The logo design competition was a Town Centre Management Board initiative, aimed at producing a new town logo to be used by local businesses and other organisations that want to use it for their websites, stationery and advertising.
Neither I, the competition judging committee, nor the winner of the competition expected the new logo to please everyone; ‘mission impossible’!
But I personally walked the design around the town and showed many people from all age groups and I did not receive one negative comment. The logo was also fully endorsed by retailers and others that attended the open meeting on March 18.
As stated in The Voice article, the design was produced free of charge by Graham Taylor, who as the competition winner, won £100 worth of vouchers, which were kindly donated by Hills Department Store. And had there been a fee, it would have been funded by Spalding Chamber of Commerce and not the local tax payer.
With regards to the appropriateness of the “Fenland Treasure” strap line; this is meant to be inspirational, i.e. something that Spalding should aspire to be; it is without doubt a beautiful town in many parts and the other parts which are not, need to be made better.
As part of the Tourism Destination Forum, Spalding will be promoted as the “Gateway to the Fenlands and the Wash”, with the expectation that visitors to the area will use Spalding as a base for their holidays in the South Lincolnshire area.
One local critic accused me of not knowing where I work, i.e that Spalding is not part of the Fens? I’m sure that all the farmers in the Spalding area would be very surprised to learn that they have not been living and farming on the Fens, for the last however many years. Spalding is very much part of the Fens; that’s why it’s flat and has drainage dykes everywhere and many of the road names like Fengate Road near Pinchbeck, Fengate Drove and Old Fendike Road off the A16 towards Weston Hills are so called.
The following is an extract from Wikipedia to further prove my point: ‘The Fens have been referred to as the ‘Holy Land of the English’ because of the churches and cathedrals of Ely, Ramsey, Crowland, Thorney and Peterborough. Other significant settlements in the Fens include Cambridge, Boston, Spalding, Wisbech and King’s Lynn”.
The judging committee chose this design as the winner from the 20 submissions received. Had more people made the effort and entered the competition, this logo may not have won. However, having said that, the committee stand by their decision and believe it is an excellent logo which represents the town’s history (the tulip), but with a modern twist that can be used in many different situations, which the accompanying photographs clearly show.
People have already been asking me where they can buy a T-shirt, which I will endeavour to source soon.
Dennis Hannant
Spalding town centre manager
