OKEHAMPTON’S popular food and drink festival is set to go ahead this summer, despite a decision made last week that the town’s Chamber of Trade is to fold.

The event, which was a huge success last summer, is one of the events run each year by volunteers under the Chamber of Trade banner.

As members of the Chamber agreed to call it a day at their annual meeting last Thursday (February 7), members Christine Marsh and Jade Deacon-Oliver volunteered to carry on running the festival, which was held last year in glorious weather at the end of June.

Mrs Marsh, who is also a town councillor, said after the meeting: ‘We have agreed to take on the festival because we want something positive to come out of this, sad though it is.

‘The Chamber looks to be going to close but there are discussions going on for something in its place.’

She insisted that the Christmas lights and Edwardian Evening, which the Chamber also organises, were also safe for the future.

‘We will keep it all going, there is no doubt about that,’ she said. ‘We know the importance for the town of these events,’ she said.

A further meeting to discuss winding down the Chamber of Trade will be held on March 14.

The decision to fold was taken at the annual meeting at The Plume of Feathers after no one came forward to take on positions on the committee for the coming year.

There was silence in the room when outgoing chair Linda Harper asked if anyone was willing to take on the roles of chairman, secretary and treasurer. She told members that no one had put themselves forward, either, in the previous six weeks during which the vacant roles had been publicised around the town.• Read the full story in today's Okehampton Times.