I would be the first to admit that I am a miserable failure when it comes to serving on 'the chain gang' - the disrespectful term used by some about the round of civic dinners put on by town mayors. I am not comfortable with either ceremony or ladies in hats. Every time an invitation comes for a civic dinner, I refer it to my deputy (with the exception of invitations from Todmorden. This is because Mike, Town Mayor of Tod, puts on family-friendly, unfussy events).
On the other hand, I love meeting business people and voluntary groups. And I also like determining the council's agenda.
There are two areas of work that I have been quietly promoting, which I hope will benefit people.
The first is the town council's involvement in the rail franchise process which is about choosing the next company to run our railway. We have taken submissions from the Sustainable Transport Group and Mytholmroyd Station Partnership and are making representations that underline the key points that they are making about the service, ticketing and rolling stock.
The second is Mayors for Peace. I've written about this elsewhere, but to cut a long story short about 6000 Mayors, Lord Mayors, Provosts, Burgermeisters, Maires etc etc support a campaign for an international convention to eliminate all nuclear weapons. I am amongst them. We also want to promote peace as a value. There are two events over the next week when I will be trying to do this and you can come along to both: on Monday 30 March at 12.30, I will be delivering my talk about the local anti-war movement in 1914-15 and on Wednesday 1 April at 7.30pm, I want the town council to reaffirm its membership of Mayors for Peace. If you are reading this before then and support my campaign, please come along to the talk and/or the council meeting.
Thirdly, also on Wednesday night in the council meeting, I hope the town council will support my proposal to submit further particulars of our opposition to the Sainsbury's development on Valley Road on traffic grounds. For a long time, I have been proposing that the focus should be on developing the legal grounds for opposition. With an appeal based on written submissions, this is how the matter will ultimately be determined, so it is important to get it right.
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Monday, 9 February 2015
Article in Yorkshire Post about co-ops and Hebden Bridge
Months ago I gave an interview to Yorkshire Post about co-ops and Hebden Bridge. They printed it and I was too busy to notice. Anyway, here it is:
Better Together - the thriving culture of co-operatives in Hebden Bridge
Better Together - the thriving culture of co-operatives in Hebden Bridge
Sunday, 1 February 2015
Mayors for Peace
Recognising the peace-loving and anti nuclear feelings of our area, Hebden Royd Town Council (HRTC) affiliated to Mayors for Peace some years ago. This international organisation, with over 1,600 members, was started by the Mayor of Hiroshima to bring together a network of towns and cities to work towards the elimination of all nuclear weapons.
Unfortunately, HRTC is not a big council, and what with one things and another - including taking over the running of the local cinema - we have not been able to play an active part in the organisation.
I wanted to change this, but didn't have an opportunity to do so until last Friday. Happily, I was invited to a meeting of the 'European and Irish Chapter of Mayors for Peace' in Manchester City Hall. I was a bit intimidated by the use of the word 'chapter', which sounds rather grand. HRTC is just a town council. As mayor, I don't even have a car and a driver and have to take the bus or the train to go to events, or ask my wife, Aeisha, for a lift. So, I travelled to Manchester last Friday by train arriving at the devastation of Manchester Victoria station, which is currently being re-roofed, and is temporarily a hell-hole of scaffolding, leaks, cramped spaces, chaos and dirt. I think the hope is that it will become some sort of bustling shopping centre, like Kings Cross. Then I crossed central Manchester to the town hall by way of the central library, which is the greatest public library building in England, and which has recently been renovated - largely, it seems, by removing the books and replacing them with interactive displays and a brightly-lit café. To be frank, I was shocked at first, but then deeply impressed by the music library, where people can play digitalised scores on electric pianos.
Anyway, after this, I walked over to committee room four in Manchester City Hall, for the start of the meeting.
I'd brought my chain but didn't wear it, as I'm not really comfortable with official regalia, though I appreciate the respect which it attracts and try to be worthy of wearing it. However, the Lord Mayor of Manchester entered in her chain. 'Oh'. I piped up,' Should we be wearing our chains'. 'Not if you don't want to', she said. 'Do you want me to take mine off?' and she handed it to an attendant.
There were representatives at the meeting of the Lord Provost of Glasgow, a Glasgow councillor, a representative of the Mayor of Leeds, the Assistant to the Leader of Rochdale MBC and others. Thankfully, the Mayor of Otley Town Council was there, so I wasn't left feeling like I'd crashed the wrong party.
The debate concerned the constitution of the group, the activities we were undertaking and our links with Hiroshima (including through the distribution of seeds from a tree that survived the blast in 1945). It was interesting to hear how much work goes into promoting peace in different councils (though I doubt it costs much on the rates, as it is often tied to other activities including tourism, with peace trails and the like).
I was left feeling very emotional because I thought politicians were no longer really engaging with internationalism and peace. In fact, there's lot of them still about, trying to promote these values, and really, really passionate about it. I was delighted that the group was keen to badge my talk about the anti-war movement in the upper Calder Valley in 1914-15 with the 'Mayors for Peace' logo. I shall be giving it again in Halifax library at lunchtime on 24 March.
Afterwards, we were shown around 'Sensory War', the exhibition on at Manchester City Art Gallery till 22 February. It's brilliant, but it includes a lot about facial disfigurement and some drawings by Hiroshima survivors representing their experiences. Some of them are naïf, but others are highly skilled contemporary drawings, referencing traditional Japanese techniques to devastating effect. There was also a number of pieces by Iranian artists about chemical warfare, based on their experiences of the Iran-Iraq war, which were superb.
Amazed and daunted, I stumbled out of the exhibition after about an hour. But I will return.
Mayors for Peace website
Unfortunately, HRTC is not a big council, and what with one things and another - including taking over the running of the local cinema - we have not been able to play an active part in the organisation.
I wanted to change this, but didn't have an opportunity to do so until last Friday. Happily, I was invited to a meeting of the 'European and Irish Chapter of Mayors for Peace' in Manchester City Hall. I was a bit intimidated by the use of the word 'chapter', which sounds rather grand. HRTC is just a town council. As mayor, I don't even have a car and a driver and have to take the bus or the train to go to events, or ask my wife, Aeisha, for a lift. So, I travelled to Manchester last Friday by train arriving at the devastation of Manchester Victoria station, which is currently being re-roofed, and is temporarily a hell-hole of scaffolding, leaks, cramped spaces, chaos and dirt. I think the hope is that it will become some sort of bustling shopping centre, like Kings Cross. Then I crossed central Manchester to the town hall by way of the central library, which is the greatest public library building in England, and which has recently been renovated - largely, it seems, by removing the books and replacing them with interactive displays and a brightly-lit café. To be frank, I was shocked at first, but then deeply impressed by the music library, where people can play digitalised scores on electric pianos.
Anyway, after this, I walked over to committee room four in Manchester City Hall, for the start of the meeting.
I'd brought my chain but didn't wear it, as I'm not really comfortable with official regalia, though I appreciate the respect which it attracts and try to be worthy of wearing it. However, the Lord Mayor of Manchester entered in her chain. 'Oh'. I piped up,' Should we be wearing our chains'. 'Not if you don't want to', she said. 'Do you want me to take mine off?' and she handed it to an attendant.
There were representatives at the meeting of the Lord Provost of Glasgow, a Glasgow councillor, a representative of the Mayor of Leeds, the Assistant to the Leader of Rochdale MBC and others. Thankfully, the Mayor of Otley Town Council was there, so I wasn't left feeling like I'd crashed the wrong party.
The debate concerned the constitution of the group, the activities we were undertaking and our links with Hiroshima (including through the distribution of seeds from a tree that survived the blast in 1945). It was interesting to hear how much work goes into promoting peace in different councils (though I doubt it costs much on the rates, as it is often tied to other activities including tourism, with peace trails and the like).
I was left feeling very emotional because I thought politicians were no longer really engaging with internationalism and peace. In fact, there's lot of them still about, trying to promote these values, and really, really passionate about it. I was delighted that the group was keen to badge my talk about the anti-war movement in the upper Calder Valley in 1914-15 with the 'Mayors for Peace' logo. I shall be giving it again in Halifax library at lunchtime on 24 March.
Afterwards, we were shown around 'Sensory War', the exhibition on at Manchester City Art Gallery till 22 February. It's brilliant, but it includes a lot about facial disfigurement and some drawings by Hiroshima survivors representing their experiences. Some of them are naïf, but others are highly skilled contemporary drawings, referencing traditional Japanese techniques to devastating effect. There was also a number of pieces by Iranian artists about chemical warfare, based on their experiences of the Iran-Iraq war, which were superb.
Amazed and daunted, I stumbled out of the exhibition after about an hour. But I will return.
Mayors for Peace website
Thursday, 18 September 2014
On Scottish Independence in German for the Westfalenpost
As usual, I'm at the centre of world events and my thoughts on the referendum in Scotland appeared today in the Westfalenpost. You will note that I express no preference, and restrict myself to speculating on the effect on my region if Scotland becomes independent.
Article in Westfalen post
Article in Westfalen post
Sunday, 7 September 2014
Celebrating 70 years since St Pol was liberated from the Nazis
Hebweb has an article about Hebden Royd's visit to our twin town, St Pol sur Ternoise, which highlights the role of a soldier from Hebden Bridge had in its liberation seventy years ago and the excellent oil painting that St Pol presented to Hebden Royd on our last visit in May commemorating the moment when British troops entered the town.
Hebweb article
The article was written and posted before we went to St Pol, so I should mention some of the things we did when we were there from 2 - 4 September.
This included a visit to Siracourt, a village near to St Pol, which includes the remnants of a wartime V1 bunker, that I was encouraged to clamber over with former mayors Cllrs Boggis and Dixon. The Allies dropped more bombs on this little village than anywhere else in Europe and, as a result, no V1s (the forerunner of drones) were launched at England from the site before its destruction. Walking over it was a very sombre experience, particularly as the bombing killed many of the Soviet slave labourers who built the facility and one could still see impressions of their boots in the concrete.
After the war, the village was reconstructed in a beautiful contemporary style. Its Catholic church, in particular, is a remarkable and very beautiful space, that demonstrates what can be done with wood and concrete and a good imagination working on a human scale. The wooden roof of the church arches inwards like a boat, towards a multi-coloured stained glass arch behind the alter. On either side, statues from the obliterated medieval church have been fixed to the wall. The curved skeleton of the church is constructed out of concrete and looks - though this may sound paradoxical - very attractive. The mayor's office is behind the local school, which educates 7 and 8 year olds, who then move on to other premises in a nearby village.
At the ceremony in St Pol's Salle de Fete that night, Hebden Royd was presented with a detailed DVD recounting St Pol's war experiences. This included a description of the heavy bombing of St Pol by the RAF in 1943, which resulted in substantial loss of civilian life. It was good and right to be liberated from the Nazis but the cost in terms of innocent people was high. I think I speak on behalf of the whole council in saying that the DVD is a remarkable historical record and the product of very thorough and painstaking local research.
I also had the great honour of being introduced to a member of the French resistance from St Pol. There was a translator handy, so I was able to convey the deep admiration that I have for his bravery.
During the day, I laid three wreaths on behalf of Hebden Royd: one for those who died in the fighting at the beginning and end of the war, one for those in the town who were killed by the allied bombing and finally one commemorating the railway workers who died during the war. Needless to say, I was, and continue to be, very moved by the visit.
Hebweb article
The article was written and posted before we went to St Pol, so I should mention some of the things we did when we were there from 2 - 4 September.
This included a visit to Siracourt, a village near to St Pol, which includes the remnants of a wartime V1 bunker, that I was encouraged to clamber over with former mayors Cllrs Boggis and Dixon. The Allies dropped more bombs on this little village than anywhere else in Europe and, as a result, no V1s (the forerunner of drones) were launched at England from the site before its destruction. Walking over it was a very sombre experience, particularly as the bombing killed many of the Soviet slave labourers who built the facility and one could still see impressions of their boots in the concrete.
After the war, the village was reconstructed in a beautiful contemporary style. Its Catholic church, in particular, is a remarkable and very beautiful space, that demonstrates what can be done with wood and concrete and a good imagination working on a human scale. The wooden roof of the church arches inwards like a boat, towards a multi-coloured stained glass arch behind the alter. On either side, statues from the obliterated medieval church have been fixed to the wall. The curved skeleton of the church is constructed out of concrete and looks - though this may sound paradoxical - very attractive. The mayor's office is behind the local school, which educates 7 and 8 year olds, who then move on to other premises in a nearby village.
At the ceremony in St Pol's Salle de Fete that night, Hebden Royd was presented with a detailed DVD recounting St Pol's war experiences. This included a description of the heavy bombing of St Pol by the RAF in 1943, which resulted in substantial loss of civilian life. It was good and right to be liberated from the Nazis but the cost in terms of innocent people was high. I think I speak on behalf of the whole council in saying that the DVD is a remarkable historical record and the product of very thorough and painstaking local research.
I also had the great honour of being introduced to a member of the French resistance from St Pol. There was a translator handy, so I was able to convey the deep admiration that I have for his bravery.
During the day, I laid three wreaths on behalf of Hebden Royd: one for those who died in the fighting at the beginning and end of the war, one for those in the town who were killed by the allied bombing and finally one commemorating the railway workers who died during the war. Needless to say, I was, and continue to be, very moved by the visit.
Wednesday, 27 August 2014
Caroline Gooding's obituary from the Guardian
Please read the following obituary of a former colleague, whose work to realise the rights of disabled people continues. Caroline did not just have an outstanding mind, she was also a very nice, very modest person.
Caroline Gooding's obituary by Bob Niven
Caroline Gooding's obituary by Bob Niven
Sunday, 24 August 2014
Your Ideas on Local Planning Rules, Please
If you live in Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Cragg Vales or any of the surrounding hilltop settlements, please contribute to this thread on hebweb asking for ideas for our neighbourhood plan.
The plan brings together Hebden Royd Town Council with Blackshawhead, Erringden, Heptonstall and Wadsworth parishes in our most ambitious partnership. All will be explained if you read the post!
http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/forum/2014/072.html
The plan brings together Hebden Royd Town Council with Blackshawhead, Erringden, Heptonstall and Wadsworth parishes in our most ambitious partnership. All will be explained if you read the post!
http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/forum/2014/072.html
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