Tuesday 18 December 2012

A Christmas Mea Culpa

This must be the first year where we've not sent a family Christmas card and that is rather sad. It is also the consequence of many highs and lows. The highs have been atmospheric and the lows stomach dropping.

So let's start with the highs.

Luke and Kat's wedding in Spain (June)
Jude and Jess wedding in Devon (December)

Sam and Sophie engagement in Cornwall (November)


Then the lows...

Of course the major low of 2012 was the liquidation of Harbour Sports Limited after thirty-odd years of business. All three shops closed in early September. We've opened Paignton again as a partnership and hope to find someone to take on the lease. It's a good spot and hopefully others will think so too.


So there you go, no card this year but at least a Christmas greetings and the words of Edward Munkton.."He knows not where he's going for the ocean will decide and it's not the destination but the glory of the ride."

Blessings.

f

Thursday 13 December 2012

All on this bumpy journey together



My column in the Herald Express on Thursday, December 13th, 2012

MY FAVOURITE time for banging out my Herald Express column is the early morning just before the first splinters of light shatter the night-time darkness. But this is written in the mid-afternoon to the sound of Carol King (pictured) singing 'You've Got a Friend' via a BBC download from the Soul Music series. It was a good friend who pointed me in the direction of the wonderful Soul Music programmes and I recommend them to you.

Let me share two things with you. The first is the way in which music touches the soul and Carol King's song takes me to a time that I remember so well. A time of endless sunshine or so it seemed to me. The second is about the joy of friendship. I am, as many readers may know, a firm believer in social cohesion and the simple fact that we are all on this bumpy journey through life together.
Sadly, we too often lose sight of that theme as the spinners of truth dislocate that shared experience and selfishly take too much from the many.

Those who read my curious ramblings regularly will know that things for me have been far from easy recently and the haunting melody of 'You've Got a Friend' plus the distant echo of Carol King's beautiful voice actually makes me feel a little less beleaguered. Simply knowing that I do have friends is huge. I've always believed in networks, of people sharing, supporting and simply looking out for each other. These are good things, in my opinion.

Now about that sharing. One of my joys in life has always been my association with the energy of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award (now known as the DofE) because it offers such a wonderful platform for our young people. But, of course, it is not just the young because older folk provide support and without their help very little would happen. A couple of weeks ago I pitched up at the annual presentation ceremony of DofE award achievers in Torbay. Do you know that you cannot get an award without helping others, working as a team and being able to get through the various parts without giving up. The joy of meeting new people, working together and becoming lifelong friends is so important. Ah yes, you've got a friend!

As we rocket toward Christmas we need to keep an eye on the friend concept because in the maelstrom of celebration it is all too easy to lose sight of the lonely. When I was young, which now almost seems to be in a different time, I belonged to a group of like-minded people who went out to visit the lonely. When one of the old ladies that we used to visit died, the only people at her funeral were the three of us, a nun and an old priest. After the all-too-brief service, the nun handed over a cake that the lady had baked for us. I cried. Not just because the dear lady had died but for the first time I really understood the nature of loneliness.

Torbay and The English Riviera is, as many will agree, a wonderful place to live and is, of course, made up by numerous communities that have merged into a curiously convoluted conurbation.
I happened to be at a well-attended business network event the other day and bumped into a member of the Torbay Development Agency. Mayor Oliver had been speaking at the event and we were both reflecting upon what had been said as we face unprecedented budget cuts. There will be so many casualties as a consequence of the draconian budget reductions. He, my friend from the TDA, quizzically wondered about the fragile local social landscape and how we hold it all together.
Thinking about that it seems to me that unless we share a common identity and hold out a hand to neighbours then we will continue spinning in the damaging economic darkness of these curious times.

So once again Carol King's words 'You've Got a Friend' might mean something more to us as we rocket toward Christmas. So when someone 'calls out your name' perhaps we should all 'come running' and make Torbay a better place.

Keep the smile!

Friday 30 November 2012

More to life than sound bites!.

My column in the Herald Express on Thursday, November 29, 2012


LIFE is more than a sound bite. I'm writing this once again in the dark hours before dawn, a time of quiet reflection as the world sleeps. The thing is that once I am awake my mind kicks in and, for me, the new day has started.​ The quietness of the hour allows me some latitude without the daily onslaught of emails, text messages, tweeting, radio, television and other miscellaneous distractions. That daily modern condition impacts upon us all, of course.

There was a time, or so it seems to me, that I would read rather than skim the written word. Too often now I rely on what we casually refer to as a sound bite, that short burst of information that is all too easily lost within seconds. What is a sound bite? A sound bite is a short verbal burst that often tells too little of what is said, leaving the listener only partially informed. But that is the nature of our world today perhaps, a series of short sound and visual images telling only part of a story.

I don't know whether you have been watching the brilliant television series 'Homeland' starring Damian Lewis (pictured).

If you have then you will remember the start of each episode and the series of stark monochrome news clips. For me there is an echo, some 40 years later, of Simon and Garfunkle's Silent Night which has the famous Christmas hymn threaded with traumatic news clips of the day. Sound bites! So many of us these days exist on the sound bite clips that record these troubled times and that, I suspect, distorts reality. I say that because the sound bites automatically report the all too shocking news and can reinforce the feeling that little good is going on.

Certainly for me the past year has been a roller-coaster that has left me battered by personal events that make me tend to pick up the negative. Then suddenly up pops a flash of light, a moment of abstract amusement or an event that spreads a feeling of positive warmth! Let me tell you about an event that did lift my spirit.

Last week, I attended the 2012 graduation ceremony for the latest batch of locally trained social entrepreneurs. "Social what?" you ask. Some years ago social activist Michael Young set up a number of things that for me and many others demonstrate the power of social interaction in a way that does work for what might be described as the greater good. One of those outcomes has been the establishment of a number of schools for social entrepreneurs. What an odd word entrepreneur is! It is, of course, a sound bite word too often and covers a wide variety of business activity. Do a little homework and look at the dictionary definition and then look at the way in which it is used.

It might bring a smile to your face and make more sense of distorted sound bites. Locally a few years ago a school for social entrepreneurs was established at Dartington and trained folk in developing socially based business activity. So often in the past good schemes that help and build social cohesion were lost because of a lack of business knowledge. Lord Young was very aware of that and his vision allowed the development of training bases that gave a business framework, if you like, to the dream. I thought that the latest graduates — who become fellows of the School of Social Entrepreneurs after a one-year course — reflected the dramatic changes occurring in our world and really gave me hope for the future.

During the afternoon each graduate spoke with passion about their work and I have to tell you that I was hugely moved by each presentation. The graduating social entrepreneurs are Paul Savil (Re-Branch), Rachel Williams (Transitions), Katherine Ford (The Carousel Project), Anna Clarke (R-emerge), Kirsty Mooney (Families Together), Michelle Preston (Simply Dynamic), Alan Whittle (ES-GEN), Robin Causley (Sustain Ability), Sarah Ready (Torbay Food Bank), Greg Meanwell (Village of Kin), Richard Woodall (Unknown Film School) and Hayley Mogridge (Knowing-Me Life Books). What an afternoon and what a footprint these folk might leave as a beacon of light in a troubled world. I have no doubt that they will and if you have computer access do look at www.dartington.org/sse for more information.

My parting words were: "I wanted to say how much I enjoyed Wednesday afternoon. In these dark and troubled times we need more than ever to be looking for the greater good and your journey is already a beacon of light. Keep the faith, good luck and walk gently on the world."

The afternoon presentation offered so much more than a sound bite and as I walked back to the now parking metered Dartington Hall car park I felt hugely inspired and feel that our community will benefit from their vibrant ethical social interaction.

Keep the smile!



Friday 16 November 2012

What sort of community do we want?



My Herald Express column 15th November 2012

THOSE of you who regularly read my rambling rhetoric may remember that I did actually welcome the arrival of Gordon Oliver's huge bushy palm tree that is now strategically planted in the middle of the Kerswell Garden roundabout.


It brought a smile to my face at a time when I seemed to have so little to smile about
Yes, it was expensive and, yes, there were doubtless many other things that might have better used the funding, however it really is a very powerful image for the English Riviera.

I certainly thought so when travelling back from Exeter one misty evening and came upon the beautiful floodlit image before me. In an increasingly lacklustre world it made me suddenly tingle and gave the feeling that I was arriving at a special place. It really was quite a statement and, as I say, it made me smile.

It did, therefore, sadden me when some brainless idiot stripped the bark from one side of the palm. Why would anyone want to do that to a beautiful living tree? The bark will not grow back and the scar will become a tragic sign of these troubled times.

You may also have noticed that the bushy palm has a warm winter coat to guard against the cruel northeaster winds and now stands proudly rampant like a giant stalagmite reaching crookedly toward the distant sky. It has now metamorphosed into a hugely powerful signpost for the English Riviera Global Geopark. How clever is that?

Nick Powe, of Kents Cavern (the English Riviera Global Geopark champion), must be jumping up and down with gleeful excitement at this new monolith.

Perhaps this seasonal image adjustment was always part of Gordon Oliver's master plan for Torbay or is it simply just another happy accident? Answers on a postcard!

Oddly enough, I have always been intrigued by the mysterious Kents Cavern. Have you been there? It really is quite a special place and I am so very grateful to Nick Powe for showing me its hidden secrets a little while ago. At one point during the journey he turned off all the lights. I found myself in total darkness and complete silence.

Now numerous readers may well think that leaving me in a dark and silent cave is a good idea. Hmm. No postcards please!

But it's not just the darkness of course but the feeling of being trapped underground in a rocky hole. Years ago I used to go caving on the Cotswolds and have done the darkness bit before but I still find it rather scary. With Nick as a guide I always felt safe but those years ago exploring caves I felt anything but safe.

We always seek that light in the darkness. The thing about Kents Cavern is that it is a journey through time and when you reach the deepest point you know that this is indeed a very special place. It is a moment when, perhaps, you can truly connect with your ancestors. I found myself reaching down to touch a large stone and immediately wondered about the many hands that have done exactly the same for thousands of years. It gave me a sudden spiritual lift and perhaps a brief glimpse of eternity.
I think it is something that we should all experience and when you reach that deep subterranean place free your mind. Touch that distant time as you run your hand over the smooth surface of that ancient rock and feel the endless energy that perhaps connects us all.

Now here is something to think about. Having done the Kents Cavern bit, it is worthwhile taking a good look at where we are now and how this community has developed. This whole area is steeped in history and by understanding that social journey we can, perhaps, start to make sense of where we are going.

What sort of community do we want?

What sense do we want to make of our town centres and the neighbourhoods that surround?


My worry is that we are all so busy rushing around that change may happen that isn't for the greater good.
The dislocation of community is a possible consequence as our once vibrant main streets give way to the proverbial tumbleweed. This is not helped of course by the relentless onslaught of bright blue parking meters sending out an unwelcome message.

Do we really welcome visitors to Torbay or is there a more sinister meaning to be derived from Gordon Oliver's digit on the Kerswell Garden roundabout?

Keep the smile!




Saturday 3 November 2012

The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn


My column in the Herald Express 1st November 2012.

As I write these words in the early morning a north east wind is battering my house in the dark hours just before dawn and I remember from years ago a song by the Mamas and Papas had the line “…and the darkest hour is just before dawn.” In the distance I can hear the waves pounding the beach and in the garden trees creak against the cold wind.


My daily routine starts before six and as the year trundles I find myself at that quiet time doing numerous things including walking my dog, Marley, to the paper shop. In these days of economic hardship the street lights in my road are switched off and so my journey starts in darkness at the darkest hour. I like the lonely time but do take care on Monday’s not to go base over apex having tripped over the recycling bins waiting for TOR2 collection!

Now this might sound rather glum, but it isn’t for two reasons. The first is that the first shards of light of the new day push away the darkness and the dawn lifts from the distant horizon with the promise of a new day.

The second is the memory trigger that song lines allow and the Mamas and the Papas for me somehow capture a sunny time in my life during the summers of ’70 and ’71 working in camps in the good old US of A. Everything seemed to sparkle then, or so it seems now !

It is all too easy, of course, to look back and say that the world was a better place but then, in the words of L P Hartley "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there" we are reminded that indeed the past is indeed a different place.

There are excting things happening and last week I pitched up to a consultation meeting about the proposal for the new South Devon University Technical College for Engineering, Water and the Environment that is, if the bid is successful, to be built in the Newton Abbot area. The new university technical colleges will provide vocational education for the 14 to 18 age group and will be a partnership between employers, educational establishments, local authorities and other organisations.

The meeting was charged with energy and despite feeling a little battered beforehand I left with a new spring in my step! For those of you who surf the cyber world do Google the name and follow the various links to see how good this is. It was enough to have local MP Anne Marie Morris jumping up and down in the House of Commons! Once you’ve had a good read of what is on offer then you will understand why she needed to get her message across!

Mayor Gordon Oliver is so often under attack for decisions that he has made, but then so was his predecessor Nick Bye. I guess that if you seek public office then it is to be expected, but as I have said before no one has the right to insult. One thing that has come under attack recently is his whopping great palm tree at the bottom of Hamelin Way. Have you seen it? It stands rampant on a pile of pebbles in the middle of one of the busiest roundabouts on the English Riviera.

I happened to be driving back from Exeter early one misty morning and there it was! Whatever you might think about the cost it really is a bit of a statement. I am probably going to regret saying this, but I love it! My worry is that the poor thing may not survive having been happily growing in warm sunny Spain before being transported to a valley bottom in wintery Torbay. By the time you read this it may have its special coat on to keep out the cold. My suggestion for a palm tree warmer would be an ‘attack’ from the yarn bombing Guerilla Grannies! Have you come across their work? I happened to be walking on the Goodrington rock walk the other day and found these colourful little figures knitted to trees, handrails, seats and other fixtures. What fun! So my suggestion is to have them knit Gordon’s palm tree a warm winter coat! Of course it is not a serious suggestion but I do wish the majestic palm tree well and hope that it celebrates the fact that South Devon really is a wonderful place to live.

Keep the smile.





Sunday 21 October 2012

Shake to send negativity flying

My column in the Herald Express 18th October......

WHENEVER I write publicly it is my intention to end each time on a cheerful note, which sometimes, sadly, does take an effort.

I happened to call on a friend the other day who commented that my words were perhaps a little on the dark side. Of course, I pointed out the bit about always ending on a positive note to which he replied: "Not everyone gets that far!" A good point well made.

Of course at this time of year actually being cheerful can be a little elusive as the days get shorter and dark evenings seem to arrive too soon after lunch. Add to that the seasonal dampness after a shockingly soggy summer then indeed that cheerful grin becomes even more elusive.
Then I remember the daily message from my wonderful dog. I'm the first one up in the morning and there to greet me is the tail-wagging Marley.



We jog (well sort of jog) to the paper shop regardless of the weather. Too often these days the short paper run is horribly wet, but that doesn't bother Marley in the least. So how does he deal with the damp before entering the house? By a really rigorous shake of his coat which sends spray in all directions.
In so many ways I feel we should all do the same as the pressures of daily life seem to soak the spirit. Just give yourself a good psychological shake (you could do it physically as well) and send the negativity flying.

I'm smiling as I write this, so there must be something in it, or so it seems to me. Although I've taken a battering recently, as regular readers will know, the wallowing in self pity is not an option.
It must never be an option because it serves no purpose. I used to coin the phrase 'walking around with a face like a slapped kipper' at times when the smile is hard to find and yet a happy face is so pleasing. But gosh, it's hard at times.

So there you go Michael (he's the man who worried that people wouldn't get to the positive message at the end of my script), a positive start.

Mind you, I've seen some good stuff locally recently that really has lifted my spirit.
I had to smile the other day when visiting Hallett's the Bakers, with Adrian Sanders MP, when we came face to face with a giant pasty. This pasty is a real beast and it is now my ambition to get it into the House of Commons canteen. It was big enough to feed two and might in some way contribute to the slowing of endless torrent of empty political rhetoric.

Another smile radiated after Viv and Pete Fisher of the Villa Marina Guest House in Torquay won an award at the recent hospitality awards. They work hard and offer a brilliant service which is why people come back to them time and time again. I love our guesthouse culture because it celebrates exciting individuality and sparkling variety of choice. If you ever get the chance do have one of Pete's breakfasts and you will then know what I am talking about.

So, with all this in mind I found myself flicking through the Herald Express and attempting to find a common theme that somehow captured the essence of our community. Of course it is all too easy to take pops at those things that annoy and that is, I guess, human nature.

But here's the thing. If you are going to comment just make certain that you have something to offer s an alternative. It's so very hard when you've been beavering away only to have your efforts rubbished by a negative comment. Most of us are quite happy with supportive criticism but wince when the words are spiteful. I guess that the bottom line is that if you have nothing good to say then be quiet.

The other day I happened to be at a South West Innovation Centres breakfast event at Cockington Court where Dirk Rohwedder of Dartington School for Social Entrepreneurs was speaking.
The thrust of what he was saying was about building a platform for business development that was for the greater good of the whole community.

I noticed that the folk attending included Mark Green of Fruition, Nicola Fox of the Riviera International Conference Centre, Angela George of IMS (local Woman of the Year) and knew that I was in good company. The energy within the building was atmospheric and that really did bring a smile to my face.

These are hard times and recent energy price increases tend to be like a punch in the stomach.
Perhaps we can all fight back by adding an extra layer and reducing the amount of bonus revenue being extracted by the gatekeepers. We still have the small few taking too much from too many.

Hopefully, despite my friend Michael's comment, you are still reading and will face the morning mirror with a smile.

Friday 19 October 2012

South Devon University Technical College Consultation


There is a public consultation meeting at South Devon College on Thursday 25th October. To gather more information and to book a place please follow this link:


The detail above will give you some idea of what is on offer, so please do try to make the time. Your view does matter!






Friday 5 October 2012

Not a time for sitting back


My column in the Herald Express this week

I've taken a battering over the past few weeks with one thing and another and find myself writing this with very little energy left for anything more than simply touching the glass screen of my iPad.


Big stuff has been going on including the fact that the company I founded with my brother-in-law has ceased trading. Harbour Sports is yet another retail casualty in the deeply troubled fiscal landscape. We live in curious times with daily reports of folk falling off the edge and that hurts.

A few years ago I featured in a video made for a local legal firm offering advice for people facing redundancy. My take on the subject was that we always need to be positive, which given the catastrophic impact of job loss is hard to do. Having to face the fact that you are not needed in the team, telling your family and those around you that you have lost your job is not easy. The interviewer said that it was all very well for me to say that because I had my own business. My answer was that in these uncertain times that couldn't be taken for granted because everything could change in the blink of an eye, and change they did! Harbour Sports fell over.

In the words of Biblical text, that time had come to pass and I found myself telling staff that their jobs had gone, closing the doors and going through an insolvency process which is still going on. All emotionally draining and curiously also physically challenging. It's not the way I thought things would pan out, but then I guess that is true for many these days.

Harbour Sports, after 35 years, had become something of an institution and messages of support have arrived from all over the world. People can be very kind.

So why am I telling you this? Well, it made me reflect upon changes locally and, in particular, a comment made by a lady who lived in Torbay many years ago and has recently moved back. She couldn't believe how the place had changed and how the vibrancy seems to have seeped away. I have a certain empathy with that feeling since I remember times when the area seemed to share a common heartbeat. Certainly in the early days of Harbour Sports the community energy was highly infectious and the English Riviera seemed to sparkle.

Ah, you might say, everything looks better when you look back and the sun is always high in the sky. Perhaps it does. But if her observation is correct then I think that we need to worry. These are difficult times as our political leaders keep telling us. Certainly, personally, at the moment I feel that the gradient is a little too steep. Hmm, and so it is.

So do we simply hunker down and wait for the pain to pass? I think not! This is not a time for sitting back and quietly waiting until the gentle heating of the lethargy pool that leaves us all struggling to swim. What's a lethargy pool? Of course, it doesn't exist but I want you to think about the changes around us that create a feeling of lethargy. The things that seem to drag you down and like Harry Potter dementors suck the life energy from you!

Job losses, rising utility bills, increasing food prices, poor weather, the harbingers of economic gloom and those that walk around looking so glum all add to a feeling of communal lethargy. I have many reasons for feeling glum just now but don't want to lose the smile.

I remember chatting with Debra Searle, soon after her epic solo paddle across the Atlantic, about setting your day. Doing what she did required huge inner strength and we can all learn from that.

In another part of my life I teach people who will go on to become counsellors, mentors and life coaches. My starting point is to get them to celebrate each day and to 'set' each day first thing in the morning. It's about deciding what sort of day you want to have.

Now it is more than likely that things will happen to knock you off course, but that shouldn't worry you too much because often it simply adds to the excitement.

Have a go at this tomorrow morning. When you reach the mirror do check for a reflection. That is always, in my opinion, worth doing. If there is no reflection you've either dropped off the edge during the night and it your spirit looking for you or you have become a vampire. If it is the latter then a whole new career awaits you.

Of course you will see your reflection and, hopefully, you will recognise what you see.

Now smile and get on with the day.

Don't let the dark side spoil your journey.

Saturday 22 September 2012

Can alcohol take away worries?


My column in the Herald Express 20th September 2012

SOME years ago I spent a little time at Buckfast Abbey in quiet mediation. I have always enjoyed the spiritual ambiance of the abbey where somehow the detritus of daily life simply falls away. Why am I telling you this? Well, the other day I happened to be chatting to a bloke with a well-developed social conscience about the things that were happening locally. He had recently walked around our local town centres and had also the misfortune to be caught up in the drunken maelstrom that is Torquay's Strand on a Saturday night.


He asked me why I thought our town centres seemed devoid of vibrant life and totally lacking in energy.
Now that is not an easy question to answer even though many take regular pops as to why that might be.
The usual cry is that it is all down to parking meters, the weak decisions of local councillors, dull shops, out of town supermarkets et cetera et cetera. Hmm. If only it was that simple.

But his second point made me spend a little time pondering about Saturday night drunkenness. Alcohol, of course, has always been a very effective social anaesthetic and given the nature of our 'Big Society' you can see why it is becoming increasingly popular today particularly among our young folk. For that brief moment the worries of day-to-day life can be obliterated by an alcoholic daze that transcends the here and now. It is that moment of atmospheric immortality. But eventually the cruel reality of the dawning of a new day as the downward despairing spiral takes a merciless hold.

His telling of these two events is connected, although I don't think that he had actually made the connection.
They are connected by an increasingly sinister malfunction that is eating away at the fabric of our society.
What is that malfunction? Well, in truth, I think that it might be the loss of hope. Hope, after all, is said and done was the last thing left in Pandora's Box.

The closing of so many small shops in and around the town signals the loss of hope by the independent traders coupled with the dislocation of the local community. That sort of hope has an energy that cannot be seen, yet when it has gone you certainly know it.

Each of those closed shops is usually a shattered dream, a loss of work and yes, a loss of hope. Add to that the closed guest houses, businesses and other employment sources and you start to get a rather sinister toxic mix. The trouble is that once the community energy seeps away, as it did with the closing of the local Post Office, it is so hard to get back. A little like goodwill, I guess.

It saddens me that the loss of hope is also creeping through the next generation and headlines like that over one-million young people are out of work make me shiver. Just think about that. One million. The population of Torbay is around 134,000, so that is like having seven lots of Torbay made up of young people out of work. That is a disgrace.

So my friend with the well-developed social conscience asked me how we could change this feeling of hopelessness. When you are being battered by daily life that is a difficult question to answer or even fully understand.

But taking yourself out of the daily detritus in the quiet of an abbey or distant hill top does give you a chance to take stock. For me, the starting point is about identity and how we see ourselves and those around us.

The second point is the willingness to share this life journey and avoiding the selfish greediness that is very much part of our fractured community.

Now find me leadership that isn't shaped by a political agenda but will simply represent the people working toward a greater good.

Perhaps now is the time to open the windows and let the light come in.

Keep the smile!






Friday 7 September 2012

Time to bring on the clowns…

My stuff in the Herald Express on Thursday 6th September 2012.....

I HAD wanted to sleep on one morning last week, because the past week had been very hard going, but at around 5.30am my youngest was banging around sorting his surfing kit before heading off. There was a good wave at Bantham and he with the local surfing posse was going to ride the early morning Atlantic swell.



The trouble for me these days is that once I am awake my mind starts to churn, which means finding sleep again is next to impossible. Oh, I know most of the meditation methods for clearing the mind, but you have to want to clear your mind in the first place. So it's up and out of the pit for a little early morning dog walking.

Oldway Mansion is near my house, and I love the gardens and the house for that matter. There is a little temptation to have a rant about what is happening there, but this is not the time or the place just now and, in any case, the decision has been made. Ah yes, the decision. We'll come back to that political hot potato in a while.
The weather this summer has been pathetic, but that morning the sky over the sea was a cobalt blue and the sunrise breathtakingly beautiful. As I write I can still feel the tingle! Behind me huge black clouds were massing over the hills surrounding Torbay and it seemed to me that the moment was almost metaphorical.
The precise moment in that quiet place somehow mirrored the social landscape in these troubled times and reminded me how often we lose sight of the good things because of the billowing bleak cloud of economic unrest.

This brings me neatly to our own South Devon social landscape and something which has troubled me for years. There is, in my opinion, no place for party politics in a local council and yet it has become increasingly entangled in the tattered political tapestry. Of course, we all tend to be somewhat gregarious by nature and therefore being part of the gang is curiously attractive. It therefore, by its very existence, makes it almost impossible to seek election as an independent because you simply don't have the electoral machinery to fight against hardened political foot soldiers.

Yet you will find the occasional independent councillor who has sufficient charisma to attract a following but all too often 'independents' are really hiding under the wing of a political party. I'm not going to state the obvious here, but I am sure that many readers will have a wry smile at this point.

Sadly, once you have been locally branded with a political stamp there is a belligerent unwillingness by the 'gang' to listen to those not in the flock, and that is almost sinful because the voice of the community is marginalised. Good people become excluded from the decision making process and in consequence we end up with too often a dog's dinner of an outcome. Just look around and pick out a few examples.

For those of you who have got this far I have something that I want to share. You will have become very aware, if you read the Herald Express, of the move to reduce parking charges and encourage folk to return to our beleaguered town centres. To be quite honest this is a reaction to something that shouldn't have happened in the first place, which now has me jumping up and down with frustration. Do look back and find my 'ranting' when the whole parking meter/car parking issue raised its ugly head.

You see it's not just about town centre parking charges it is about the whole community process, especially when it comes to planning and the proliferation of giant supermarkets sucking the life blood out of communities. Get hold of a copy of Robert Greenwald's DVD called Walmart and hang on to your seat.

So banging on about parking charges now is only part of the problem since the proverbial horse has already bolted. You see there has to be something other than empty shops and the tattered remnants of a high street to pull people back to town. I must admit when Gerry Cottle's Big Top Circus suddenly appeared on Paignton Green it seemed to me part of an answer since people came from miles around to see the clowns, which given what I've written is tempting the obvious political parallel. The giant Riviera Wheel in Torquay is another honeypot and so whatever our political masters decide on parking policy there has to be something more.

Anyway, I'm still tingling from that sunrise and perhaps the tingle factor is what we all need just now.

Keep the smile!





Sunday 26 August 2012

Devon School of English 40th at the Redcliffe

Perhaps my favourite watering hole in Torbay is Paignton’s Redcliffe Hotel. It somehow captures all that is good about Torbay and simply wraps its warming atmosphere around me every time I visit. It is family business, like so many in the area and Stephen Twigger leads from the sharp end.


Another family business, The Devon School of English, recently held its 40th birthday celebration at the Redcliffe and kindly invited me to come and play. It was the most wonderful evening complete with drinks and jazz. How good is that? Congratulations to the Hawthorn family on a job done well.



The huge birthday cake was baked by local family bakers Hallett’s and Helen Hallett was there to watch it being cut. I have to say that it was a shame to cut it at all because it really was a work of art and you can see why Hallett’s celebration cakes are so popular. Yummy yummy yummy!

Anyway, back to the Redcliffe and the Devon School of English. Now one thing that always amazes me is how little notice is taken of the positive impact of language schools on the local economy. The students bring a wonderful ambiance and much needed cash for local the families providing accommodation. Something in these challenging times that our local leaders need to promote.

Celebrating with the Hawthorn family I found Matthew Clarke of the Torbay Bookshop leaning against the wall clutching a large glass of white wine. The Torbay Bookshop is of course yet another family business! Matthew’s bookshop also has perhaps the best selection of gift wrapped Thornton chocolates in the area.




Friday 24 August 2012

House of Commons Food for Thought!

Sometimes you find and event, a place or perhaps just being with folk that will make you smile long after the occasion. That happened to me the other day when I pitched up at Hallett's The Bakers bakery in Long Road Paignton to watch MP for Torbay Adrian Sanders open their new extension.

As part of the celebration Helen Hallett had organised a barbecue for customers, staff and numerous friends. The food, disco and dancing was enjoyed by us all. How good was that! Everyone had a chance to tour the bakery and the new extension which I personally found really interesting.



I've been working with Hallett's as a business mentor for the past few months. This is part of the South Devon College Business Innovation Mentor programme and my small part has been a joy to do. In these curious times it is so good to see a local South Devon business doing so well and is a tribute to a local family working very hard

Whilst touring the bakery Mel Hallett showed Adrian Sanders a tray of giant family size pasties that have become a local favourite. Adrian suggested that they might be popular in the House of Commons! Now that is food for thought.......................

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Changing face of the community




My stuff in the Herald Express 9th August....

SO WHERE do you get your local news, the day-to-day happenings in and around our local community? Do you wait for the weekly Herald Express for an update of what has happened over the past week or so?
Do you chat with traders and friends as you shop for various needs in local shops?
Do you lean across the garden fence or pass neighbours in the street exchanging a few friendly passing words?
Well, if you're reading this you have probably answered the first question. Of course, having said that, you may be one of many people who also track the www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk website on at least a daily basis.
It's not the easy read the printed Herald Express is, and many people don't have immediate access to a computer or mobile device. We shouldn't lose sight of that.
In passing, I have to tell you that I am typing this on an iPad! Using it I can log in to two other remote computers I also use at other locations.
How clever is that? Using my clever little iPad I can communicate with folk all over the world instantly using email, Facebook, Skype, FaceTime and other smart systems.
I can do all these things without leaving this dark corner of my quiet study. So that might give me the feeling that I am interacting with loads and loads of people.
Of course it is simply a 'feeling', because the only noise and vibrancy in the quiet of my study is the gentle tap of my fingers on the glass screen and the tick-tock of an ancient chiming clock!
But what about that local chit chat in the real world? Although I have campaigned for many years about local shopping and the danger, in my opinion, of towns surrounded by supermarkets, it now seems to me, sadly, the proverbial writing is on the wall.
Our dairy farmers have recently had a little to say about supermarkets and local communities.
Town centres now hopelessly struggle to attract folk back to local community shopping, but it seems to be an almost futile task.
You can see why the out-of-town experience works. The new cathedrals of consumer goodies seem so plentiful, and parking is just perfect.
A flawed parking control strategy in Torbay which saw the parking meter process as a cash cow rather than traffic management has hugely exacerbated the problem, and now whatever happens to undo that silliness the underlying economy has been so badly damaged.
Walking in Paignton the other day, I watched a hapless motorist get a ticket for stopping briefly to pick up a newspaper.
He couldn't argue with the fine because he should have purchased a ticket, but he didn't.
From what he was saying, I doubt whether he will drive that way again, and that sadly is an inevitable consequence.
Once people establish new pathways it takes something spectacular to win them back.
So what we seem to have also lost or perhaps are in the process of losing is that daily interaction of a community living locally.
The subtle transmission of information was at one time a constant and that was certainly true in the case of the local Post Office network which was a tremendously valuable local area focus point.
Ah yes the loss of the local Post Office! Tragic, tragic, tragic.
Localism seems to be disappearing from neighbourhoods where residents now are more and more likely to live in the virtual rather than the real world, and even the trip to the supermarket becomes an online event with a sweet little van dumping your goodies at the door. But why is this happening and why do we quietly accept the soporific outcome?
All this does make me sound like a curmudgeon. I'm not resistant to change, but not all change is for the better and we need to be very clear about outcomes.
Take the banking crisis for example, where those benefiting from the system also regulate the process, the gatekeepers.
Yet since the banking crash in 2007/8, what has changed? We still see the huge individual bonus payments which could build a small community health centre.
But I guess that it is about identity and too often the only way to change attitudes is by the dramatic.
American author Jeffery Robinson recently said the other day, while being interviewed about the latest bank scandal, that to stimulate change, 'you take the gatekeepers, those bankers, lawyers and accountants, put them in an orange jump suit and lock them in a 6x4 cell with a guy named Marvin who's got fanged tattoos on the side of his neck and that will get the attention of the other gatekeepers. When you start locking up the bankers this will stop.'
The Marvin experience may indeed be internationally necessary, and will indeed sharpen the most selfish of minds.
But it does make the point much closer to home. We shouldn't simply accept the decline of a community but take a good look at what decisions have been made and the potential impact of those decisions.
Take another look at why those decisions have been made and who really gets to gain.
But here is the bottom line. How do we get the information from person to person and how do we really respond as a community?
There is a phrase that loosely translates from bad Latin as 'don't let them get you down'. It's good advice. So keep the smile and keep the conversation alive!

Sunday 5 August 2012

The Entrepreneurial Holy Grail?

 
I guess that over the years we have all read or listened to tales of the Arthurian myth quest for the Holy Grail. Well we seem to have drifted into a neo Arthurian time as the business landscape twists and turns through the trauma of the broken economic landscape. Many people will tell you where they think the business Holy Grail is or might mention someone that has that wisdom. You may ask what the business Holy Grail is and that is an acceptable question. It will tell you that it is the knowledge required to make a business hugely successful!  

If you gaze across the Devon business landscape you will see folk who seem to have found success whilst others still seem to be searching. As you gaze you will also see others that have fallen on hard times and bleed from the experience. Well here’s the thing, sometimes what you see through the commercial mist may not be all that it seems and beware of those that claim a special knowledge. 

In a troubled foggy business landscape lurk the spinners of truth who claim that connection with the mystical. How many emails have you had offering business advice, magic formulas, clever strategic tools and a tool bag full of magical fiscal charms that make the journey to that place of secret knowledge? 

Choose your travelling companions carefully! How do you do that? Well it’s not that difficult really. One starting point will be the local network groups who by their very nature attract inquisitive like-minded people. 

You can then compare and contrast. Look for funded programmes like the Business Innovation Mentor programme at South Devon College. All the staff participating must have recent or current commercial experience. 

Look for the people around you still bleeding from the battle rather than the ones with wounds that healed a long time ago when the world was a very different place.

I wrote this a little while ago for a South Devon business magazine.  Still seems a good starting point...................


Friday 6 July 2012

Empty Places #1



A little while ago I found myself sitting quietly in a traffic queue near the ruins of Plymouth's Charles Cross church. To my left was the new shopping centre and this little poem was born....

The house of god now stands empty
Its roof upon the lonely grassy floor
Glassless windows ubelieving stare
To where a bomb blew out the door

Once local  congregations gathered
To hear the Gospel of Saint Mark
Now the distant mindless echo
Of Sunday shoppers in Primark.

Past generations might wonder
Where it all went sadly wrong
As the endless ring of cash tills
Replace the sacramental gong!

'Keep the faith' is a phrase that I often use, sometimes with a capital letter for Faith....................

Thursday 28 June 2012

Shine a light in the darkness



.Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Herald Express - my stuff in this week's paper.....


I REALLY love Paignton's Fairy Cove! Fairy Cove is a quiet little beach tucked away under the Roundham Head's red sandstone cliff just east of the Paignton harbour sea wall. It's a great place to watch the sun rise and a wonderful beach for family picnics, swimming and just having fun. Access to the beach is either by steep steps from Cliff Road or via the harbour.

This morning I came down those steep cliff steps and paused on the shore to splash sea water over my face. It's a tingly sensation I enjoy especially when I then let the salty water evaporate from my skin in the warm morning sunshine. Two very simple things, and yet so incredibly spiritually refreshing.


Sadly, my good humour soon evaporated faster than the water from my face when I found the path from Fairy Cove to the harbour yet again blocked by large trucks, multiple plastic crates and two huge, ugly containers. The latter exist because of a silly decision by the harbour administration allowing them to be dumped in a conservation area, and that nonsense is now being rectified all too slowly via planning enforcement. I've watched tourists angrily turn away from this lovely beach rather than risk taking the family through the messy hazard. This is a curious tourism paradox, but I will leave that to the English Riviera Tourism Company and Torbay harbours to sort between them if they feel so inclined. But hey, there are bigger things to worry about just now.

One of those bigger things popped up on the horizon the other day when the plans for a third harbour appeared on the front page of the Herald Express complete with a picture of our mayor looking whimsically out to sea. I had thought we had escaped from such mayoral visions, but it would seem that mystical insights are still out and about. It's going to have to be a very deep harbour indeed to accommodate huge cruise ships packed full of folk just itching to shop in Fleet Walk, Castle Circus and Torwood Street.

But let me not be a harbinger of gloom because I really do love exciting new ideas, so long as they work for the greater good.

Part of the greater good is making certain that all the usual checks and balances are in place. I worry also that funding for the research, which alone will be hundreds of thousands of pounds, is to come from reserves. Now the thing about reserves is... that's right, they are in reserve for the unforeseen!

Now, about that greater good thing. These are indeed tough times, with so many of us being battered by economic hardship and a constant torrent of confusing political rhetoric. If you've been following the Leveson Inquiry then you must by now have your head in your hands after the daily wriggling and twisting from our political leaders. It can seem very depressing at a time when the national mood is already somewhat subdued.

Which leads me neatly on to the topic mental health and to something I rarely seem to do these days.
That rarity for me is actually praising a politician. Now, why on earth would I want to do that? Well, if you fall and break a leg, people will gather around and quickly call an ambulance.

They will also try to ensure you are comfortable and tell you help is on the way. On the other hand, if you fall to the ground sobbing, people tend to go out of their way to avoid you. Yet in truth too often the person weeping with chronic depression is probably in more danger than the person with the broken leg.

So who therefore gets my praise? Well, it is Totnes MP Doctor Sarah Wollaston who stood up in the House of Commons the other day and said she had once suffered from depression. That sort of self-disclosure is a brave thing to do these days, and especially so coming from a doctor. She went on to say that having been depressed that it now made her more empathetic toward patients suffering in that dark and lonely place. Believe me, it is indeed a dark and lonely place, for I too made a visit some years ago. Good friends held out a hand and helped me climb out of the pit. Empathy is certainly what is needed, and not sympathy! It's good to shine a little light in the darkness.

So let's go back to where I started. So often the joyful things in life tend to be staring us in the face. It can be something as simple, as it was for me this morning, like splashing sea water in your face and drying off in the sun! It's also about looking out for each other and, as Sarah Wollaston says, finding a little empathy. Oh yes,and do try to keep the smile.



Saturday 2 June 2012

Students bring welcome boost




Friday, June 01, 2012 Herald Express..............

AS I WRITE this column, the sun is streaming through my window and the air is suddenly warm. It is worth mentioning because this year the weather so far has been dismal and I can’t remember ever needing the heating on mid May! Sunshine makes such a difference to the collective mood and a blast of bright sparkling sunlight really does tend lift flagging spirits. Beautiful bird song soon after dawn this morning seemed to say it all for they too were celebrating the start of a sunny day in South Devon.
 Now one of the lovely things about Torbay at this time of year, in my opinion, is the welcome arrival of numerous foreign students who have chosen the English Riviera as a temporary home while improving their already excellent spoken English. They bring with them an almost electric vibrancy that tends to send the Riviera air ringing with beautiful words like ‘Buon giorno!’, ‘Fantastico!’ and ‘¡Hola!’

But of course they bring more than a much needed breath of fresh air. In this hugely troubled economic time they bring with them a much needed income boost for many local families and the business community. It is all too easy to lose sight of the value of this influx to our community and simply pretend, as many do, that they don’t exist. That ‘willful blindness’ is sadly somewhat endemic among many of the local decision makers locally who still habitually plough the same furrow and quizzically wonder why the outcome is no better than the year before. But don’t get me started on process and outcome! Hmm. In raw basic economic terms, these foreign students provide a potential source of potential disposable income for cash strapped communities in these merciless times. That additional income then becomes part of a local economic upward cycle rather than a hopeless downward spiral. All contributions to the communal coffers will be gratefully accepted!

Let me share a couple of things with you. The first must be about the joy of sharing of your home with new friends from exciting foreign parts. As one young father said to me: “It’s not just about the money. We just love having foreign students in the house because they bring a whole new cultural experience to my young children. “However, having said that, the money is also very welcome and this year we have had a total of 18 already. “They come from all over Europe and seem to love being part of the family. I hope that when my children get older they will want to do the same thing.” Of course it isn’t just the summer, since many local businesses have interns from mainland Europe throughout the year for periods of up to three months. These interns are funded by the European Community and bring a new cultural dimension to local business as well as an extra pair of hands. Once again, this is much needed additional income for the English Riviera as they live with families, shop locally and visit our numerous wonderful tourist attractions. They also meet up in local pubs and clubs, travel by bus and taxi, bringing more than welcome custom where it is much needed.

Ian Smith of the Training Partnership in Torquay (The Training Partnership brings hundreds of language visitors to South Devon every year and provides a first rate service) tells me that the intern places are also available for our young folk in Europe. He says that these are all fully funded work experience positions which means, although unpaid, outgoings are covered, including accommodation, language tuition, local support and transport. How good is that? Sadly, he also says, that it is almost impossible to find local people who want to participate. What a great way to smarten up a CV with overseas work experience in an employment market which is now so highly competitive. If you are interested and still reading this then please give Ian a call.

In passing, years ago I used to teach overseas students to windsurf and remember clearly asking whether they could understand what I was saying. The reply still makes me smile today. “Oh yes,” said Marcus, “But why are you speaking so slowly?” So often we worry that there will be a language problem in dealing with people from overseas, but that isn’t usually the case and anyway, when all is said and, done a winning smile carries the day! So let’s throw open the doors and windows around South Devon allowing new young friends from overseas to boost the energy of the English Riviera.

Let’s embrace the change rather than stamp on it. Keep the curmudgeons out of sight and celebrate the here and now. This is a time when we really do need to engage with each other in the hope of providing a better platform for future generations. Let it begin with you.

Thursday 17 May 2012

It's time for you to seize the day

This is my column in the Herald Express 17th May 2012......

BACK in ancient Rome years ago, the poet Horace wisely said that we should 'seize the day, putting as little trust as possible in the future'. Those words seem to be banging around in my head just now.
 All we can really know is this time right now, and you can evidence that as you sit and read these words because this is your here and now. The past is the past and cannot be changed. The future is not ours to see and so, as Horace wisely said, we must celebrate the day.
Of course, these are stormy days and so many of us are being beaten down by daily economic hardships which tend to make celebrating anything difficult. While we might accept Horace's suggestion that we put as little trust as possible in the future, we do have a responsibility to do what is for the common good rather than remaining face down in the trough gobbling greedily away. We can see the consequence of that greedy gobbling where a few selfish people have taken more than they deserve and left the rest of us staggering under the yoke of the banking crisis. What upsets me is the nature of the rickety platform we have built for the next generation, having already spent their future! Now is the time to take stock, perhaps, before it is too late. Two things do need celebrating just now, and both relate to future generations.

The first is the spectacular new Paignton Green geoplay park. Although I wasn't in favour of losing a chunk of the Green, what has been built really is very good. On the first day it was open the whole park was covered in children and families, and every time it's not raining the same thing happens. The park is a consequence of community action and that alone is quite a thing to celebrate in this day and age! There is one small adjustment for Torbay Council to make, and that is to ensure a safe crossing between the beach and the park because at the moment it is a rat run between moving traffic and parked cars. That apart, it really is the most amazing world-class facility, and so well done to all those who worked tirelessly to make it happen. Old Horace would certainly see that, I have no doubt, as seizing the day!

The second is a little more problematic, and that is the new Parkfield development in Paignton. Those who read my wriggly words will know I was hugely excited when this £4.8million youth facility opened. If you have yet to visit then please do. As you drive along the main road you will see two huge signs outside the seemingly semi-derelict Parkfield House. That is a little confusing, I think, however if you drive around the corner toward Torquay simply turn left into Colin Road and head for the car park. To your left now is this spectacular complex with its world class BMX track (pictured)! Sadly, the opening of Parkfield coincided with a draconian funding cut for already beleaguered Torbay Youth Service with a somewhat predictable outcome.

Our young people wax lyrical about the stunning skate park, climbing wall, sport hall and other things, but there is the worry that if we don't get this whole enterprise on a firm footing then it will drift into the mediocre and that, my friends, would be heart breaking. There is an increasing gap between the promotional video and the way things have so far panned out. So how about becoming a Parkfield volunteer? Isn't that how the Big Society is supposed to work? Well, here is your chance to contribute toward the future in a very physical way. Just simply turn up at the Parkfield reception and offer your help. Outstanding!

One of the things I feel really strongly about is identity. Once you establish an identity it tends to stick. We watched that happen years ago when Torbay Council attempted to charge everyone who turned up to look around the then new English Riviera Centre an entrance fee. I was there and listened to the comments as people turned away, probably never to come back. I don't think it ever really recovered from that idiotic decision.

Both the geoplay park and Parkfield will now be building an identity, and it will need community support to ensure that both become a beacon of excellence and a platform for our young people in these battered times. So here's the thing. When you get up in the morning take a look at the person looking back at you, and ask whether today will the day that you will make a difference. The day where you don't get knocked down in a daze of negativity and deciding that it is all too much. Perhaps it is all too much, but that isn't a reason for mooching looking and sounding like Pooh Bear's friend Eeyore! As dear old Horace said way back in 65BC — seize the day.

Is that a smile I see?

Saturday 5 May 2012

Changing face of the High Street



This is my column in the Herald Express 3rd May 2012...enjoy!

RECENTLY a wise man, or at least I thought him wise at the time, asked me how business was in these troubled times. Well given that I am tangled up in retail I would have thought the answer self evident given the huge number of empty shops populating town centres. I have shops in Plymouth, Exeter and Paignton and so it did start me thinking about the nature of our local towns and of Paignton in particular. There has without any doubt been a seismic shift in the nature of shopping patterns and that adjustment has had a catastrophic impact on so many. Unless you have been living like a Clanger in some deep silo you cannot have failed to notice the increasing number of empty retail units in town centres and indeed the tattered remains of traditional ribbon shopping parades. Each empty shop has a sullen grey sadness about it because it once held the dreams and aspirations of the hard working occupant. Daily we read and hear so many comments about the demise of the traditional town centre, the relentless onslaught of out-of-town shopping, the internet and the rapid development of huge urban shopping centres like Drake Circus and Princesshay (each with empty retail units vacated by recent brand casualties). Sadly, much of what is reported is caught up in a mixture of misty myth, half-truth and wishful thinking. What cannot be challenged is the fact that years and years of hard work by so many has been flushed down the economic toilet as this paradigm change settles down. Meanwhile, giant supermarkets continue to open around the outskirts of Torbay like some demonic attempt to replicate the Great Wall of China, with end-to-end enormous food halls packed full of so many goodies in regulation sizes. I guess that once the smaller shops have gone the retail giants will then slug it out in what will doubtless be recorded by history as the Supermarket Wars. Who knows? Beyond the 'wall' are the increasing car boot sales with queues that bring local weekend traffic to a standstill. What an exciting rummage a car boot can be with so many of the little bits and bobs that increasingly find themselves launched into the brave new recycling cyber world that is eBay. But here is another interesting change. Inside the 'wall' have you noticed the growth of charity shops, charity offices, gambling shops, fast food outlets and shops selling second-hand stuff in Torbay? Is this the nature of the new town centre community? Anyway, let's get back to where we started with my wise man conversation. His second question was whether Torbay missed a trick in attempting to attract people back to the town centres? As you know, much effort has been put into the establishment of Business Improvement Districts, which is of course another tax on local business with a positive spin. This strategy is about improving the ambience of the business districts. It is good to do but of course the best way of helping struggling local business would be a reduction in the rent and the business rates, but that is another story. What actually happened next in Torbay was sadly a bit of an own goal. Cash-strapped Torbay Council decided to populate the town centres and popular tourist areas with an army of blue traffic meters policed by community enforcement officers. Parking charges became a source of short term revenue and nothing to do with easing traffic flow. I'm not going to waste time bleating on about the damage that has caused since others are still fighting that short term and hugely damaging simplistic policy. So there you have it, an opportunity to attract folk into the area has been squandered by the short term need to generate income in the face of draconian economic cuts handed down by this unelected government. But life is good and so we celebrate the moment and greet each day with a smile.

Tuesday 3 April 2012

We all want to help our children, don’t we?




We all want to help our children, don’t we? Of course we do! Sometimes you go without simply to ensure that your children grow healthily. That doesn’t change as they get older and often the sacrifice is hard, especially so in these troubled times.

So when a grown up tells you something then you tend to take note. It is after all the natural order of things. When that grown up is a government minister then you do tend to take note. When that government minister tells you not to panic over fuel but it would be best to top your car up and whilst you are about it perhaps filling a couple of Jerry cans might be a good idea I guess that is what you do.

Have you ever watched petrol unexpectedly catch fire? It is shocking. The deafening bang, the stunning blast, the hammering heat and, if you are unlucky, the searing painful deep skin burn.

So when a government minister says fill Jerry cans you really do raise an eyebrow and ask the question, “You can’t be serious?” Then the ghastly news that a mother helping her daughter by decanting fuel from a Jerry can into a jug for her daughter's car then experiencing the petrol suddenly metamorphosing into a traumatising demonic fireball! She is now fighting for life in hospital.

After all is said and done we want what is best for our children and thought that was the message being delivered. We live in times of confusing rhetoric and most of the time that is simply tediously annoying. But occasionally that rhetoric can have catastrophic results.

All very sad don’t you think?

Saturday 24 March 2012

Are we really all in this together?



My column in this week's (22nd march 2012) Herald Express...........the still restless pen...

I LIKE to read and words always both disrupt and captivate me. They always have and I guess they always probably will. But the thing about words is the interpretation of what is being said by the listener can be worryingly problematic.

Part of the worry is when the speaker is a spinner of rhetoric, purposely choosing words which can be manipulated into a convenient truth.

To be a deliberate spinner of words in a time of economic stress too often produces a dangerous toxic mix that simply knocks the unsuspecting over.

Things are changing so rapidly on a daily basis and it is all too often hugely confusing as we face an assortment of worries from the mundane through to life changing events which simply knock you off the perch.

But here's something to think about.

It is the concept of what might be called wilful blindness explained by Margaret Heffernan in her latest book.

It's worth a read and I noticed a copy in Torquay Library the other day.

In passing, when was the last time you popped into a local library? Wonderful places for community contact and a quick public warning therefore. Please use them before we lose them in these times of funding mayhem.

I worry about wilful blindness locally as Government funding and political dogma seep into the community fabric of South Devon.

How often have you become aware of something but decide you would rather not accept it as a reality?

One reason may be that things have become so complicated for you that it is better to look the other way.

In these bumpy times is that of course quite understandable.

Part of the bumpiness is without doubt the various funding pots.

There are so many curious names from the well-known Lottery Fund to lesser known qango (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation) projects.

You can see the initiatives dotted around Torbay with two leaping immediately to mind.

The first is the wonderful Parkfield Youth Centre with its spectacular BMX track and the second the stunning geoplay park on Paignton Green which will open at the end of this month.

I seem to remember that the Parkfield development has £4.8million of funding but can't remember the grant received for the geoplay park.

The most shocking economy being made just now is the cutting of jobs.

You don't need me to tell you the impact of job loss as the fabric of a community is traumatised by that powerful swipe at the stability of the individual citizen.

Jobs that might have been there to support these new developments seem to be disappearing.

We hear so much about community volunteers in the rhetoric of the Big Society yet hoping that somehow people will magically appear to do the business is risky.

It's all very well saying that we are all in this together, but what does that really mean?

Even if we want to help, it isn't that easy.

By the time you have gone through the Criminal Records Bureau checks, undergone various inductions, certification, orientation, safeguarding, equality and diversity training and a myriad of other goodies, often at your own expense, your head is spinning.

Back to Margaret Heffernan and her thing about being wilfully blind.

This is not a time for looking the other way or pretending that someone else will pick up the slack.

Whether you like it or not, we probably are all in this together, although that may not include the folk who coined the phrase!

Commenting to a local councillor the other day about staffing cuts, he said community volunteers would pick up the slack.

Personally, I would have rather found the volunteers before I removed the proverbial bike stabilisers and let the novice cyclist off on a busy road.

Stevie Smith's words have been banging around in my head today and I feel that I want to let them go, but for some reason I can't.

Her words seem to underline these curious times so well.

"I was much further out than you thought and not waving but drowning... I was much too far out all my life and not waving but drowning."

Hmm.

Friday 24 February 2012

Worrying effects of economic change



My column in this week's Herald Express...........the restless pen...






"STANDING on the east quay of Paignton harbour as the sun lifts from the distant horizon against a clear blue sky is the most wonderful spiritual experience.

I'm not talking about religious spirituality here but about the essential essence of us all. That special part of you and of me that is so intensely personal and private.

It is the core of all our fears hopes and aspirations. The shards of cold salt spray touching your face is the stark reality of a winter dawn and of your own actuality.

I say not religiously spiritual, and yet long forgotten prayers on that golden dawn can provide a platform for quiet meditation.

Perhaps that is the nature of prayer in that it allows a moment of personal reflection and a mantra against the dark days which seem to be creeping around us.

I must admit that for me often when life becomes a little complicated that mantra can provide a barrier between you and the demons of the night. That moment of reflection is now lost from council meetings now that the courts have ruled against it.

The BBC news of that morning carried the Moody's credit rating agency warning about the possible downgrading of our AAA status, and it made me reflect on what that actually means to you and me.

The rhetoric is confusing but the outcome is, with this Government's economic policy, likely to have an impact on the streets of South Devon. The changes tend to be a little like toothache, in that the pain at the moment is random.

It is not until, as we are seeing in Greece, the pain gathers a momentum all of its own that you can see the worrying outcome, as families put their children in care because they can't afford to feed them.

The gap between those who have and those who have not is getting scarily wider by the day.

South Devon is without doubt an unemployment black spot, where wages in our predominantly service based industry tend to be minimum.

A recent change in government policy is very worrying. Many local people work on a part-time basis because the full-time jobs are simply not there.

By working a minimum of 16 hours tax credits kick in and allow a sustainable lifestyle. The threshold is about to change to 24 hours!

A small hotel locally may employ a number of folk working 16 hours, thereby allowing a flexible business model which is sustainable in these challenging times.

So for a business that is only just holding its head above water, where do the extra hours come from?

Talking of hours and wages, it was an eye opener the other day to see mayor Gordon Oliver is to donate half his annual salary to charity.

He, of course, is earning much less than many of the council officers he leads, and one has to wonder whether his example will catch on.

Probably not, and in truth there can't be that many of us who could survive having given away half of the annual household income.

But nevertheless it is very good news for the deserving causes who will doubtless benefit from his generosity.

This neatly leads me on to another curious blot on the Big Society landscape.

We were told that localism is important, and that communities could do much of what government, both national and local, had been doing more efficiently.

That may or may not have been true. But a consequence of funding cuts to local organisations has been catastrophic.

I worry about local services which have also been chopped, like youth services where we have brilliant developments like Parkfield without the infrastructure to support it.

The trouble is, like the loss of local shops, once this stuff has gone we will then start to understand what we have lost.

The words of Nikos Kazantzakis (Zorba the Greek) come to mind: "I was happy, I knew that. While experiencing happiness, we have difficulty in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it do we suddenly realise — sometimes with astonishment — how happy we had been."