As a follow up to yesterday's post - anyone who's on Facebook can leave their message on the memorial page that's been set up. Over 600 members - a tribute in itself.

This morning saw the launch of the next phase of the Tees Heritage Park at Preston hall - a chance to look at some of the ideas the artists have already, add ideas of our own and generally chat with people about the vision. The advertising banner talked about the team behind the dream - a lovely description. It seems no time ago since it was all just a dream, a hope perhaps but no more. Now the dream is going to become reality, a bit at a time but reality nevertheless. Though it is indeed the work of a team, one man stands out as having pushed the dream towards reality - Doug Nicholson. Well done Doug!
Sadly, I was so engrossed in conversation that I forgot to take any photos of the activity so you'll have to imagine people chatting over plans & photos, drawing their own ideas, discussing wooden totem poles with the artists and so on. I was caught up in discussions about the importance of the Park and the silliness of suggesting building a school there when our new conservative MP, James Wharton, arrived. There was a little bit of serious discussion of the future for schooling in Stockton South but also some very light-hearted banter about the coalition. People there were genuinely pleased that the 2 parties are working together, taking we hope the best from both approaches and then leaving other issues to fight over another day when the economy is in a bit better shape. It was hardly a statistically significant sample of the population but it was an interesting discussion nevertheless.
So no photos, but an indication that local politicians are human and that's got to be a good thing all round.

Some you win and some you lose

A rollercoaster day today! The day started with a series of lengthy phone conversations, all needed but none of them planned for so the plans for the day began to slip behind time.
Then came a piece of unexpected good news - the appeal against the Planning committee's refusal to allow demolition and replacement of Wainstones in Leven Rd, Yarm was dismissed by the inspector. 3 cheers all round. Maybe at last the inspectors are waking up to the importance of gardens in suburbs.
Hard on the heels of that came news of a change of plan for our Fairtrade event on Monday. Jose, the banana producer, had to leave early to go home to deal with the aftermath of the flooding in the Dominican Republic. His place will be taken by a cashew nut farmer from El Salvador - very interesting because I know nothing about cashew nuts. Sad for Jose, but Juan gets the chance to see a country he might not otherwise have visited and we get to learn about a different product. Clouds and silver linings spring to mind.
This evening I went to a meeting of the Friends of Tees Heritage Park where I met the local CPRE chairman. He was hopping mad, because the owners of Wainstones have served notice on Stockton Council that they intend to demolish the building anyway! Because Stockton Planning Department were incompetent and didn't start the Local List when they said they were going to, there aren't any buildings on it so we'll really struggle to save Wainstones now. Campaigners are hoping that pressure can be brought to bear to get the list in place, but I'm not convinced the bureaucratic process allows the time to do that. I'll be asking tomorrow morning!
So, on balance, not a good day after all.
Tomorrow is a whole new day! And there's a petition to sign to help the campaign against this abuse of planning guidance, commonly known as garden-grabbing. S if you haven't already signed - go do it please.