"You who are on the road...................."

Some months ago I was the guest speaker at the Riviera International Conference Centre Business Breakfast with a bendy sort of theme entitled How to Cure a Curmudgeon. Curmudgeons have always worried me, but that isn’t what I want to write about today. As I write the country is being stressed by economic dips, rioting, disengaged communities and most of all the sense of the loss of hope.

So what has all this to do with Torbay? Well it’s August and theoretically the height of the tourist season; a time for making the most of what we have. You might ask what we have and I would answer that we live in an area of outstanding beauty with large wooded areas, miles of super safe beaches and stunning rocky outcrops. Did you know that you can almost walk from the middle of Paignton to Cockington village through leafy tracks past sparkling streams and only have to cross roads a couple of times? How good is that? As a bonus you can score one point for every deer you see on the way. Yes it’s true we really have wild deer on our doorstep!

From numerous high points the view across our precious bay is to say the least breathtaking. Yet on a summer afternoon in August few boats bob on the open sea. There was a time, not so long ago, when you could almost hop from Torquay to Brixham bouncing off windsurfer decks, but now only a handful flit across the water.

I had thought about introducing geriatric Coasteering this summer in the hope of grabbing a bundle of older folk (not all geriatrics, although I now include myself in that noble group!) to explore the cliff coasts from a very different angle. I seem to remember Jim Parker jumping up and down with excitement when I mentioned the idea. What better way to encourage tourists than to see the local population out there using the environment without having to flash huge amounts of cash?

Ah yes, the local population. Well that is you and it is me, folks. The socio-political landscape is changing and unless we wake up to that fact the future is indeed not that rosy. Whilst I use the throw away comment ‘grabbing a bundle of older folk’ it is of course much bigger than that. It is about grabbing the energy of a community which is a bigger and a hugely more important task. The word community must mean exactly that; all of Torbay and not simply randomly touching the energy here and there.

The other morning, just after six, I wandered down with my dog to the local newsagent to pick up a copy of the now weekly Herald Express (I miss the daily dose!) and bumped into four lads outside the door. They seemed nice enough and responded to my greeting. Two were in the infamous pulled up hoodies; I guess they were between the ages of sixteen to nineteen and had obviously been up all night. With my paper tucked under my arm I walk home with the four lads a little way ahead of me all munching away on their recently purchased junk food breakfast of fizzy drinks, bottled milkshakes, crisps and other goodies. You might wonder how I knew what they were eating if I was trailing behind them listening to the sound of loosely used foul language? Well it was easy really since once they had finished or simply had enough, the unwanted bits were casually dropped.

Now a good citizen would have hailed them and suggested that they carry their litter home with them. They seemed nice lads and I suspect that they might have apologised and picked up the discarded detritus. But given the recent worrying news, the fact that I was alone with my hound and the national propensity for gratuitous violence, I did not. I did however pick up litter. As I walked home the words of a song made famous by Crosby Stills Nash and Young came to mind which now echoed in the early morning light. They sang that we should teach our children well, which made me wonder about parental guidance in this troubled time. How do we teach our children well when so much has changed and the constant onslaught of television, social media, instant communication and the irresponsibly mixing of fact and fiction into a maelstrom that is fast becoming a socio-political and economic perfect storm?

Well Mayor Oliver I still think that we can set an example here in Torbay by using our natural resources to the maximum and engaging the whole of the community. I have already suggested open meetings at which you could encourage all sectors to attend and positively contribute in a meaningful way for the greater good. But how do we get them there? Well, we could start by knocking on doors and holding out a hand. Hmm, interesting! We all have life and it is something that in my humble opinion we must positively share. That’s my vision. What do you think?

Mankini Man and the 6th Torbay

The Italians have a word which, for me, seems to catch the moment when things really go well. The word is Fanastico and the annual Paignton Regatta Round the Pier swim last Friday evening was exactly that! This is my second year of being the organiser and what fun it is. Twenty-nine people ranging in age from 14 to 75+ splashed into the sea on the south side of the pier and then cut through the waves around a bright orange buoy off the end before speeding back to the beach.

Of course and event like this can’t happen without tremendous support from many people including two safety boats and numerous canoeists from the 6th Torbay Scouts, plus Simon Lane his kayaking friends. Lifeguards Claire (from the Redcliffe Hotel) and Bethan (6th Torbay) kept a watchful eye over the swimmers but didn’t need to leap into action! Dotted amongst the spectators were the yellow sweatshirts of the Paignton Regatta Committee members rattling collecting boxes and handing out space blankets to shivering swimmers! This is a community in action!

One of the stars of the evening was swimmer Ali Sular who sported a bright green mankini and in doing so managed to raise over £200 for Rowcroft Hospice. Good man! Borat look out – Ali Sular is looking for your job!

How green is my Green.....

There are times when I simply want to sit down and weep! It’s that feeling of being the proverbial voice crying in the wilderness when things seem to blindingly obvious. Let me give you a few examples.

We spend so much time talking about regeneration in Torbay and energising the flagging high street shopping experience with assorted schemes. But unless we address parking cost little is going to change. Our mayor is now talking about forming a committee to look at parking but to me it seems that unless you make the first hour free then little will change. Does that need a committee? Who on earth wants to spend pounds on parking whilst nipping into local shops for a low value purchase? Not me for one as I drive around at a cost of £1.40 a litre looking for a free parking place! We live in the age of the car and whilst short term parking is financially painful then folk will simply not shop locally. It really is as simple as that!

He moves swiftly on! I am, as you have probably worked out, a firm believer in community cohesion and in these troubled times there is a real and increasing danger of the social divide widening. Some weeks ago I found myself at an event with some affluent folk and happened to hear the observation that there were really no poor people in Torbay . Shortly after that I attended a presentation for young people from difficult backgrounds who were being awarded certificates for social engagement and the contrast, to me, was shocking. There but for the grace of god go all of us. We share this journey through life together and looking out for your neighbours must be automatic. That is yet another reason for getting people into the town and sharing community experience.

Part of the sharing process, I rather hoped, would be my suggested monthly mayoral public meetings with the added bonus of some positive community action afterwards. But as I write I see no evidence that this socially cohesive event is any nearer. Once again the proverbial voice crying in the wilderness echoes across Torbay . The cathartic experience of standing, unsuccessfully, as a councillor some years ago demonstrated to me how insular communities can be. Certainly our virtual world in cyberspace gives the illusion of community action although the reality is that it is contained within the home whilst staring endlessly into a flickering screen.

Oh well, we battle on and battling seems to be what is happening with tourism just now. The front page of the paper recently had Laurence Murrell of the TLH hotel group banging on about the confusion resulting from the mayor’s strategic gymnastic in suggesting merging tourist and conference folk. It reminded me of what has gone before with the various interest groups slugging it out over the future of our flagging seaside resort. To me the main focus should be on celebrating what we already have and stuffing what we might want on a realistic wish list. We do need a fresh look at what we do because as dear old Albert Einstein said doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome really is insanity.

Insanity. Hmm. One of my much loved areas of Torbay is Paignton Green and when the silly concrete posts connected by a spiky chain arrived some years ago, solving a problem that we didn’t have, a single tear ran down my cheeks. I loved that open space and found myself over the years engaging in many community events that have been traditionally held there. Hot summer days, when we had them, had the whole grass area covered by sun bathers and cheerful picnicking families. So how green is my Green today? Well less than it is now when another chunk is sacrificed to the building of a play park later this year which will reduce the usable area. I can see the attraction of this new Geo play park but am saddened by the loss of this destination green space and the worry that at pub chucking out time it will become a hot spot of a very different kind as inebriated idiots demonstrate their invincibility balancing on various play park climbing frames! Not the sort of destination tourism that I had in mind…….