Bank Holiday Weekend

The Stockton Summer Show opened on Friday in Preston Park under the warmest sun we've had for a while. The weekend so far has stayed fine and warm - most unlike a summer bank holiday weekend! Crowds of people seem to be really enjoying the entertainment on offer. The music from Arc in the Park didn't penetrate to this end of Eaglescliffe, or even to outside the park, so that was a great improvement on last weekend. The only annoyance I found when I went up to check on things this afternoon was that the show has closed off the path to the museum, so people have to pay the show entry fee to get to the Hall. I shall have to take that up on Tuesday because I couldn't do anything to get gates and fences changed at this stage, but I wasn't at all happy about that.
On Friday night I went out on patrol with our neighbourhood policeman, looking for the young people who get into trouble for drinking under age and making a bit of a nuisance of themselves usually round the back of the shops or on the play areas. We wanted to talk about what they'd like in the area and what they'd be prepared to put into the effort to achieve it. Amazingly, on a fine warm night there wasn't one group of them to be found - the only people hanging round the shops were a couple of 20+ year olds and they were already engaged in conversation with a special constable on patrol there. So we're no further forward in knowing if there's anything we can do to provide some alternative "hanging out" place for them.