Blowing my own . . Clarinet

It's difficult for members of the public to communicate with our councillors.

One can go to the Ulverston Town Council Meeting and come away with the thoughts : "Why did I bother?" We have a 15 minute slot and the feeling is that they feel "Let's get through this bit as fast as we can so that we can get on with the important bit: holding forth to each other" Then Norman Bishop-Rowe stand up on a point of order and the mayor tries to shut him up and I leave.

Well for the record , one of our councillors may pick up on some of the following    :

It is disappointing to me that we don't seem to be able to support each other more.

The Chess competition for instance - the one that Peter Hanks did such a brilliant job of organising - all came about from an initiative : getting large chess sets and playing in the Market Square.

Having great idea man has been my main activity though life - as I pointed out to the Council on Monday and earned my living very successfully by it - when working at Glaxo, Shell research, The Falls, the Oxfam building, teaching in London when pioneering creativity in schools, became a consultant working all over wider London, was invited to advise the QCA's Creativity special unit, addressed conferences. Back here conceived and organised the candlelit walk, developed Mill Dam Park, did a lot of work in the field of pottery, developed my blog using interviews and networked with a wide range of people.

 Chris Thorpe the lecturer in Web site design at Preston, who lived in Ulverston and died here shared his expertise in web site design. He designed and created a web site for Ulverston whichwas put up on the internet.  Roy Watkins worked with me. He also created a very promissing web site with lots of local information on the surrounding area. All this energy has gone to waste because the council failed to take advantage of it.

Getting things done is import and I get impatient with the work done by most of our local politicians. Bear in mind that being very successful in pushing difficult projects is second nature to me. Pushing through projects like The Falls, selfcatering Cottages and the Oxfam building project which failed through lack of funds to get it up and running. Gaining information can be very effective and with drivein using it can influence policy as was done regarding the work on the cobbles both in the Gill but more importantly down Market Street which in fact could have been done far more effectively for the town shopkeepers and for the tax payer (as it need have cost nothing). This also instrumental in getting rid of the very arrogant Nick Raymond local head of our CCC Highways.

Getting a sensible Car Parks policy by focussing on the lack of use the Stockbridge Lane car park at the full SLDC council meeting about five years ago was effective. Subsequently working with  Jack Rice as he gained valuable information using the Freedom of Info Act from SLDC and published his ten page report.

The public helped create pottery decorations which started along Union Lane, followed by Gill Banks, then Mill Dam Park as well as the project at Church Walk School involving over a hundred people who made a pottery fish to decorate both sides of the entrance to the school.

Sadl, energy and drive puts councillors on the spot, however being only too willing to support them with this same drive must be seen as an asset. Praise could then be given for their initiative in showing leadership. Involving the public as was and still is, achieves with involvement in the chess.

My wish to play chess on the Market Square was prompted by a wish to support and invigorate our Market. Similarly my learning and developing clarinet playing skills is done for the same reasons -  playing music and other types of performances ( story telling) have great potential. Natterjacks was supported when it attracted many musicians which with the absence of Max, now at university, has more or less collapsed. A next stage , when my playing skills have developed is to encourage far more music playing in the form of impromptu busking from local students. This was something that was encouraged at the Oxfam Building when students came and played on Saturdays in 1987.

Surveys of other markets at Lancaster gives useful information and working with Robert Leach is very encouraging. He started and continues to run Prom Art at Grange where (sadly) many Ulverston people exhibit monthly. Sadly - as with some initiative we could have been the leaders in the concept though Grange have a superb location by using the Promenade. Robert  is encouraging a joint project with the eight strong group of potters that meet here every Monday night and another project with the public is being discussed there as part of PromArt there next year.