raises Area Profile
The River Parrett Trail has been under the international spotlight this year. Recent visitors have included the Japanese Minister for Textiles and Design, a New Zealand walking club and a member of Australia's New South Wales parliament, Kevin Rozzoli.
Interest in the Trail is rapidly increasing as other local authorities and organisations see the success of this innovative and unique approach to rural development. Demand for lectures and presentations about the Trail have also increased, and business development officer Garry Hamilton has given presentations at the North Downs Way Conference in Kent, at the National Trust's Barrington Court and at an international development conference in Estonia. Bookings have already been taken for lectures and presentations in 2001 for an array of organisations including the Taunton and District Welsh Society! 
River Parrett Trail, Somerset
The benefits to this form of marketing and public relations are numerous and continually raise the profile of the Trail, the area and its people. The Trail has featured on television a couple of times this summer and is set to be the star of HTV's holiday programme 'Great Escapes' next March. Filming took place at several places along the Trail in August. Two issues of Parrett People, the River Parrett Trail newsletter, have been distributed to 10,000 people along the route, the cost being met entirely from advertisers. The third issue will be available in December.
For more information visit the River Parrett Trail web-site at
www.riverparrett-trail.org.uk.