The competition to design the official flag for Exmoor is gathering pace. Entries are flowing in both electronically and in the post. Designs received so far have been imaginative in their portrayal of Exmoor and have come from a wide variety of sources.
The oldest entrant so far is a 93-year-old Devonian lady who has always loved painting. The youngest competitor is a two-year-old little girl from Brushford near Dulverton who has drawn an Exmoor Pony. One gentleman wrote on his entry form “Many thanks folks for providing this inspiring initiative for us Exmoor-ites – whatever happens, I look forward to the result.”
The Exmoor Flag Project Team would like to stress that the important thing is to get across your idea on your design. It doesn’t matter if it is drawn with crayons, pencils or professionally produced on a whizzy computer programme. All entries will be judged on their interpretation of Exmoor onto a flag and the finalists will be graphically treated to ensure an even playing field when put forward to the public vote in August.
The Exmoor Flag Project Team are delighted to announce the judging panel who will have the extremely difficult task of short listing all the wonderful designs down to four finalists.
The judges are as follows:
Johnny Kingdom – Exmoor wildlife enthusiast & TV personality
Naomi Cudmore – Editor, The Exmoor Magazine
Dan James – Exmoor National Park Authority, Sustainable Economy Manager
Toni Jones – Exmoor Society, Member of the Executive Committee
Robin Ashburner – Exmoor resident & the UK’s leading flag and heraldry expert
Exmoor Flag Project Team – Tony & Ceri Keene and Edward & Julie Christian
The panel will be overseen by judge Philip Tibbetts, the Community Vexillologist for the Flag Institute who are endorsing the Exmoor Flag design competition. The winning flag will be registered with the Flag Institute to be flown forever more.
The owner of the winning Exmoor Flag will not only have the honour of their design being registered by the Flag Institute as an official United Kingdom flag, but will receive the very first copy of the flag, professionally hand made on Exmoor. In addition the winner will be presented with a hamper overflowing with Exmoor produce and products, tickets for visitor attractions and vouchers for meals at popular venues. All these gifts have been generously donated by local businesses to support and celebrate this new era for Exmoor.
So to be part of this historic event you will need to enter. See www.exmoorflag.co.uk for entry forms and design guidelines. The deadline is on Monday 21 July, so there is still time to get your creative juices flowing.
The West Somerset Railway’s Exmoor Flag Competition Special Train
The Exmoor Flag Project team were given unprecedented permission to board one of The West Somerset Railway’s iconic steam trains earlier this week to promote the competition to design the official flag for Exmoor.
The 12.30 Raveningham Hall 6960 steam locomotive out of Minehead Station became a flag design train for the afternoon, with both children and adults getting inspiration for their flag creations from the stunning Exmoor countryside as they rumbled along the tracks.
Fenris Jones (pictured) aged 11 and his younger brother Thaine (6), on holiday from Western-super-Mare, are looking forward to drawing their flag designs when they get home on Friday. Travelling in the same carriage that transported Harry Potter and his chums to Hogwarts School made it too exciting to think about designing flags at that time.
One little girl handed in her beautiful flag creation depicting an Exmoor Pony when she left the train at Watchet. And Joshua Huckett (pictured at he top of this page), currently on work experience with WSR in the Buffet Ca, was keen to enter, as was the case with many other passengers who had fascinating stories to tell of their experiences of Exmoor, be it visiting on holiday, living in the area or in the army assisting with the Lynmouth floods back in the 1950s.
The Exmoor Flag Project team members Ceri Keene and Julie Christian would like to pass on their thanks to Colin Howard, Acting Sales & Marking Manager for organising today’s event and for WSR promoting the design competition with posters at all the stations along the historic line.
The 4 finalists for the public vote will be announced in August and the new Exmoor Flag will be unveiled in a special ceremony in October.