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

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

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.

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.