Chloe Pavely: Brixham's buzzing with celebrations - and I take up exciting new role

The view from Fishcombe Cove Cafe by Chloe Pavely

Just like that two bank holidays have passed by, both of which saw road closures in Brixham (and for good reasons which makes a change), crowds of people joined celebrations all round.

Whether you participated in the masses of pirates gathering along the harbour or you opted to stay away from the crowds, you cannot deny that Brixham town was an absolute buzz of energy.

And before every Tom, Dick and Harry had time to remove the eyeliner from their Jack Sparrow make up - it was time for round two of celebrations across Torbay.

Union flag bunting brightening up our streets, people’s tables and chairs replaced vehicles as parties took place to celebrate the King’s coronation.

You may remember that my last column was left on the annoying cliff-hanger that read ‘I have an announcement to make’.

And while I am sure there’s a large percentage may have forgotten already, a handful of you have been asking, I figure two paragraphs into my column is probably a good time to share the announcement *drumroll*...

I am excited to announce, I am officially a councillor on Brixham Town Council!

Now before we begin, I would like to start by saying the bigger politics is not my interest here, my passion and interest lies solely within the local community, so if you want to debate the Tories/Labour party – I am not your girl.

However, if you have ideas, questions, projects or want advice or support from your local Brixham councillor then I am here.

I love Torbay and being a resident of Brixham, I see a strong community. I see it is a collaboration of small independent business, creative people, volunteers of all ages, and a strong support structure for the vulnerable.

I see strength within our community for projects, businesses (#shoplocal), and charities too. I see talented artists and creative people channelling new ways to bring their vision to life – murals painted on walls that once lay bare.

Unused corners of land being designed and transformed into eye catching attractions covered with flowers and decorations that resonate with our town. I see people’s passion within fishing, heritage and the environment volunteering their spare time to share their stories.

I often notice the food banks and the support groups which have been set up to help those who are in need. And to put all of that into a bigger category, I see a busy seaside town full of many thousands of visitors who travel far and wide to visit every year.

There is still so much room for growth and further potential, to see more events taking place throughout the quieter months would allow Brixham to become a place to visit throughout the year as well as the summer months.

I feel we should see more pressure to ensure we are doing what we can to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce our waste quantity as a town and raise more awareness on sustainability and shopping local.

There is positive work always happening, but the most recent being Brixham Town Council purchasing Wishings Field. A piece of beautiful land which has now been saved from developers.

It will be a big clean-up mission due to being neglected for so long, however there are lots of ideas moving forward on how we can improve the area. However, the first step is to learn and collect information/data about the wildlife that live there, from butterflies to badgers.

New energy is good, it allows us time to reflect, implement changes and push new ideas moving forward, and I look forward to hearing your ideas.

See you in June.