Tracy Francis - Wimbledon Town Centre Manager

I took up the part-time position of Town Centre Manager for Wimbledon at the beginning of September 2004. In the first two months I met with more people from a wide variety of places than I have perhaps in the last few years. I am delighted to say that every single one (except perhaps one!) of the meetings I have had so far have been worthwhile, productive and fruitful, and I have met some really lovely people.

I wouldn’t want to do this job for any other town except Wimbledon. I moved to Ethelbert Road at the age of 1 month in 1962, and stayed there until I moved to Darlaston Road in 1983, where I stayed for the next 8 years. As a child my local park was Dundonald, I watched and waved to the trains from the bridge on Merton Hall Road and we spent Sundays on Wimbledon Common. My local cinema was the ABC and the Odeon and also the Rialto in Raynes Park, my High School was the Ursuline Convent and I remember the Town Hall long before it was Tescos! So my love of Wimbledon is deep and true and that’s why I am delighted to be doing this job.

With the continued support of our Partners, we have been able to achieve many goals in the last few years. We have launched this website which attracts visitors from all over the world, Winter Wonderland is now in its 8th year and goes from strength to strength year on year; the Wimbledon Business Forum is still fully attended and run every two months, now in its third year; we've been on the Discovery Channel, on BBC Radio London from the Piazza; we've had Maypole Dancing, Ceroc Dancing and street theatre; we've had our regular French and Italian Markets as well as a Christmas Craft Fair.

As we move into 2007/2008 there are many challenges facing us to keep this wonderful town thriving.