Mayoress' Charity Fashion Show

By anyone's standards I'm hardly model material, but even so I recently found myself parading down the catwalk in aid of the Mayor's Charities, one of which is Parity for Disability. It had been a huge commitment time-wise, and I felt an absolute twerp when rehearsals began, but largely thanks to the terrific group of students from Farnborough Sixth Form College who were also models, I did manage to have fun, in spite of myself.

Two other Rushmoor Councillors, David Clifford and Sue Carter, took part, as well as the Mayor, David hamming it up shamelessly and Sue bringing the house down by wearing a onesy in the final set. I played things straight, having bottled out of wearing the meringue of a bridal gown assigned to me. Honestly, at my time of life...

It was pretty brutal backstage, with everyone struggling to manage their changes while various performers trouped through the already crowded dressing room. Still, largely due to Jill Shuttleworth and Alison Boukhobza, it all went off remarkably smoothly. Except, that is, for Eileen Hicks taking a tumble off the stage in the darkness. Fortunately, she wasn't seriously hurt. Quite apart from the lighting, the sections of the stage had come apart during the earlier Fijjian dancing and it was lucky that nobody else came to grief.

Norma, the Mayoress, put an incredible amount of work into the proceedings, in addition to her civic duties, and the staff at the Princes Hall were marvellous. And, on the night, the students set up a display of their own designs that was very impressive.

I've yet to hear how much money was raised, though it was probably disappointing because ticket sales were low. Still, those who came clearly enjoyed themselves enormously, and any money raised is always welcome.

Spinnaker Tower Abseil

Last Sunday I did something very uncharacteristic. I abseiled down the Spinnaker Tower, in Portsmouth, in aid of Parity for Disability. The descent was 100 metres and took an eternity, during which I kept my eyes firmly on the wall in front of me. It was scary, but I was confident that I was in good hands. I knew they wouldn’t let anything dreadful happen to me.

I felt a great sense of achievement afterwards, and was particularly pleased that three of my grandchildren had seen me do it. My colleagues on Rushmoor Borough Council, Jacqui Vosper and Sue Carter, also came along to support me, as well as the Hampshire County Councillor for my ward, Carol Leversha.

Going up the tower in the lift felt a little surreal. Was I really going through with this? I, who have been a devout coward my entire life? We stepped out onto the lower viewing platform and were shepherded into a roped-off area where we were kitted out. I allowed myself to take in the stunning views, though I was careful to out and not down.

Trussed up like turkeys, the Parity team of seven were guided down a flight of steps to the crow’s nest from which we would begin our descent. It felt like I was going to my execution, with no possibility of escape. After our briefing, the first of our team stepped out. I came second, and was to take a different route down, to the left of the crow’s nest.

Following a few further instructions, I stepped over the fence onto a narrow ledge, then sat down and let my harness take my weight. My instructor took a photo and then I was on my way. I was asked to stop after a few metres for another photo from above, then it was just a question of concentrating on feeding my rope up and guiding my feet, which kept hitting small metal boxes set into the wall. Very annoying. I was coming down in a corner, which was tricky. I tried placing my feet on both walls, but that didn’t feel right, so I came down on one wall and just had to put up with the obstruction of the boxes. My only thought was to get down as soon as possible.

There were plenty of supporters from Parity, including two students, and it felt wonderful that I had actually done something substantive for the charity. It’s all well and good attending board meetings, etc, but this was the first fundraising exploit I had done since becoming a trustee.

We then had a long wait before our final member, Kelvin Smith, made his descent. Kelvin, also a trustee, has cerebral palsy, so special arrangements had to be made for him, hence the delay. Unfortunately, by the time Kelvin came down the weather had taken a turn for the worse and he endured squalling winds and torrential rain. I shall definitely be sponsoring him because he’s one of the bravest people I know, and one of the nicest.

I hope to raise £2000, and welcome donations via Just Giving:

 http://www.justgiving.com/Barbara-Hurst

St John's Church Community Woodland Garden

I had the great honour of cutting the ribbon to open the new Community Woodland Garden at St John’s Church, Farnborough, recently. After heavy rain in the morning, the sun came out, so the hundred or so people who came along had a very nice afternoon to explore the garden, its interpretation board, the nature trail through the churchyard and especially the tea and cakes. As the lady who handed me a large slice of delicious coffee cake told me, St John’s is a church than functions on cake.

Esther Prior, the Vicar of St John’s, invited me to open the garden because it was my telling her about the community fruit trees that The Farnborough Society planted, with the help of Rushmoor Borough Council, that set her thinking about how the Church’s glebe land might be used for the benefit of the whole community. Initially, we hoped to establish a community orchard, letting our imagination run away with thoughts of Mothering Sunday and Easter among the blossom and fresh fruit for Harvest Festival. However, the many mature trees and dense undergrowth made such scheme impossible, and so the woodland garden was conceived.

Rushmoor BC was incredibly helpful in directing us towards funding, arranging for work by the Community Payback scheme and offering by advice. Fawn’s, a local company that makes playground equipment, donated picnic tables. Lots of volunteers, most notably the Second Cove Sea Scouts, gave their time and effort, and above all Esther and her husband Matt worked tirelessly and relentlessly to make the dream come true.

I believe that modern life makes places of solace and contemplation absolutely essential, though sadly there seem to be fewer and fewer such places. The large turnout suggests that the people of St John’s Ward appreciate the value of what Esther and Matt have created, and I hope the garden will be very well used. I will make a special point of visiting when the bluebells are out in the spring.

Opening of St John's Community Woodland Garden

Election 2012

After a brutal campaign, I was re-elected to serve a three year term, though several of my colleagues, and friends, weren't so fortunate. We've lost some good councillors along with our huge majority, and we need to take a long, hard look at the way we do things locally. I only hope there's a willingness to undertake serious self-scrutiny rather than simply apportioning blame elsewhere; otherwise, we'll learn nothing.

The Localism Act should act as a catalyst for change, and we simply can't let the opportunities it affords us to pass. It sounds trite, but we really are at a crossroads, and it's vital that we find the courage to challenge our opinions and systems, because we need constructive criticism if we are to rebuild effectively.

I am hopeful that, together, the Rushmoor Conservatives are up to the challenge.

Farnborough Town Centre Prospectus

I've never written to the letters page of a newspaper before, and of course they may not print it, but this is what I've sent to the Farnborough News and Mail:

Like many other Farnborough residents, I have been examining RBC’s Prospectus, currently out for public consultation, that updates the Farnborough Town Centre Supplementary Planning Document of 2007, and I am deeply disappointed. It lacks vision and it lacks boldness, and will do little to reverse the town’s inexorable decline because Farnborough will remain a cultural desert, with nothing of real quality as a basis for the evening economy identified in the Core Strategy as being fundamental to the revival of the town centre.  This simply isn’t good enough. We deserve better.

There are aspects of the Prospectus that I welcome: the long-overdue cinema and its anticipated cluster of restaurants, the improvements to the street scene by designing outward-facing shops and businesses, the new entrances to the shopping areas. And I really like the idea of a town square as a focus for activities such as parades, markets and entertainment. But the bottom of Queensmead is entirely the wrong place for it, and misses a unique opportunity to do something truly remarkable to improve the quality of residents’ lives, to raise civic pride and, crucially, to attract inward investment.

The right place to create a truly impressive focal point for the town is the current site of the Elles Hall Community Centre, no longer fit for purpose, the library, ear-marked for relocation, and the police station, scheduled to close. The SPD proposes moving the council offices to this site, acknowledging its prime location in the geographical centre of Farnborough, with excellent connectivity, by all modes of transport, to all areas of the town. The new prospectus is very vague in its proposals for this site, but moving the council offices there would be a dreadful waste of opportunity. I believe we need to set our sights much higher and have the courage to dream.  

I have a dream; it is to see a town square in that location, bounded by buildings devoted to the arts. I dream of a small auditorium, where I can go to see the Farnborough Symphony Orchestra perform, or a local amateur operatic production. I dream of an exhibition space, where I can see the work of local artists. And I dream of indoor/outdoor café culture, of the kind that flourishes in European towns and cities.

I know that funds are short, but that shouldn’t limit our aspirations.  RBC is extremely good at forming partnerships and making things happen, and I have confidence that, with courageous leadership and strong, creative marketing, my dream would be possible. We are being offered shops, cinema and bingo, and frankly, for me, that isn’t good enough.

I really hope that Farnborough residents will look at the proposals, along with the 2007 SPD, and ask themselves whether this is what they want. Is it worthy of a town with such a rich aviation heritage, and whose name is known throughout the world? I say emphatically no.

I'm actually pretty angry about this and feel that we're all being made complicit in the further decline of the town because the slick presentation obscures the fundamental flaws in the Prospectus.  If we're not careful, we shall be stuck with a generic town with no character and precious little in the way of amenities, and I'm determined to do all I can to prevent that.

St John Ambulance Hut Refurbishment

With several other people who really need to get a life, I spent most of the weekend painting our St John Ambulance hut. It's a huge job and still only half done, but already the place is considerably lighter and brighter. We had the hut insulated and a lot of cupboards built in, hence the need for all this painting. Sustained by lots of home-baked cakes and copious quanitities of tea, we worked incredibily hard, not least because we had to leave the place in a suitable state for Squirrals Pre-school on Monday. With all that bending, I ache in places I didn't know I had places.

The inulation has made a huge difference to our comfort, and when the second phase--replacement windows and doors--is complete, we shall have a pretty impressive building. It'll be much nicer for our members, of course, but also will hopefully attract other community groups to use it during the afternoons, and evenings when we're not using it for SJA activities, thus bringing in a bit of extra income.

My great hope is that some of the pre-schoolers will be interested in becoming Badgers. It's such a very worthwhile thing for a young child to do, and may one day actually save someone's life. I really admire the work our members, of all ages, do, and I'm very proud to be their President.

Openings

I've had a thoroughly enjoyable morning attending two openings that meant a lot to me personally.

First, I went to Cove Infants School, where the Mayor of Rushmoor, Cllr Alex Crawford, formally opened our new Discovery Centre. A wonderful range of activities had been set up on the topic of 'Bones', with archaeological digs, real skulls to explore, games and quizzes. The whole school gathered and sang a song, then the Mayor talked about his own interest in science and exploring things before cutting the ribbon and declaring the centre open. He invited the children to ask him questions, and when asked, "How much does your chain weigh?" called for scales to weigh the badge of office, much to the children's delight. He then posed for photos with Charlie, the skeleton, which they also loved. The children then returned to their classrooms singing another song. They had behaved wonderfully well throughout, and I felt incredibly proud of them and of the staff, who had done a marvellous job.

Afterwards, I went along to Barclay's Bank for their grand re-opening following a major refurbishment. They have selected Parity as their charity for the year and invited students and trustees along to see Gerald Howarth, MP, cut the ribbon. I arrived just in time for a brilliant dance routine by some pretty flamboyant 'soldiers', with everything from break dancing to ballet. Adam, one of the students, was absolutely squealing with laughter and it was terrific to see him having such fun. The event will continue till 4.00pm and as many students as possible will be taken along to see further performances of the dance, scheduled to take place throughout the day. No doubt they will all return to the day centre with huge bunches of balloons. Inside the bank, a young man was peddling madly on a stationery bike to raise money for Parity. Like the rest of the trustees and staff, I really appreciate what he's doing for us.

Renovation of St John Ambulance Hut

Since I'm the building manager, I stopped by to see how work on the Station Road hut is progessing today and was very pleased with progress, though it's going to take a week longer than expected. We're currently under budget, so that won't be a problem financially, but Squirrals Pre-school won't be happy about the delay--they're desperate to get back in. Still, we're undertaking the work, consisting of putting in insulation and large built-in cupboards, for them, (and Ofsted) so hopefully they will be patient.
Since I became President of Cove St John Ambulance, I've had occasion to spend evenings in the hut during the heat of summer and the ice and snow of winter, so I can personally attest to the fact that it can be brutal in extreme temperatures. I take my hat off to everyone who has kept classes going over the years in such trying circumstances. I'm sure things will be very much more comfortable from now on.
We're going to have a painting weekend on the 4th and 5th February to finish off this phase, and hope to have an Open Day afterwards. With luck that will attract some new members.
The next phase will be the installation of new windows and doors, which will make a terrific difference because the windows have to be kept boarded up at the moment, so users must use artificial light all the time. Once the windows and doors are done, we'll set to and landscape the front of the building to make it look more welcoming. I think people will be very pleasantly surprised to discover how nice the hut is now. It's deceptively large, and conveniently located close to Farnborough town centre. I'm really excited by what we're doing and hope to be involved with SJA in Cove for many years to come.