Long Term Preparation - Use of Technology

A shout out to all those who are business owners and / or have been affected by the floods in the general Bandon area..... the following should be of interest to you:

Business related:
A database of local businesses is expected to be updated over the next few weeks. It is hoped that local students will be gathering updated information on businesses under the following headings:
Business name
Address
Nature of the business
Business contact number (Landline)
Business mobile contact (For text message flood related warnings)
Business website
Business email

(All data protection laws, rules and regulations will apply)

There are three other key proposals with this opportunity to gather information:

1. Create a database of mobile numbers that could be used to send a 'group text message' in case of the potential of future flooding.

2. The creation of a database of Bandon related business emails. This network could then be used to highlight business-related issues, promotions, advice and notification of meetings. We don't have an active Business Association and this facility may help businesses to network together. (Which cannot be a bad thing!)

and 3. The creation of email addresses to those business who do not have business email addresses. We would then hope to show those who do not have computer skills how best to use this most valuable tool. (A temporaray password would be set when creating the email account and then the business owners will be shown how to change it)

My simple request to you, the business person, is to get talking about the above 3 topics with friends, neighbours and colleagues. You may be able to convince the person 'set in their ways' that inofmation and technology should be able to keep them informed about what is going on and should also be able to help their business.

Highlight, copy and paste either of the following links into the address bar... http://www.bandon.ie/googlemap.htm (Click on your choice)or
http://www.bandon.ie/maps/googlebusiness.html

Please zoom in on the centre of the town and click on one of the icons .... not many people know that we have a huge amount of the businesses of the town already located on the internet. (This work was done voluntarily and at no cost to the business owner ... go on, have a look.... you might be surprised)

Any ideas, suggestions and / or comments be they positive or negative can be emailed to visitbandon@gmail.com or the newly created bandonbusinessnetwork@gmail.com

Regards
TC

April updates and more

April has seen a range of activities take place in the Bandon area:

Last night, Bandon Town Mayor, Gearoid Buckley, hosted a 'Think Tank' in St Brogans. The concept was to learn from other towns and to develop new ideas with a view to a long term plan to help our town. More details to follow.

Last month saw the Final of the Dragons cave competition sponsored by ODM. Those present on the night will agree that congratulations are due to all involved and inparticualr to the winners from Colaiste na Toirbhirte, Fluirse health food.
Words can't describe the debt of gratitude that are owed to the sponsors, ODM, who facilitated the activities with not only sponsoring the many prizes, but probably more importantly, the investment that they made with their time in going from school to school giving advice and motivation. Well done to all concerned.

The annual Bandon Opinion awards ceremony takes place this Friday evening (April 16). The event, sponsored this year by the Bandon Credit Union acknowledges the achievements of groups and individuals who have excelled in their particular special area and / or have contributed greatly to the quality of life locally. Best of luck to those nominated and congratulations in advance to all concerned.
This year, the event will take place in the Inchydoney Lodge and Spa.

It's that time of year to get involved with the annual Richie O'Neill memorial walk. Check out the calendar section for more details.

Watch out also for details on: the Bandon Music Festival, the Bandon Show, the relaunching of a marketing campaign to promote Bandon and keep an eye out for other interesting activities for young and old alike .... watch this space!!!

Don't forget to help promote Bandon in the USA by checking out the previous blog on this website.

And finally, expect a change with the www.bandon.ie website in the very near future. We expect to have a long awaited section on the make-up of the Bandon Town Council and another related section with the minutes of the meetings of the Council.
This should be a valuable tool for those interested in seeing what is happening with various town-related issues. We had hoped to have this done a while ago but unforeseen events, in particular with the change in storage format by www.blogger.com delayed things considerably.
We have secured the talents of local people to help improve our site. more details to follow.

Regards,
TC