The Switch On To Swindon team have been busy again, out and about recruiting more people to the campaign.

Royds Withy King was the latest company to invite the team into talk to their staff about what the campaign is trying to achieve and how people can get involved.

As ever there was a generous reception and agreement that promoting the town more effectively can only be a good thing.

Like most companies Royds Withy King is competing for the best candidates and the perception of Swindon can be a problem when trying to attract people from the region and nationally.

The team were able to give examples of how some of our ambassadors have already used the marketing materials available on the SOTS website to support recruitment campaigns and in staff inductions.

The Swindon In Motion film featured on the website has already had more than 130,000 views and many ambassadors send it to potential candidates to ensure their first impression of Swindon is a positive one.

Rod Hebdon, from the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery Trust, was also there and we do find ourselves increasingly doing a double act at presentations.

It was striking to see just how much enthusiasm there was in the room for the project to build a new museum and art gallery.

People want to see a symbolic landmark building which everyone who lives and works in Swindon can be proud of.

The interesting thing about Rod’s presentation is how surprised people are by just how much important art work and museum artefacts Swindon has at its disposal, all of which deserve a better home.

However, the thing that really captured the imagination was how the proposed building would become a public space for multiple uses, including educations spaces for local schools, social spaces, meeting areas, restaurants and conference facilities.

So many boxes ticked from a business perspective and, judging by the number of people filling in back the bid postcards, a lot of support.

Find out more for yourself and how you can back the bid at www.swindonmuseum.org.uk.

On a different note I was interested in the spotlight on train ticket costs last week. There was an amusing Matt cartoon which particularly referenced a Swindon to London train season ticket. There is one simple way to reduce this cost: Work and live in Swindon.

Swindon has a great pool of talent here or close by, already supporting hi-tech industries – we have the UK Space Agency and Intel, pharmaceuticals – we are the eighth largest centre in the UK for finance – we have Nationwide and Zurich.

And in engineering we have Honda, BMW and Johnson Matthey, to name but a few.

We are within easy reach of some of internationally and nationally recognised universities, including Oxford, Oxford Brooks, Bath, Bristol and the University of the West of England. There are a range of exciting new housing developments at Tadpole Farm and you have access to the countryside, parks and cycle paths, good local cinemas and a range of restaurants. Now, of course I am going to say all that aren’t I? But you don’t have to just take it from me because our ambassador ‘in a great place’ stories say it all. Go to www.switchontoswindon.com/greatplace to see for yourself.