Stand by for bad news on the hospital

I STARTED my journalistic career in Honiton in a dingy room above Arthur Dimond’s shop in the High Street. That was 50 years ago this summer.

Even in those far-off days when reporters attended virtually every local event, it was clear that Honiton was in desperate need of a community hall. 

The Mackarness Hall, at the side of St Paul’s Church and opposite the office, was the only real meeting place in the centre of town in those days. And it continued that way until fairly recently when the magnificent Beehive Centre opened its doors amid much controversy.

I use the word “magnificent” somewhat gingerly because the building of the centre has been the cause of much falling out in the town.

I made a long-overdue visit to the Beehive last week after receiving an invitation from the group of volunteers who are working so hard to make the centre a success, led by former Honiton mayor Vernon Whitlock, who has been fighting for such a facility for 30 years.

The first thing that impressed me was the enthusiasm of the volunteers.  It’s turned out to be pretty much of a full-time job since the doors first opened in March and there’s been no let-up since. I was even more impressed when I was given a tour of the building, which also houses offices for Honiton Town Council. There are many other towns in Pulman’s Country who would give their eye-teeth for such a quality facility.

I was surprised that when a local poll was held to give the people of Honiton the chance to vote on whether they wanted the town council to proceed with the community centre project, the majority said “no”.  However, there was only a 13 per cent turn- out, hardly representative.

I hear another poll might be in the offing over the future governance of the centre.

It’s a very long time since I covered Honiton Town Council and I’m clearly not qualified to comment on the conflicting views. But what I do know is this: Honiton has a brilliant facility and it is clear by the programme of events that it is being well used by the community.

Becoming a charity seems an eminently sensible idea to me and I hope that it won’t be long before those responsible for running the facility, town councillors and volunteers, can resolve their differences and draw a line under the animosity that clearly exists.

The Beehive is a great asset to Honiton.

I AM writing this column on Monday afternoon, a few hours before there is going to be a momentous announcement over the future of Axminster Hospital.  It will not be good news.

This is such an important issue that we have decided to delay the printing of our Axminster edition so we can report on the announcement due to be made at Axminster Town Council this evening (Monday).

It looks like Axminster has lost the fight to retain NHS funded in-patient beds, the only community hospital in East Devon to do so.

Over the years Axminster Hospital League of Friends have pumped millions into the hospital and it looks as though if the town is to keep its in-patient beds the League will have to dig deep once again. They have the financial resources but without their backing the beds will almost certainly go.

Local doctors fear if the beds are closed it is unlikely they will ever be restored. If that is the case, what will happen to hospital long term? 

Although the NHS will never admit to it, it seems that closure is a very real possibility in the future. The NHS says there are no plans to close Axminster; not now but what about in three years?

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The busy summer that Weymouth needed

WEYMOUTH has just had what it needs above anything else, a good summer season.

There was some confusion at the start when the sun came out and no-one knew what it was, but the town’s tourism industry was soon in full swing with hoteliers and guesthouses reporting brisk bookings and attractions doing a roaring trade.

Seafront businesses did particularly well, a vital fact of life for them since they, like grizzly bears, tend to hibernate during the winter and need summer fat to see them through.

But it is the little things that show how well Weymouth has done, those aspects of resort life that don’t catch the headlines.

Take car parks for instance. When you see the white signs and lines at entrance points starting to wear and blur then you know that the sheer volume of parking is responsible which means it has been a good season.

Then there is any normal walk down St Mary Street. 

If you can do that easily then it is worrying times for tourism, but it was impossible to do so in 2014 because the street was frequently choked with people and you had to dodge, duck and weave your way to make progress.

Some outlets said their business was up 20 percent, others that they were just clawing back what they had lost during the Oympics.

Anyhow, the town seems to have been given a summer shot in the arm and is more than ready for the next big rush. Have you seen how many shops are already selling Christmas stuff?

No wonder. Christmas Eve is just 15 weeks away today!


Why work twice as hard when you can get by?

A DAMNING indictment of modern society’s approach to encouraging people to work has emerged through a Weymouth man who is happily living off wages earned from just 16 hours work per week as a barman.

Out of that he is docked various things including rent and council tax while he has £14 a week – or a miserly £2 per day – for food.

Quite clearly he would welcome more money to make his life a little easier, but he has chosen to carry on with his current lifestyle because there is just no incentive to work harder.

He explained that he could easily get more work to increase his earning power up to 40 hours a week… but he said that if he did so he would actually be worse off!

He’d calculated that only by working 42 hours a week could he increase his income… by about £5 per week.

Apparently the reason behind this is that he could sharply increase his wage by working the extra hours but not as sharply as the drop off in the benefit money he receives.

He is not against working but neither is he stupid and he has no intention of swapping a frugal lifestyle gained by working 16 hours for a frugal lifestyle plus £5 for which he’d have to work 42 hours.

As he said: “I get £2 per day for food and that’s easy if you’re sensible. I buy a chicken and have the legs one day, the breasts another day and boil the carcass up for soup stock with the remaining meat on another day. I can effectively feed eight people on my money. Thank God the other seven don’t turn up!”


A climate of its own

A PORTLAND phenomena much like Table Mountain recently showed just how much its climate can differ from Weymouth.

It was a miserable day with a heavy drizzle as I drove over to the island, looking ahead to see the top of Portland sheared off by a flat bank of gloomy grey cloud which made for the comparisons with Table Mountain.

But incredibly, like someone shutting off a tap, when I got within 100 yards of Victoria Square all the drizzle stopped, the whole place brightened up and all the roads and pavements were dry!

In fact, by the time I got to where I was going the sun was coming out which was just as well really.

Conditions were still balmy with some soft sunshine when I came to make the return trip about an hour later, but the cloud slowly loomed over me and by the time I got home I could barely get inside before down came the rain again.

There are stickers saying “Keep Portland Weird”, but I’d rather be weird and dry on Portland than wet and normal in Weymouth!


Some need a map to navigate car park

RESEARCH shows that two out of five people don’t know how to navigate using a traditional map.

This comes as no surprise to the residents of Weymouth during the tourist season who regularly get stopped and asked for directions, but just recently tourists have been getting lost in the town’s multi-storey car park!

Britannia Parking has done its best with a simple circular system to go up or down through the structure, but three times in recent weeks I’ve been ascending an up-ramp only to meet a flustered driver coming down.

Comments have ranged from “Took the wrong turning!” to “Sorry, we’re on holiday here!” as if this afforded some sort of special dispensation.

So be warned. You appear to need your wits about you in a car park as much as you ever do on the open road.

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Guitars raise the bar once again

THE conversation went a bit like this: “So your council has a full-time promotions manager and staff to put on all these events?”

I was talking to a visitor from one of the outer London boroughs, one of thousands who had rocked up (literally) on the beach with a guitar strapped to his back.

“Well, no,” I replied.  “All this is organised by volunteers.”

“You are kidding?”

“No. This town is no more than a village in the winter. Our council does not have those sort of resources.”

We are talking about Guitars On The Beach here, surely the most spectacularly enjoyable event staged in Lyme since, well, last year’s Guitars On The Beach. And, of course, it is the volunteers who make Lyme a very special place - the volunteers about whom my fellow columnist, Chris Boothroyd, has written so eloquently in recent weeks.

The town council benefits greatly throughout the summer months with increased car parking and excellent business for their various concessions. But to be fair to the council, they do support most events either financially or by allowing their outside staff to help out where possible. 

Operations manager Elliott Herbert is always willing and keen to lend a hand when asked.

And it was good to see Councillor Rikey Austin and town clerk John Wright joining in the Guitars On The Beach world record attempt and not boycotting the event as some of their colleagues were rumoured to be doing last year.

The event attracted 3,000 registered guitarists and probably a similar number of non-players on the beach - the biggest crowd I have seen since the Radio One roadshows (remember them?) visited Lyme in the late 1970s/80s, possibly bigger.

The brainchild of former rock PR Geoff Baker, GOTB is probably the most unique and exhilarating summertime event on the south coast. Hell, let’s make that in the UK.

Geoff’s unrivalled contacts in the rock business, his media nous and sheer determination to do some good for his home town are the cornerstones behind the success of this event. And you know what they say about behind every successful man... Geoff’s partner, Jill Newton, took on board a massive organisational task so important to the success of any large event.

They will be the first to admit that they received fantastic behind-the-scenes support from so many people - not to mention  the musicians and technicians that made up the house band, which was brilliant on the day.

What a thrill it must have been for those local musicians to share a stage with rock legend Ian Gillan, who has a home in Lyme. Not only did he pay for the erection of the stage but agreed to put in an appearance to sing Deep Purple’s most famous hit, “Smoke on the Water”.

And what a moment it was when suddenly he was joined on stage by his daughter, Grace, who was appearing later on the bill with popular local band, Papa La Gal, and then smoke really did rise from the water where a flotilla of local craft let off their flares.

Great spectacle, great theatre.

As a close colleague of Geoff and Jill, I know how much they personally put into this day, how much blood, sweat and (yes) tears. 

To those of us on the outside, the day ran like clockwork. As with any big event, I’m sure there was a hiccup or two but nobody noticed.

This was a day to let your hair down (difficult for me!), turn back the clock and believe that you were a rocker once one. 

The quality of the musical entertainment was outstanding - from seven-years-old Darci Street (how many tiny tots have played before such a big audience?) to the great man himself, Gillan; it was a day that rockers young and old will never forget.

• A WORD of praise also for Mark Hix and his team for staging the Food Rocks festival to run alongside GOTB. The various cooking demonstrations and food and drink stands attracted many people to the town adding greatly to the overall atmosphere of the weekend. Lyme, you did it again!

TWO acquaintances of mine who have had cause to attend council meetings in Lyme Regis in the past - and were unimpressed by the standard of debate - went along to a recent meeting of Uplyme Parish Council.

What was their verdict? That officers and councillors from Lyme Regis should attend one of the village meetings to see how a proper council should be run.

Their words - not mine.

THE crass habit of certain town councillors in the Lyme Regis Town Council chamber chomping their way through meetings by tucking into bags of sweets laid before them continues.

This doesn’t happen at county hall, nor at West Dorset District Council. In fact, it does not happen at any other council this newspaper group covers. Why? Because it is not acceptable behavior and it’s time the mayor clamped down on it in the Guildhall.

When new member Cheryl Reynolds attended a recent training meeting she asked a question about the acceptability of eating sweets during council debates. She was told it was totally unacceptable.

When Cheryl questioned her fellow councillors about this, she was told: “We do things differently in Lyme.”

They certainly do.

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60 SECOND INTERVIEW: Ben Kapur

AT the age of just 21, Lyme Regis musician Ben Kapur will be thrust into the spotlight this Saturday (September 6th) when he drives the house band alongside Deep Purple legend Ian Gillan, as they lead thousands of amateur guitarists gathered for the record-breaking event Guitars On The Beach, with hopes of forming Britain’s biggest ever band. We caught up wth Ben, a former Woodroffe School pupil, during a break in his rehearsals.

YOU’RE the lead guitarist of the Guitars On The Beach House Band, which means you'll be leading thousands of guitarists. How do you cope with the pressure?

The pressure is not too bad for me, it's more excitement than pressure because I enjoy it so much. Being the lead guitarist of GOTB is one of the best things I've ever been able to do in my musical career - plus I'm playing with remarkable musicians in the house band and that's a huge buzz, especially duelling guitars with a fantastic player like Olli Dixon.

YOU are one of the founders of GOTB. What were your highlights of last year’s event?

One of my favourite things of last year was getting the opportunity to play with Billy Geraghty, Robbie McIntosh and Andy Scott, three extremely talented musicians who have taught me so much by giving me the opportunity to play with them. 

WHAT will GOTB be like this year?

GOTB is going to be so much bigger, better and more incredible this year, because of the enthusiasm we all have and the fact that more than 3,500 people of all ages have signed up for it. There's a lot of local Lyme talent performing throughout the day; we've got musicians from B Sharp, we've got Lyme's great statesman of guitar, Marshall Stapleton, and very good bands like Delta Tango 7, Glasshouse, Stairlift To Heaven and the amazing Papa Le Gal. Everyone has been rehearsing hard to make this better than last year, to attract more visitors, as that it good for Lyme, and to have a great time.

HOW long have you been playing the guitar and was it your first instrument?

I've been playing the guitar since I was 11-years-old, so that's 10 years now. I'm completely self-taught, and I eat, sleep and breath it. However, my first instrument was the saxophone, which I started to learn at the age of six.

YOUR own band 1/2 Jack will also be performing on the day. What does GOTB mean for local bands?

Well, if I wasn't on the bill to be on that stage on the day, I'd be nagging organiser Geoff Baker to get my band on the gig. We've got about 20 acts performing and it's a fantastic opportunity for all of us to get on a big stage and perform in front of such a big crowd. It's great experience and it teaches you a lot about stagecraft and showmanship.

ONE of the record-bid songs is Deep Purple's ‘Smoke On The Water’ and you will be Ian Gillan's lead guitarist for that song too. What is that going to feel like?

Well, what can I say… wow! It's going to feel amazing! It's a fabulous opportunity to get to play alongside the actual singer of Deep Purple. I met Ian for the first time recently to discuss the show, and I was rather nervous because he's a rock and roll legend, but he's such a nice bloke; calm, friendly, reassuring, he put me completely at ease. Now I can't wait to play on 'Smoke' alongside him. I'm practicing all the time so that I can do my best and do him proud. All of us in the house band feel the same, we're honoured that he is leading GOTB. It's an honour too for the town, I know he lives nearby but I believe this is the first time he's performed here.

CAN novice guitarists join in at GOTB or is it only for you seasoned players?

Anybody can join in. That's the whole point about GOTB, it's for all ages and all abilities. You don't even have to be a guitarist, you just need to learn a few notes and we're going to have guitarists from B Sharp giving last-minute lessons on the sand before the record attempts. They are going to have a tutorial tent to give a crash course in learning the chords, so bring a guitar and come on down. GOTB is an entirely new way of presenting live music - you don't just go along to watch and listen, you go to join in and play along. It's interactive concert-going and I think this is going to catch on and become a new thing in music, Lyme has started something completely different which is going to grow. 

WHERE do you hope to be in five years time and where will GOTB be then?

I hope to be a successful musician, everybody has a dream and that has always been mine, and so any opportunity that comes along like this, I grab it. GOTB is a great innovation, this idea of the audience taking part in a concert is a very smart one and all of us organising it have even bigger plans for its future. In five years time we are going to have to ship in a million tons of more sand to Lyme because we are going to need a bigger beach!

For more information visit the website www.guitarsonthebeach.co.uk

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Will digital do for the TIC?

LYME Regis has always been rightly proud of its award-winning Tourist Information Centre, situated on the ground floor of Guildhall Cottage where the town council offices are situated.

True, the location is not ideal, tucked away at the side of the Guildhall,  but the TIC staff have done a terrific job over the years promoting Lyme at every opportunity and have been recognised far beyond this parish for the efficiency of their service.

But along with similar operations in West Dorset, it would seem the future of our TIC may be in some doubt.

Facing reduced funding from central government, West Dorset District Council is reviewing the cost effectiveness of all its services and  looking at alternative ways to deliver tourist information with a view to savings of £300,000.

In a statement to this newspaper, council leader Robert Gould emphasises that the council has to become less reliant on Whitehall hand-outs and is facing a reduction of £9.2 million pounds a year by the year 2020.

The TIC used to be run by the town council until the function was taken over by WDDC several years ago. It was a move that improved and extended the service provided for visitors but the responsibility for running the TIC could return to the town council again as this is one of the options being considered.

Across the border in East Devon, the district council stopped running their TICs many years ago with the responsibility passing to town councils and voluntary groups.  In Axminster, for example, the TIC is run by a group of volunteers who fundraise to keep the service going.

Weymouth Borough Council  scrapped their dedicated TICs with tourism information leaflets being distributed from various business outlets throughout the town.

Robert Gould makes the point that more people want to access tourist information online rather than physically calling at a manned centre.

Last year the council website - visit-dorset.com - attracted 1.7 million visitors and a new mobile version for smart phones and tablets has recently been launched.

Lyme will be reluctant to let go of its valued TIC but the digital age may well do for it in the end.

EVENT OF THE WEEK

THE second Folk Festival in Lyme Regis was another resounding success, attracting many hundreds of people to the town.

Festival publicist Julie Sheppard told this newspaper they were aiming for a “folk carnival by the sea” and she thought they had “nailed it”.  I don’t think there was any doubt about that.

We took a stroll along the seafront with visitors on both Saturday and Sunday and the Marine Parade was really buzzing. They asked: “Is Lyme always like this?” to which we had to reply “Well yes, it mostly is.” 

They could not believe that such a small resort could host such an obviously successful and professional event. How many times have we heard that before?

Jerry Hayes and Geoff Hughes, the two folk afficianados who are the driving force behind the festival, have succeeded in establishing Lyme Folk Weekend as a must on the summer calendar and being held so late in the summer it gives the town a welcome economic boost as the season draws to a close.

The addition of the food and drink outlets on the seafront added greatly to the overall atmosphere and the festival camp site looked much busier than last year.

It was another very ambitious programme but they managed to retain the friendliness which was such a hallmark of their first event.

And whilst the Lyme weekend may have a bit of a way to go to match the world renowned Sidmouth Folk Festival, there is no doubt that it has already established itself as a must weekend for folk enthusiasts.

Stand by this weekend for two more punching above our weight events - Food Rocks and Guitars On The Beach.

Guildhall Gossip

LYME Regis will be going to the polls in nine months in what many consider to be one of the most important elections for many years.

There is precious little interest in local government and no wonder considering the shenanigans that have gone on in the Lyme Regis council chamber these past couple of years, without doubt the most disturbing in the town council’s history.

When this new council was elected in 2011 there was talk of “taking local government to the people” by holding meetings at various locations around the town. It didn’t happen.

Talk also of making council business more transparent but that didn’t happen either with the council going into commitee (secret session) at the drop of a hat and many decisions obviously being decided before councillors got to the chamber. 

Real debate in our council chamber is a disappearing art with more decision making being devolved to the officers.

No one is getting excited yet about the outcome of the next election with polling day still so far away.

One thing is for sure, there is likely to be a big change in the make up of the council.  So far, three existing councillors have told me they don’t intend to stand and there could be several more who will be putting away their code of conduct for a last time.

But who will replace them?

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Survey is great but what will actually be done?

WELL, well, well! So the final stage of an official evaluation of Weymouth’s controversial new transport system is to be carried out this autumn, is it?

That alone shows how hopelessly out of touch with the situation those in authority are since the new system was actually brought in as part of hosting the Olympic Games which was a summer event!

That chaos is unlikely to be mirrored in the autumn when the bulk of tourists and almost all those down here during the school holidays have long since gone home.

But you have to admire this master stroke while hopefully maintaining a healthy dollop of scepticism about what will actually be done to the system once the survey by independent experts is completed and they make their recommendations on possible solutions.

Top of that long list will be – if they have the sense God gave an ant – the scrapping of dual entry and exit lanes to the new traffic light junctions which even police are worried about because of concerns it has created “a racetrack mentality” among drivers determined to get to the far side of the junction before fellow motorists.

Don’t forget. All this massive motoring muddle has already cost £9.3million and that’s before work is carried out on trying to improve it.

Among immensely annoying scenarios this stupid intelligent transport system has provoked is one at the bottom of Abbotsbury Road where lights now control the entrance to Swannery Bridge and the flow of traffic from Weymouth Way and Westwey Road.

Serious problems are caused by drivers exiting Westwey Road determined to force their way on to Swannery Bridge because they rush to beat the lights changing to red and end up stranded out in no-man’s-land.

That means drivers trying to leave Abbotsbury Road and drive over to the bridge have nowhere to go, sometimes taking five or more light changes to get across when they should manage it in one.

Frustration breeds frustration and in the past week I’ve seen drivers do U-turns on the junction and U-turns from the exit lane round the lights and back up the entry lane while one poor soul ended up parked on the junction because he couldn’t go backwards, forwards or sideways!

We are told that the independent auditors evaluating the system will take into account “all road users, not just motorists” to ensure that the transport plan is “fit for purpose”.

Perhaps it might have been a good idea to do all this before the original system was foisted on us two long suffering years ago!

And I’m not holding my breath that they’ll get it right now.

Now that’s alot of sand!

ANYONE who has had building work done on their home or walked by somewhere having an extension put up will be familiar with piles of sand on display needed for mortar.

But what do you do when you have more sand than you know what to do with and nothing to use it for?

That is the dilemma which faces Weymouth’s multi-storey car park every week.

So much sand is blown into the building, driven in on the wheels of motorists or is traipsed in on the feet of people that staff  have to use a special vacumn-like machine to stay on top of it all every week.

To put their task in perspective, each week they vacumn up seven hundredweight of sand or nearly 360 kilograms of the stuff.

That equates to about 18 tons of sand every year which is almost enough to start your own beach. 

Now that’s a lot of sand!

Lasting impressions

JUST come back from Weymouth Railway Station where a group of four men were slumped on the forecourt steps drinking cans of beer.

There were a few more “emergency rations” in plastic bags by their side and the cares of the day were clearly well on their way to being out of focus.

Just a couple of things to point out.

The first is that all four of them were getting plastered within ten feet of a large sign saying that drinking alcohol in this area was prohibited… and the second was that it was barely 8am!

Their position on the main steps away from the vehicle drop-off point meant anyone popping in for tickets or information had to literally clamber their way through this sozzled human chicane which itself begs two questions.

Why weren’t these drunks being moved on by railway staff and, if such action was not deemed to be their job, why didn’t they call police in to move them on?

Police views on such people cannot be misunderstood because officers have just publicly declared the success of a two-week clampdown on drinking in public and anti-social behaviour.

The final nail in the coffin of action came from the looks on the faces of two holidaying families catching an early train home. 

I wonder what they’ll be talking about as their last impression of Weymouth!

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A real community asset

ALL credit to Axminster Town Council for stepping in with a bid to save the Pippins centre, home of Axminster Youth Club for so many years.

The youth centre has fallen foul of the stringent cost cutting by Devon County Council.
In trying to save the building for continued community use, the council say they are investing in the youth of the town.

With other interested parties also trying to put together a plan to protect its future, it is to be hoped that such a fine building, on which so much money has been spent in the past, can be utilised as a real community asset.

To their credit, the town council is leading the way.

CARNIVAL  time is upon once again and, as always, Seaton kicked off the 2014 season with a packed week of events, culminating in a splendid grand procession of Saturday evening. 

I was unable to see the finale procession  but regular carnvalities tell me it was one of the best for several years.

With the stringent health and safety rules in place these days, it becomes increasingly difficult for carnival clubs to meet the ever increasing cost of building and insuring floats.

This year’s East Devon circuit will certainly miss the magnificent tableaux which the Sid Vale Carnival Club has created over the years. They slimmed down with a mini entry in the Seaton procession but still won a prize.

Favourites for the overall East Devon prize will be the Nunsford Nutters, from Colyton, who live up to their name every year with hilarious entries. This year’s “Formula Tubs” is no exception.

There was a real fun atmosphere around Seaton last week with good support for all the carnival events. 

Carnival Queen Laura Fisher and her Princesses, Amanda Mettam and Louise Tyne, threw themselves into the occasion and even agreed to an ice bucket challenge, the craze which is sweeping the country and raising huge sums for motor neurone disease.

Well done to the hard working Seaton Carnival Committee, led by President Roger Woolland, for staging another splendid week.

Next up: Colyton Carnival starting this coming Saturday with their procession on September 13th.

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