Community Spirit

This morning was a very special morning for the parishioners of St Mary & St Romuald in Yarm. For 150 years there has been a church on that site, a place for the Catholics of the area to gather in worship and community. Today the Bishop came to celebrate and Mass was followed by coffee and cake in the Parish Hall. People who don't usually linger stayed and chatted, news was exchanged, children played and the community celebrated - not with a bang but with friendship and sharing.
Outside Yarm Gala was getting underway - another and very different community celebration. The Yarm Charities Fair was a long standing event in Yarm but beginning to look a little tired. Yarm Regatta had disappeared from the calendar some years ago. Newly elected members of the Town council decided to do something about it and this is the result, now an established event drawing interest from round the town and from Eaglescliffe too. Some like to remind us that the Council is now mainly from one political party, but I think this event is less about political party than about being part of the community and prepared to show leadership - a character trait which is not the sole prerogative of any one group! This particular band of Conservatives deserve congratulations on the community leadership they've shown on this, and I for one hope that it's now sufficiently established to survive whatever changes the electorate visits on the Town Council next May.
It was good to see the Protect Preston Park group collecting yet more petition signatures and fund-raising with their tombola stall. I even won a prize! They've now collected over 6000 signatures from far and wide. I'm really looking forward to the announcement that building a school in the Park isn't an option so that the group can move forward with establishing protection for the Park in the long term. Grassroots politics is what keeps the world worth living in!!
It took a long time to walk home as I kept meeting people walking down to the gala who wanted to stop and tell me about issues or discuss the economy - not my usual Sunday morning fare but there we are, such is the new interest in things at the moment.
And the final bit of community spirit? This afternoon with staff from a care home, trying to decide on ways to keep their residents in touch with family and friends across the world. Could they set up a computer with Skype and someone to help? Could they establish some more links to the community outside the doors for those with no family or friends near by? One thing's for sure - it won't be for lack of thinking about it, and though there aren't any easy ways they'll keep trying.

Yarm & Green Spaces

A visit to the hospital this morning confirmed that the radial knuckle (elbow) is mended nicely but there's some inflammation of the tendons so the arm is still in need of a little tender loving care! Gentle stretching exercise is prescribed so if you see my arm waving in the air I am definitely waving not drowning.
A leaflet arrived through the letter box today about parking in Yarm. It's a topic of great interest to many people in this ward whether or not they park there, because one of the biggest causes of congestion in Yarm High St is people looking for parking spots. Although there are no new suggestions in it for some reason it had to be kept confidential and not mentioned to Eaglescliffe councillors until the public leaflet was ready and the display was being set up. As a result we couldn't let people know in time for today's exhibition in Yarm. There's a number of suggestions being made and it's worth looking at them and making comment. None of them will completely solve the problems but it's a serious effort to make a difference so please do have your say. If you haven't got a leaflet there's a section on the Council website about it so you can see what's being suggested there.
There was a drop in session for councillors this evening to discuss the various plans and strategies that are developing at the moment for all our green spaces around the borough. Although there was nothing new in there it was helpful to be able to see how everything is starting to link together. I've only been a councillor for a few years but in that time I've been frustrated on occasion by the fact that the right hand didn't seem to know what the left hand was doing on open space and green areas. It must be much worse for people who've been involved for much longer.
At last every bit of green is being recognised as having some value, whether it's in someone's garden, beside a road or part of a big park. That doesn't mean that we never remove green areas, but it does mean that we consider their value in relation to other values and make a more informed decision, or at least I hope that's what it will mean. It's certainly beginning to make a little bit of difference in planning committee meetings. It also means that green spaces and play areas are planned differently now, aiming to let young people take risks which a couple of years ago were frowned on - there's nothing new under the sun is there? Now we encourage them to climb trees etc. without doing a risk assessment first!
The session was also useful because I could make some enquiries about how things are progressing with the Parish Council's work on the Play Areas and remind some relevant officers of promises that have been made of further help for us.
There's an on-going consultation on our green spaces and what we want from them so if you haven't already done so please go to the website and have your say.