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.

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!

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!

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.

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.......................

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!

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...................