The moment we lose sight of the fact we must care for each other the world becomes a darker place.

My column in the Herald Express 15th May 2014

Sir David Attenborough was eighty-eight last week and is still a vibrant role model for so many, including me. Something that he said a while ago made me reflect when I noticed his birthday mentioned in the paper. He said “We are a plague on the Earth. Either we limit population growth or the natural world will do it for us.” At the time his words sent a shiver through my spirit and I think that it still does today.

We hear so much about saving the Planet and the aspiration to make our world a safer place and yet the evidence of that happening is a little too scarce, or so it seems to me. The global stuff is hard ask when you look at the fractured communities, particularly when socio-political events and religious dogma seem to harden hearts. So what difference can we make? Philosophers and thinkers throughout history have wrestled with the growth of population and the nature of community.

Population growth is something that we must think about but of course that has huge implications socially, politically and religiously. What we can do something about immediately is the nature of our community and the way in which we look after each other. American psychologist Carl Rogers talks about ‘prizing’ the individual and that is, in my opinion, so important. The moment that we lose sight of the fact that we must care for each other the world becomes a darker place. That should be a core value in the platform we are building in the next generation.

In these restless times it seems to me that one major factor in developing a vibrant community is the provision of meaningful employment. Being able to support yourself and those around you is so important and builds self-esteem. We all may have particular ‘wants’ it is the ‘needs’ that will cause stress. A chap called Maslow many years ago produced a little triangular model called The Hierarchy of Needs which explained this nicely. At the bottom of his triangle you will find the essential building blocks of life; those things that allow you to live such as food, shelter et cetera. Having some sort of meaningful income allows latitude for the ‘wants’ but being able to cover the core ‘needs’ is absolutely vital.

With all that in mind I was particularly captivated by a recently released song by the late Johnny Cash. Many of the lyrics used by Johnny Cash carry carefully constructed social observations about the way we treat each other and of the consequences of social inequality. Those of you that take the trouble to read what I write will know that youth unemployment worries me tremendously. The Johnny Cash song can be found, with the lyrics on You Tube and is called ‘Out Among the Stars’ and the words talk about a boy who can’t find a job. It’s worth finding the time to listen to the words and meditate on how that might one day impact upon our own community.

Something that I have been working on recently is the establishment of small locally based socially focused business developments. I’m not alone of course and as huge numbers of public sector jobs go many of those people now look at starting their own business. These new start-ups are quite often registered as Community Interest Companies and seem very exciting. Whilst they quite often attract grant funding they must also have a robust business model.

One local community based organisation is Agatha’s Closet (part of Future Shores) which is a project aiming to inspire and give new skills to local people of all ages based around fashion. They now have a retail shop and workshops in Hyde Road Paignton. Do drop in and have a look at this exciting project and have a chat with Aly Lazel.

There is support from within our community for many of these new and exciting socially conscious groups. I happened to spend an evening with some very interesting folk recently. They under the banner Creative Thinking Torbay and their mission to provide a ‘think-tank’ for charity based groups. Creative Thinking Torbay is championed by Bare Foot Thinking guru Peter Redstone and includes Barry Cole from the Torbay Business Forum and the energetic Angela George who now chairs the Torbay branch of the Federation of Small Businesses. They are ‘lateral thinkers’ and invite a guest local organisation to spend two hours with them working through opportunities. It really is very good and I can certainly recommend the experience.

I guess what I am saying is that we really are all in this together and if we want to make a difference then hold out a friendly hand to those around you. In the words of Tom Paxton from his song Peace Will Come “Oh my own life is all I can hope to control. Oh let it be lived for the good of my soul.”

Keep the smile!

There's a general feeling of unrest.

(My column in the Herald Express 1st may 2014)

A little while ago I wrote about what I considered to be the master plan phenomenon because more and more of these colourful projects seem to be popping up. Curiously when the consultants write master plan it appears as one word and perhaps that is part of the trendy attraction. Anyway the other day I pitched up at a meeting hosted by the consultants employed by Torbay Council to produce a new Paignton master plan. There were other meetings for Torquay and Collaton St Mary but I didn’t attend them. Simply ran out of time. I want to share a couple of points about what is going on because for me it is a worry.

One word that seemed popular with people attending this event was apathy. The suggestion was that many local people were simply apathetic and show no interest in local development. That in my opinion is simply not true. Apathy can be defined as a lack of enthusiasm or interest and in the case of our increasingly cosmopolitan population that is not the case. It seems to me that the constant smoke and mirrors of various socio-political adjustments have produced a general feeling of unrest and perhaps community disengagement. So I have an issue with the suggestion that we, the people, are apathetic!

The second point is the level of engagement. Who do we actually expect to pitch up at these focus events? One observation from someone in my little gathering was the fact that most of the people there were older citizens and that was sadly an obvious truth. We were given maps to play with and the area in question was outlined with a large black line. It was immediately obvious that important parts of the town have been ruled out. Our hosts said that they were simply following instructions. I think that we might want to question those instructions.

The meeting was held in a room under the Paignton Club on the edge of Paignton’s lovely little harbour. That venue is not frequented by many local people and it seemed to me that the library might have been a better location. For those that prefer to use public transport the library in Paignton is next door to the bus station.

The public meeting for the Paignton and Collaton St Mary master plan was the previous day and I gather that only sixty people attended. That is a very small cross-section of the local population! Given that these meetings seem to attract older people it might have been an idea to use South Devon College and Paignton Community and Sports Academy. Both can be reached easily by bus and have campus populations of many thousands.

These plans will potentially shape the future community for generations to come. I worry about many things because that is my nature but an increasing concern is the platform that we are building, or not building for our young citizens.

Thinking about our younger citizens I have to record my disappointment over the semi-closure of the wonderful Parkfield building. I was so excited when this £4.5 million centre opened a few years ago. For a while I thought it would become the beating heart of South Devon for youth but the draconian funding cuts have left the facility somewhat beleaguered. Hmm.

On a more positive note you will be pleased to know that the six wonderful tennis hard courts at Oldway Mansion have been re-opened.  A big thank you goes to Torbay Council for taking the decision to re-open them. Three of the six are floodlit and the playing surface is really excellent. I have no idea where the Oldway Mansion project is heading but watching families playing tennis again is a real tonic.

Finally something I want to share that will to make you chuckle. A few mornings ago I had to nip over to St. Marychurch. I parked my vehicle in the car park and found that parking was only £2 for the whole day. My time there was likely to be less than an hour but sadly the option for a short stay wasn’t offered. Now, about that joined up thinking when it comes to parking policy!

Keep the smile.