Every spare moment has seen me baking recently, and my freezer is full of cakes, large and small, for Saturday's Christmas Market for Parity for Disability. Having declined to participate in the fire walk, being a devout coward, I felt duty bound to prove myself useful as a trustee, and not just turn up for Board meetings. So, Saturday will find me in Princesmead, in Farnborough, trying to persuade the public that my offerings are edible and hoping desperately that mine won't get left over when sales end at 4.00pm. Quite apart from the humiliation, that would be particularly galling since I'm on a diet, so having the smell of baking permeating the house has been sheer torture.
Now I come to think about it, even selling cakes might be a challenge. Perhaps I'll volunteer for one of the other stalls, to keep me away from temptation. The tombola should be safe, shouldn't it?
Sunday 13 November 2011
Friday 4 November 2011
Another School Governorship
I have now become a community governor of a local secondary school, as well as LEA governor at an infants' school. Since I've gone to the trouble of attending courses and learning as much as I can about the role of governor, I figured I might as well put it to good use. Fortunately, the times of the meetings mean that I can manage both relatively easily, and I'm glad to be of practical use in the community in this way. With luck, I may find opportunities for a bit of 'cross-pollination', sharing ideas from one school with the other. Even if that's not possible, it's very interesting to see how the two schools operate, and to play a small part in the lives of the children.
The Farnborough Society
One of my great passions is The Farnborough Society, of which I am Hon Secretary and a founder member. Established in 2008, TFS continues to grow and diversify, hosting a wide range of events throughout the year--walks, talks, tours and social activities, actively engaging with the Planning Department of Rushmoor Borough Council with monthly meetings, and, more recently, creating a Youth Initiative and a Pedestrian Forum.
Our Executive Committee recognises that Farnborough, the birthplace of British aviation, simply doesn't live up to its incredibly rich heritage. A lamentable lack of vision has resulted in a generic town centre unworthy of the name Farnborough. But the potential is enormous. With a couple of friends, I co-authored a response on behalf of TFS to Rushmoor's Core Strategy consultation in which we set out our vision for a new cultural heart to the town, with a piazza-style town square and an arts complex consisting of a small theatre, exhibition space, meeting/ rehearsal rooms and indoor/outdoor cafe culture. The obvious location for such a centre is alongside Meudon Avenue, on the site of the police station (scheduled to close), the community centre (no longer fit for purpose) and the library, which is good, but in a dreadfully ugly, concrete building, and could be housed elsewhere. We would envisage the design for such a project to draw on the many former RAE listed buildings nearby, much as the excellent Redrow development has done.
I am dismayed that there is nothing to attract Farnborough's more affluent workers into the town centre, nor the tens of thousands of visitors who come for the Air Show, and believe our arts complex would do exactly that, and ultimately benefit many of our local businesses. We could have themed markets, musical events and parades here, and I am convinced that it all would engender a new sense of civic pride too. This is my dream and I shall be promoting the idea at every opportunity.
The Youth Initiative aims to produce a range of age-appropriate walking tours around the town, with points of interest to look for and with opportunities for further research. We hope to persuade schools and youth organisations to encourage children to use these to discover more about their home town and hopefully to increase their pride in Farnborough.
The Pedestrian Forum will give all walkway users a platform from which to make their views heard. We aim to bring together people who walk for leisure, to take children to and from school, to shop and to go to work, as well as disabled people, wheelchair and mobility scooter users, people with strollers and toddlers, and the elderly. As well as the actual fora, we will conduct street surveys and report our findings to Rushmoor BC and Hampshire CC. I'm a great advocate of this kind of partnership working and have high hopes that we can make a valuable contribution for the implementation of the Farnborough Town Access Plan.
Our Executive Committee recognises that Farnborough, the birthplace of British aviation, simply doesn't live up to its incredibly rich heritage. A lamentable lack of vision has resulted in a generic town centre unworthy of the name Farnborough. But the potential is enormous. With a couple of friends, I co-authored a response on behalf of TFS to Rushmoor's Core Strategy consultation in which we set out our vision for a new cultural heart to the town, with a piazza-style town square and an arts complex consisting of a small theatre, exhibition space, meeting/ rehearsal rooms and indoor/outdoor cafe culture. The obvious location for such a centre is alongside Meudon Avenue, on the site of the police station (scheduled to close), the community centre (no longer fit for purpose) and the library, which is good, but in a dreadfully ugly, concrete building, and could be housed elsewhere. We would envisage the design for such a project to draw on the many former RAE listed buildings nearby, much as the excellent Redrow development has done.
I am dismayed that there is nothing to attract Farnborough's more affluent workers into the town centre, nor the tens of thousands of visitors who come for the Air Show, and believe our arts complex would do exactly that, and ultimately benefit many of our local businesses. We could have themed markets, musical events and parades here, and I am convinced that it all would engender a new sense of civic pride too. This is my dream and I shall be promoting the idea at every opportunity.
The Youth Initiative aims to produce a range of age-appropriate walking tours around the town, with points of interest to look for and with opportunities for further research. We hope to persuade schools and youth organisations to encourage children to use these to discover more about their home town and hopefully to increase their pride in Farnborough.
The Pedestrian Forum will give all walkway users a platform from which to make their views heard. We aim to bring together people who walk for leisure, to take children to and from school, to shop and to go to work, as well as disabled people, wheelchair and mobility scooter users, people with strollers and toddlers, and the elderly. As well as the actual fora, we will conduct street surveys and report our findings to Rushmoor BC and Hampshire CC. I'm a great advocate of this kind of partnership working and have high hopes that we can make a valuable contribution for the implementation of the Farnborough Town Access Plan.
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