Youth to the fore...
THIS Friday (February 12th) will be an important day in the long running campaign to improve the unacceptable level of youth facilities in Lyme Regis.
I have asked many times in this column why Lyme is the only major town in West Dorset not to have its own county council-financed youth club.
Parents have been campaigning in recent weeks for the re-opening of the young people’s club in Church Street, formerly the church hall. But they will be disappointed to read on our front page that neither the county council nor the Woodroffe School are interested in pursuing plans to re-open the facility following a damning survey on the condition of the building.
However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
Discussions are taking place on the possibility of using the county library in Silver Street as a youth club if an alternative venue can be found for the library service. St Michael’s Business Centre is one option being considered.
At present the only out-of-school school facilities available to the young people of Lyme are the youth nights run by the Baptist Church and the InSPARation café in Church Street, which is very popular with a section of the town’s young people but suffers greatly from the lack of qualified supervisors.
All those interested in making sure the youngsters of Lyme are treated with equal importance as those in Bridport, Beaminster and Dorchester have been invited to a public meeting at St Michael’s Primary School in Kings Way on Friday, February 12th at 5.30 pm.
The meeting will be chaired by West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin who has given his full support to efforts to improve youth facilities in the town. Representatives from the Dorset County Council Youth Service and the Woodroffe School will be present.
I interviewed Sally Holman, chairman of the Lyme Youth Consortium, a body formed to try and bring all interested parties together, on Lyme TV last Friday evening.
Whilst she did not wish to elaborate too much on the library idea, for fear of pre-empting Friday’s discussion, she was very candid about the problems of getting all intersted parties to co-operate in going forward.
The former young people’s club in Church Street is administerd by a group of trustees who have said all along that the building is not fit for purpose.
I understand they are proceeding with their original plans to sell the building and the question that will surely be asked at Friday’s meeting is that if a buyer is found will that money stay in the town or go to the National Association of Young People’s Clubs?
Opening recital ‘history in the making’
WITH the church packed to capacity - the biggest number of people I have ever seen in St Michael’s - the scene was set for a very special evening when top organist Philip Scriven performed the opening recital on the new £350,000 Skrabl organ. Neither Philip nor the organ disappointed even those of us with, shall I say, an unrefined ear.
It was a stroke of genius to ask Philip to perform at this special event and to put the organ, which he described as “magnificent”, through its paces.
Philip is no stranger to Lyme, having grown up in Chard and being a regular visitor to the town as a child. He spoke touchingly of how proud he is of his dad, Peter, well known in local musical circles and a founder, with the late Pat Perry, former Lyme Regis Town Band musical director, of the Perry Brass Quintet who played at the opening concert with Peter on the trumpet.
I am probably the least qualified to comment on the tonal quality of the organ or the playing capabilities of Philip Scriven, but I felt a great sense of history being given the privileged position of watching the proceeding from the clergy stalls. The organ is expected to serve St Michael’s for the next 200 years and I think everyone in the audience was aware that we were witnessing history in the making.
Philip made the evening more interesting with some facts on his chosen programme and a few organist anecdotes. Like all musicians, he tells a good story.
Fans of church organ music are in for a feast of entertainment over the coming months with several other top organists lined up to play on the Skrabl in aid of the organ appeal.
Back in the old groove ...
IT was good to be behind the microphone again last week, doing the interviews for the official launch of Lyme TV.
The town’s very own internet television station is the latest venture of one of Lyme’s most colourful couples, Nomad and Mary, who have been running Lyme Regis Radio for many years,
For over a year I did a news round-up and interviews for their popular Friday Night at the Royal Lion programme, the highlights of which were included on a CD that accompanied my Lyme Matters book in 2007 (still selling, by the way).
Whilst I have one of those faces most definitely more suited to radio tham TV, I’m pleased to be back in the old groove doing the interviews for the fortnightly Lyme Live programme which are being recorded at the By the Bay restaurant at least until May.
Among my “victims” last week was John McCallum, Rotary Club president who spoke on the worldwide campaign to eradicate polio, a campaign we will be featuring in next week’s View.
I also gave a grilling to former mayor Sally Holman on her efforts to co-ordinate a solution to Lyme’a appalling lack of youth facilities. To see them, go to www.lymeregis.tv
www.viewfrompublishing.co.uk
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