PRESS RELEASE
@Chelt52, an innovative social media culture project based in Cheltenham, today launches its third year and kicks off another 52 weeks of unearthing hidden gems from Cheltenham.
The project is a ‘rotation curation’ Twitter account, meaning @Chelt52 passes a virtual ‘baton’ on to a different spokesperson each week to become the ‘voice’ of Cheltenham.
Launched in 2013 by Liam McKinnon and Sophie Fryer, the account has amassed a following of over 10,000 people to date, and aims to portray the diverse lifestyles that make Cheltenham unique.
Each Monday, a new business, individual or cause from the town takes to @Chelt52 to demonstrate what Cheltenham means to them – and what they contribute to the town.
Liam said:
“Since we started @Chelt52, it has been refreshing to see such an eclectic mix of people from the town showcasing a diversity that people may not have known about Cheltenham. Giving followers a glimpse behind the scenes of various local businesses and organisations has been exciting and we’re looking forward to hosting 52 more tweeters who can spread their message throughout 2016”.
Sophie added:
“We’ve had some great, independent Cheltenham-based businesses, people and charities connecting to a very local audience and we’re really pleased with how the project has grown.
A great selection of really interesting local people have taken part and we’re really proud of the popularity of the account”.
In 2015, @Chelt52 proudly hosted charitable organisations such as Cheltenham Playhouse, Pretty Bald and Sue Ryder. Notable Cheltonians such as Sophie Smith (Miss Cheltenham) and Luke Cameron (featured in national press for the Good Deed Diary and Nicest Job in Britain) also took the reins for a week; alongside Cheltenham Festivals, Cheltenham Races and the Playhouse Theatre.
The third year of @Chelt52 kicks off on Monday 4th January with the Scandinavian Coffee Pod, an independent coffee bar based at St. George’s Place.
Phil Parr of the Scandinavian Coffee Pod, which started up in October 2014, explains what to expect from their opening week on the account:
“We’ve loved @Chelt52 since we started up – we decided that we’d use social media as our main form of marketing and we quickly picked up that @Chelt52 was quite a big thing in Cheltenham, so we’ve been following ever since. We love to see the different people every week taking over.
For us, it’s a great opportunity to reach people. Cheltenham is known for its independent businesses.
We’re going to really push the coffee culture that’s growing in Cheltenham – we provide really top quality coffee – it’s all about the coffee for us!”
@Chelt52 followers can also expect a behind-the-scenes look at Cheltenham Town FC (25-31 Jan) stints from the Holst Museum (18-24 Jan),Cheltenham Feminists (7-13 March) and new spice box delivery start-up Tyga Bites (1-7 Feb).
More of the 2016 line-up will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Local tweeters are encouraged to apply to take part in @Chelt52.
