IF you happen to be reading your Herald Express over a Thursday morning cup of coffee, then spare a thought for me because I will be waiting to undergo a minor surgical procedure at Teignmouth Hospital. I don't live in Teignmouth, but that is where South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has sent me. So while you are tucking into a second piece of buttered toast I will be flicking through the pages of the Last Train from Liguria by Christine Dwyer Hickey while waiting for my surgeon to do his thing. All part of that rich tapestry of daily life of course, or so we believe.
The National Health Service is the most wonderful thing and was coincidently launched one month after my birth in 1948. Not that I have had too many occasions which have required immediate medical attention, but the fact I have always known access to a physician has been freely available is a precious thing.
It therefore worries me when I see huge cracks appearing over the surface and the exhausted looks on the faces of those holding together the frontline services. That has to be a concern for all of us.
I don't know whether you watched the London Olympic opening ceremony last year, but if you did then you must have been impressed by Danny Boyle's breath-taking pageant charting the history of these Sceptred Isles. He paid a stunning tribute to the National Health Service by underpinning the fact universal healthcare is indeed a core value in our society. Although a core value we should never, ever take for granted. These are curious times and we must all pay attention when various changes occur which might threaten that freedom of access to medical care.
We all need to pay careful attention to the words spoken by our political leaders as too often casual comments suddenly become policy. Keep the things which we take for granted very much in mind because local councillors will now be looking carefully at the funding cuts which threaten many of the services that all expect. It will be the discretionary spending which will too often quietly disappear.
One local service under threat is funded school transport and comments from struggling parents of children at St Cuthbert Mayne in Torquay made me raise an eyebrow. It wasn't just the words, but the wide-eyed facial expressions as the impact of additional outgoing on an already beleaguered family budget hit home. My children have grown now, but during their school years we did benefit from subsidised school transport which, of course, allowed a parental choice as to where our young were schooled. Of course, many might argue if you want choice you should pay for it and while for many that is of course possible, for others it is not.
Sadly with these often very subtle funding cuts it is the most vulnerable groups in society who tend to feel the pain first. If we really want to be a caring community we really must look out for each other in these troubled times and not simply say it's not my problem.
What follows may be seen as a ray of sunshine perhaps.
If you take the time to struggle through my fortnightly contribution you will know the apparent development at Oldway Mansion has made me question progress. On Saturday from 2pm until 4pm there is an open event at Oldway to update the community about progress to date and the anticipated start date, which apparently is later this year, for the resurrection of the mansion as a premier hotel. How exciting. In the words of Paul Hawthorne, chairman of the Friends of Oldway: "We have worked consistently on getting a fair and viable solution for the Oldway Estate over the last four years. Our initial reservations have been addressed, and I believe we are indeed on the way to achieving a future for the house and gardens which our members and the wider circle of people of Torbay can be happy with."
That view is echoed by head of Akkeron regeneration, Mark Jones, who said: "We are pleased to be working towards starting work on the hotel. We are looking forward to the open day on October 5, to show everyone interested in the project the history and current condition of the buildings along with plans."
I have always loved Oldway Mansion with its beautiful gardens, bowling greens and tennis courts. It really is my hope the outcome will be for the greater good of the community and encourage you to visit the open event to gain a better understanding of what is happening.
Keep the smile.
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