Encouraginng each other to be assertive is something that is very important to me!
Relying on others can be very frustrating. People using their own initiative can often achieve far more. Self belief is important!
We llive in a town where this already happens so much . It will be natural for us as to do this more and more..
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It's good to see nearly all the flags fluttering away in the town including those on the main roundabout and finally outside Booths after several people complained to Ralph Spours that nothing was being done.
It worked and they are looking great.
Well done Sue Redhead and her team of intricate Flagmakers - we just stick to the easy ones created en masse.
Here are some taken by Elizabeth Ellis - lovely rich colours:
Hundreds of people take photos and publish them all over the UK - I'm sure it does a great job for putting Ulverston on the UK and maybe the world map in a small way.
What would be good to hear is a Councillor or two saying what a great job is being done.
Sadly this is not their 'style' - maybe we can teach them some manners ?
Is it possible for councillors to praise the work of others more often ?
Once again it's the Ulverston Flag Flag Fortnight and there are some superb new flags on show.
If you arrive at The Gill Car Park, you're in for a treat.
First is the centrepiece display of the new flags shown below
These were featured on the front page of the Evening Mail yesterday with a great picture - the Westmoreland Gazette's photographer comes tomorrow.
Then, as you come into town along Upper Brook Street you will see the superb flags designed and made by Sue Redhead and her team of skilled volunteers.
Here are a couple of them:
This artistic talent is really resetting the bar at a high standard for the art design in the town.
Two weeks to go: with Flags going up on April 29th.
The new Ulverston Flag Group will be putting up 25 new flags outside the Coro to welcome The 10th anniversary of Printfest. The original flag makers have been reinvigorated and very active since January making flags for the two groups that now exist. New flag makers have made about half of the twenty flags going up on private houses in The Gill, these will be joined on Monday 2nd by those outside the Coro when Printfest ends.
A taste of the flags that are to come from the Ulverston Flag Group is given each market day when six flags are put up on the Market Square.
It's now a fortnight since we requested a meeting with our county councillor James Airey.
Progress on the work down Market street in the last fortnight has been extremely slow.
At this rate of progress, the work will not be completed by April 29th the day the Flag Festival is due to start which features this very street.
Of the festivals in the town, this is the one that our traders feel brings the most benefit to the town; others certainly have an impact but for the most part result in little trade and in the case of the Dickensian Festival can cause considerable disruption to shop trade.
Many of the traders are deeply upset with the casual approach by Amey towards getting the work done quickly and the apparent lack of concern from the County Highways Department.
Questions are being asked as to how this contract was set up and whether there is a penalty clause in Amey's contract for overrunning.
Was even a completion date agreed?
The traders want answers and their politicians to take action.
I talked to the Director ot Printfest this morning.
At their recent meeting they welcomed the involvement of the Ulverston Flag Group in celebrating their 10th anniversary on April 29th.
Plans are well in hand to make an extra 24 flags for this event. 12 will be displayed on either side of the Coronation Hall entrance and make a colourful display. ...
These are in addition to those going on people's houses in and around The Gill.
They lift the spirits and provide inspiration and motivation for difficult times.
Art really is extremely import to communities.
Here in Ulverston we are very fortunate to get regular visits from top rate performers.
An example is the Manchester Camarata which I regularly review.
Their last concert in the Coro is still with me now. Seeing and hearing a group of people that put everything they've got into a quality performance for its audience is inspiring.
They are returning with a performance of something in the classical music world that is very special:
Berg's Violin Concerto
Here at the Coro on March 24th at 7:30
By contrast my visit last night to the Preston Guild Hall was a big disappointment.
They were performing Brahm's German Requiema work that has thrilled me many times in the past with its deep emotion.
It depends heavily on a good choir.
We were totally let down.
As I listened to it I reflected on how lucky I was to live in Ulverston for at least two reasons:
That the Manchester Camerata visited us with their top rate musicians
That we had a Flag Festival coming up where our Ulverston Flag Group will put on a performance of such quality that it will impress the art experts from all over the UK that are visiting us for the 10th Anniversary of Print Fest on Friday April 29th
Join us in demonstrating that we are a community of top performers that know how to put on a beautiful show that draws people from all over the country. There is work of all kinds for those that want to get involved - gd at tygh.co.uk
We already have one festival were so many of us demonstrate this spirit :
The Lantern Festival where quality and inspiration abound.
And another 30 flags to make if our target is to be reached !
Over the past month The Ulverston Flag Festival has sprung back into life under the guidance of the new Ulverston Flag Group who are working with people to design, make or just have a flag to fly during the festival in early May.
Flags have been made at an unprecedented rate because so many people from the community have been involved. Workshops in houses with large rooms along with individuals working in the small terraced houses of The Gill have already produced more than 20 new flags.
While the Ulverston Better Towns Team is continuing to run the festival centred on the shopkeepers under the guidance of Peter Winston, the new group are focussed on involving people of all kinds in this great celebratory activity at a time when all our lives need a little Zest to cheer us up.
The making of flags is a time consuming activity and for a beginner this can take some ten hours to make.
A trip to Bradford's Bombay Stores yielded enough beautifully coloured fabrics to make fifty flags. Bamboo poles have been purchased from Newcastle and the design of brackets has been finalised and are to be made by one of three local firms that have willingly got involved.
The Gill was chosen as a starting point for this community activity because it provides an ideal space for the display of flags and because over thirty people here are so keen to have a flag.
Furthermore the theme of The Gill's past history is an inspiration to all.
It's difficult to believe that so much has happened here in the past : Home of the Hiring Fairs where people came to find work as recently as 1940, Circuses with tales of an Elephant that died and was buried in the nearby Quaker Cemetery at Birkrigg, a Saw Mill and Corn Mill driven by the power of the beck that flowed through the middle, the corn mill owner was the national pole vaulting champion, The Magazine where gunpowder and arms were stored for the local militia, the Slaughter House and Tannery, the Police Station and Lock Up (now toilets), A Pub - The house of Letters with the beginning of Ulverstons Postal Service, all based on The Gill as a centre for travel by horse, The School run by Holy Trinity Church and more recently the home of Welfare State International, the people that started all the festivals in the town, noteworthy the Lantern Festival and this Flag Festival, and lastly the beginning of the Cumbrian Way.
All these are being reflected in the designs of the flags that are being made.
When the Gill has been covered the theme is being extended up Stanley Street to the Health Centre where it is hoped there will be three very large flag poles and on to the Mill Dam Play area, Sun and Star streets and the allotment beyond. It is hoped to also have some flags coming down Soutergate to celebrate the church, pubs and workshops it had in the past. Next we hope to spread down Church Walk to the school and chaurch at the end.
Those wanting to get involved are invited to the workshop that has been organised for next week end on Sunday 6th and then again another which is being organised in a large Hall in late March/early April. Details can be found on the new facebook page - Ulverston Flag Fortnight or to contact Geoff Dellow on 01229 480347.
The Ulverston Flag Group had their first Photoshoot with the two local newspapers vying with each other to capture this feast of moving colour from the twenty flags that have been made in the last month by this active group.
They represented just the tip of the iceberg of massive enthusiasm for this project - many of the flag makers, who spend on average eight hours of hard work in making a single flag, are camera shy!
(seen here are the result of 160 hours of enthusiastic work on a sewing machine and cutting board)
They invite others in Ulverston to join them in celebrating "nothing in particular" other than a Zest for Life and a refusal to let "problems " get the better of them. Others in the town can get involved in designing and making another 20 flags for their houses before Flag Fortnight which is in early May.
The Royal Wedding is providing another source of inspiration for the flags which will go up on William and Kate's special day - Friday April 29th.
Looking forward to displaying many of the other new flags that have already been made during the last six weeks at a press 'photo opportunity' and telling the story so far behind their designs.
We invite you to a quick preview at the above location in The Gill at 2pm this next Wednesday Feb 23rd.
Here's what others get up to with bamboo poles and flags.
Can we do something at all similar here?
How good are the Gymnasts at Victoria High ?
We could certainly jump over a flag - more needs a little practice!
