What's wrong with our youngsters ?

If you take the number of breakages at The Railings - Gill Banks as a measure -

Very little.
For a group that is labelled "mindless, unthinking, reckless and boisterous" they come away with a lot of brownie points.

What's wrong with our councillors and one or two adults who should know better ?

If you take the removal of the picnic tables at the same location as a measure -

Quite a lot.
For a group that has been the responsibility of guiding our society, their knee jerk reaction of "remove those tables immediately - they're on our Town Lands Trust Land" has much about it that should be questioned. These are people who should have a reputation for consultative decisions made in the interests of the majority.

As far as one can determine, the order to remove the tables has come about because some young people were making a lot of noise there recently at around midnight. 

Rather than adopt the time honoured solution of going and talking to the boisterous end-of-term, don't-like-the-deputy-head-up-the-road youngsters  which the police are normally very good at, David Parratt's attention was drawn to the behaviour.

His immediate reaction, without consulting other neighbours or the majority of local people, was to demand that the tables be removed. This ignored the great pleasure given by these picnic tables during the daytime, enjoyed by large numbers of the public as well as the youngsters themselves.

There is also the suspicion that otherwise responsible adults have taken to throwing one or the tables in the beck. This arises from the fact that this happened on Friday at between 7 and 8 am, not a time when youngsters were seen to be up and about and yet one when said adult was seen inspecting the table moments before. The plot thickens!

Fortunately another neighbour with land immediately adjacent to the original site for the tables sees things very differently. He and his family is very sympathetic to the young people who have used this location to gather for several generations in the past. 

Assisted by friends, his land is now being altered so as to provide an alternative site for one picnic table in what should be very attractive surroundings.

If you have views on the issue, comment here or email the councillors involved; they represent the interests of The Town Lands Trust who own the land in question:

• Pat Jones
• Margaret Hornby
• Jan Hancock
• Janette Jenkinson

or deal directly with the Town Clerk, David Parratt at the Ulverston Town Council.

A question worth posing:

Cannot a good case be made for provision of a picnic area in the town for people to have snacks and chat in quiet pleasant surroundings?


The picnic tables have been donated by a group calling themselves the BUGs. The people that have renovated Mill Dam Park and are clearing Gill Banks of the invasive Himalayan Balsam.

"Let's not make war but sit down and talk"