Judges' Comments on the entry from Porlock Visitor Centre.
The judges are pleased to be awarding Porlock Visitor Centre a Special Commendation.
The Porlock Visitor Centre story is one that the judges find inspirational. Community plus premises plus no limit to imagination and aspirations appears to be the secret behind this intriguing community enterprise.
As the name of the organisation and premises imply, tourism is an important feature (in season) to the economy of Porlock. The enterprise acquired an old school building and hall and have worked hard and with amazing success in developing the assets to provide for the community of Porlock - as much as to provide for tourists.
On a point of clarification - the judges came away with the distinct impression that the Porlock visitor centre does not quite look on tourists as "tourists" but rather as presently transient members of the Porlock community. An indication of return rates and examples of subsequent visitor re-locations to Porlock seem to support this hypothesis.
With the encouragement of the Parish Council, the Porlock Visitor Centre speaks confidently in praising the efforts and cohesion of all interests in the community of Porlock. In addition to catering for visitors, the Porlock Visitor Centre caters for the needs of residents, dealing with council inquiries, acting as an unofficial job centre, organising the voluntary driving scheme, the flood warden scheme, and providing answers to any problem.
A new community IT and resource centre has recently been added to the facility.
All households moving to Porlock are invited to visit the centre to receive a welcome (as well as a "welcome pack").
If welcomed, the more vulnerable members of the Porlock community receive regular telephone calls from the centre to check on their wellbeing.
It is common wisdom that the English tourism industry is somewhat vulnerable to potentially short seasons and the vagary of weather. The judges are not yet confident that the Porlock Visitor Centre have found a solution to the English weather but they do know that the centre is never short of ideas for extending the tourist season! Cultural events, of course, are to the benefit of full time "Porlockions" as well as temporary ones.
The judges suspect that they will be saying more about the Porlock Visitor Centre on future occasions.