AN AWARDS ceremony for ‘front-line workers’ is among the ideas which have been put forward after business leaders in Kendal came together to begin plotting a course of recovery for the town after the coronavirus pandemic.

Other suggestions include fresh marketing messages and using models of Kendal housed in 1.3-metre perspex domes to advertise the town in a new way in the Lake District.

BID levy payers were invited to attend one of two digital meetings which were held over video conferencing service Zoom. Ideas, concerns and hopes about the future of Kendal were discussed and resulted in the BID board coming up with two ‘objectives’ aimed at ‘putting Kendal into recovery’.

The first - ‘know your Kendal, love your Kendal’ - involves educating ‘locals and visitors in all that Kendal has to offer in an innovative way that captures the imagination and encourages people to learn more.’

The second, called ‘welcome to our town’, focuses on coordinating ‘marketing of Kendal through positive reinforcement messages and a coordinated approach to highlighting everything good about the area.’

A number of innovative ideas to help the town recover have now been arranged in a draft document put together by the BID.

One of these is to create a ‘pack’ which businesses can pledge to incorporate into their training to ensure that staff can ‘direct anyone asking to the nearest information point, nearest toilets etc.’

This could also be accompanied by an awards evening for ‘front-line workers’ in public-facing roles to recognise those who have ‘utilised their knowledge of Kendal to good use.’ Nominees could be put forward by members of the public and through a ‘secret shopper-type’ process.

Another suggestion is the creation of a ‘Kendal passport’ which helps people discover what the town has to offer. Customers could have their passports stamped in shops with a prize draw being held for completed passports. The board feels this idea has ‘potential for business’ but ‘needs the businesses to embrace it’.

BID has also proposed building on the walking trails through the town it already offers by making them more ‘interactive’, possibly through the use of a sticker book.