Where is Oswestry going next?
What will life be like in Oswestry in 2020? After all, it’s only 9 years away. The London Olympics will be a faded memory, Alex Ferguson will have retired (possibly) and who knows who will be in government.
Recently, as part of The Oswestry Festival of the Word, we ran a competition for local schoolchildren to share their vision for Oswestry in 2020. The results brought up some fascinating ideas, such as having battle re-enactments on Castle Bank, an Iron Age village on the Hillfort, an open-top bus touring the town, and many more ideas.
So, in Oswestry in 2020, what will have changed?
It's clear that in terms of the local economy, tourism will become more and more important.
What if, by 2020, the trains were now connected to the mainline and we had regular passengers from the West Midlands, Cheshire and Mid-Wales doing their daily shop in Oswestry?
What if tourists came in their droves to enjoy the Heritage Railway too?
What if our range of quality, independent shops just got better and better, and were the talk of the county, the UK?
What if our increasingly exciting events calendar continued to grow apace and attract hundreds of thousands of visitors on a regular basis?
What if the roundabouts leading into the town were home to some spectacular, world class sculptures?
What if Oswestry succeeded such that the whole town was working to the same aspiration towards Oswestry as a beacon market town in the UK?
What if our Arts Scene became nationally recognised as a source of inspiration for integrating art into the town?
What if the Powis Market Hall, now refreshed and reorganised, along with the Outdoor Market built on it’s 800 year heritage to pull in visitors by the bus load every week?
I wonder what your dreams are for Oswestry in 2020?
