Peter Conisbee, project director, Dartmouth May­flower 400, writes:

In last week’s edition you carried a report on the town council’s decision to provide Dartmouth Mayflower 400 with seed funding of not less than £10,000 per annum for the next four years.

The Dartmouth Mayflower 400 management team members are extremely grateful for this support and financial help from the town council, which will enable us to raise much larger sums from institutional funding organisations, such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Arts Council and others, to help pay for the ambitious ­programme of events that we have planned during 2020.

A brief list of projects that we have in the planning stage was quoted in last week’s paper, and as the plans develop, full details will be provided on our new website, which is currently under development and which we hope will be launched shortly.

Dartmouth Mayflower 400 will be the 400-year commemoration of the sailing of the Mayflower to America in 1620, one of the most important events in the history of both countries, and the foundation of the special relationship that exists between us.

Dartmouth is one of 10 towns in the UK to be commemorating this event. It represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that should really put Dartmouth on the map, with educational and other benefits for residents, visitors and ­students alike.

It is our aim that this will be a whole-town project, involving the whole community, including various community groups, festivals, schools, the Britannia Royal Naval College, the Harbour Authority and others.

The economic benefits to the town and to businesses are expected to be significant with the increased visitor numbers that will result from all the ­publicity and promotions across the UK and US; and although many of the events will take place throughout 2020, it is planned that there will be a much longer-lasting legacy resulting from our ­projects.

This is an opportunity that the town should be grabbing with both hands, and the financial support of the town council will help us help the town to do just that.