Members - Shropshire Hills & Ludlow

March 30 Tourism Expo and Leaflet Swap Now cancelled

Visit Shropshire Hills CIC (formerly Shropshire Hills Tourism Association Ltd) is the official destination marketing body for the Shropshire Hills area and is a not-for-profit members organisation now incorporated as a Community Interest Company. The organisation has been running for 30 years. All members agree to adhere to the Charter of Good Practice as a condition of membership. A printable one page summary of benefits can be found here

Visit Shropshire Hills CIC currently provides for all members as part of their membership fee:

- Directory listing members – for 2020 this again will be an online brochure, – a simple format, also available for guests to print out & for use by the VICs etc.
- Website – this responsive website, allows members access to modify their entries, add special offers and event details as required. We continually upgrade the site – latest have included application of the new brand, more header pictures and making the pictures clickable.
- The Great Shropshire Hills Cream Tea Trail – guests can visit a baker’s dozen of providers, vote for them and the champion is crowned at Ludlow Food Festival. 2019 winner is Jemima’s Kitchen, Church Stretton
- Great Days in the Shropshire Hills, which is greatly valued by visitors, showing a map with attractions throughout our area plus a calendar of events. Membership entitles a discount on members’ advertisements.
- Destination Branding. As a means of working collaboratively we have a brand which encompasses colour scheme, message, logos, font, photography and much more so the message becomes unified
- Newsletters via email – we aim to send out newsletters roughly 10 times a year with Helpful Tips, new legislation, special offers, decisions your committee have made and opportunities to meet others in the tourism business. View the last newsletter here plus previous ones in the archive . Sign up here
- Tourism Expo Monday 30 March at Ludlow Castle. The Tourism Expo 2019 was on Wednesday 3 April at Ludlow Racecourse. See 2 of the talks on our YouTube channel. Ambassadors Scheme and Branding
- Special events: an annual leaflet swap / get together in Spring, plus other relevant meetings as opportunities arise. Talks on new technology like GoogleBusiness View and orientation visits to local attractions (Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, Shrewsbury Museum & Castle, Sabrina Boat, Ludlow Food Festival , Stokesay Court , The Judge’s Lodgings, Hergest Croft Gardens, Ludlow Castle, Ludlow Museum).
- Free entry to Ludlow Food Festival on the Friday morning
- Social Media – use the hashtag @visitshrophills and get a retweet to all our Twitter followers. Tag us on Facebook @visitshropshirehills Make use of our blog to promote activities. Submit items to the Event guide
- The opportunity to attend Board meetings and make your views known. The minutes of the last Board meeting are below The report of the last AGM is here
- Visit Shropshire Hills CIC is recognised by Visit England as the local Destination Organisation with chances of obtaining marketing openings nationally.

Being an established, recognised body, VSH also applies for funding as an organisation when grants are available, and keeps members informed of possible avenues of grant funding for tourism businesses through schemes like LEADER, EARDF and the LEP partnership. Occasionally training opportunities arise for which modest fees are charged.

Minutes of Board meetings are displayed below, along with notification of next meeting and agenda when published. If you plan on coming please email us so we have enough cakeinfo@visitshropshirehills.co.uk! Next meeting Wed 4 March 2020 at 1:30 at AONB Offices, Craven Arms