Local People

Town Centre

Meet the woman at the very heart of Okehampton…

To say that no two working days are the same for Emma James is something of an understatement. But first it’s important to understand what she really does for a living.

Emma is the Town Clerk for Okehampton Town Council.

“People think I just take minutes, do filing and stamp documents,” she laughs. “It’s because of the ‘clerk’ title, which is historical. But a good way to explain it is to imagine that I am a ‘chief executive’ reporting to the ‘board’ which is the council. The counsellors are strategic and I’m pretty much operational.”

And by ‘operational’ Emma means anything and everything.

“We could be checking the nameplate on a coffin, to make sure the one going into our cemetery is the one we’ve got the paperwork for; or dealing with damage in a playground; or organising something like the civic service and parade for Remembrance Day.” Job lot

Emma took on the Town Clerk role five years ago - the first woman to permanently hold the post at Okehampton Town Council. Though, after leaving school, the 49-yearold actually began her career as an administrator in the police service.

“When my daughter was born in 2002, I went part time, but as she got older I wanted to increase my hours, but there weren’t any full-time positions with the police in the area - I’d have had to move stations - so when a clerk’s job came up in a little nearby village I thought a few hours a week there would be perfect. Then another one came along which also fitted in fine. Then the position at Okehampton Town Council became free and I thought ‘why not?’.”

Of course, even if people wrap their heads around what a Town Clerk does, they’ve also got to figure out what the council does - what it’s responsible for. And this is where things certainly get a little confusing.

“It is complicated,” continues Emma, “because there’s us, the Town Council, who are sort of at the bottom, at grass roots, then there’s West Devon Borough Council in the middle and Devon County

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Council at the top. But we seem to get the blame for things that go wrong!

“Traffic and potholes are the bigs ones - neither of which are under our control. But when people come in with issues like that then we’ll point them in the right direction or help them fill out a report.” Team spirit

the locks which seem to be constantly vandalised - even emptying litter bins costs money. £3 every time!”

By ‘we’ Emma means her and her team of seven: an assistant clerk, two caretakers, two groundsmen, and their apprentice, and the admin officer who looks after reception, is also the mayor’s assistant and “does everything in-between”.

“We all work together and pull together. I’ve been out in Simmons Park in the pouring rain closing the children’s playground!

“We really want to look after the town and its people - keep public places like Simmons Park nice, provide toilets for welfare, make sure we have enough space for future cemetery plots. But like everyone else, we are limited to a certain budget. Maintaining buildings, HIRING! WE ARE HIR Personal touchING! cleaning the toilets - and, in the case of the ones on Market Street, fixing exciting opportunities editon-based team Crediton Dairy have some exciting available within our Crediton-b “There’s this sort of old-fashioned image of a Town Council - that it’s fusty opportunities ased team and aloof. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Don’t forget that all the Council meetings are open and we hold our own coffee mornings in the Charter Hall and monthly councillor surgeries.

“Though perhaps we are ‘old-fashioned’ in one way: we don’t have an automated phone system - it’s answered by somebody. With so many services you can’t talk to an actual person, but here you can. And that’s how we want to keep it. Anyone is welcome to pop by and say hello to us in the Town Hall. We’re here so people can talk to us; so we can help them. That’s our job.”

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Generation Games

John Elson has brought adventure to thousands of youngsters over the years

John Elson can hardly believe that last year marked a quarter of a century since he first opened his activity centre, Adventure Okehampton, and the Youth Hostel up at the station.

The business man and his family moved to the area nearly 45 years ago for a change of lifestyle and so that he could indulge in his passion for rock-climbing.

“I’ve had various businesses over the years, but I was always a very keen climber - and a member of North Dartmoor Search and Rescue - so I was very involved in outdoor activities. But I wanted to set up a centre for young people to enjoy them too.”

Humble beginnings

John realised that Okehampton, with its position on the edge of Dartmoor, would be the perfect place and started to look around for premises, eventually settling on the abandoned goods shed at the railway station.

“I persuaded the council to lease it to me for a peppercorn rent so I could develop it. It hadn’t been used for 20 years and was completely derelict - there was even a platform in there. So we took out that and the railway line and built the hostel in the confines of the building. We took it over in April 1997 and it opened in August 1997, with a franchise agreement from the Youth Hostel Association.”

At that time the hostel had a modest 40 beds in six rooms.

“But it quickly became popular because of the location. It’s particularly attractive to schools. I’ve got schools which have been coming to us for 20 years. We’ve built up wonderful relationships with various teachers and head teachers from all over the country - and the world, places like Germany and Denmark. “We’ve now got 200 beds, 40 rooms and have about 35,000 over night stays a year!”

Not that it’s always been plain sailing.

“We’ve had our challenges! Like foot and mouth disease back in 2001, which closed the whole of Dartmoor. But we’ve always had good support from the council and have managed to keep going.”

Family affair

At 74, John isn’t running the place single-handed anymore. His son Paul is now in charge of the day-to-day management of the business with a core team of 20 which swells to over 50 during the high summer season.

But John still oversees any big projects. Like the shiny new bike hire - Granite Way Cycles - and cafe which opened in December.

“We developed that because of safe-guarding issues. We would previously have to shut the bike hire down when schools were there because we couldn’t let the public onto the site. So our new building is separate and fully open to everyone.” Bigger and better

John is rightly proud of what Adventure Okehampton has provided over the years, whether it’s organising kayaking trips down the River Exe or hosting special holidays for the families of service men and women who are posted abroad.

And ten years ago he bought nearby Bracken Tor which he set up as a function room and wedding venue.

“Just the other day a couple of young girls turned up in flimsy shoes with little handbags asking which way Dartmoor is! We’re sort like a Tourist Information - we help as much as we can, advising people what to do and where to walk.”

While, John could be putting his feet up and enjoying retirement, this is a man who doesn’t know how to sit still, even donning his hard hat and wheeling a barrow to help with the recent build.

“I still like to get my hands dirty! But for me the most wonderful thing is seeing people come and enjoy this beautiful area we live in. Helping that to happen is what we’re here for and what really matters. Everyone deserves a bit of Dartmoor.”

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