I heard a rumour this morning that one of the remaining four Swimming Pool trustees had resigned from her post as treasurer.
I don’t know whether this means that she’s resigned as a trustee or ‘just ‘ as treasurer. In any event it’s not good news.
The Swimming Pool Trust needs all the help it can get at the moment. Let’s hope they’re not too proud to accept any help that’s offered them.
Too many Glühweins followed by an excellent roast lunch from the Garfield Girls – another superb event in the Pannier Market.
An excellent turnout for this superb event. Queues to get into the Pannier Market and queues into the Parish Church to see the Christmas tree display.
Well done to all those responsible for organising it.
I must say that the lights in the Square looked fantastic. Putting lights, and the Merry Christmas sign, on the Town Hall scaffolding was a stroke of genius. The photograph doesn’t really do it justice.
I’m now looking forward to the Christmas Fatstock show on Sunday!
I spoke to Andy Jarvis and the CEO of the Exeter YMCA on Friday evening in the Pannier Market.
It appears that the YMCA were successful in their second attempt to get funding from Devon County Council. Although it’s not as much as they needed (£10,000 rather than £15,000), it will enable them to run the Youth Resource Centre in South Molton. So, subject to dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on the legal paperwork, they should be running the centre from January.
Apart from Andy Jarvis and the YMCA, thanks should also go to our local County Councillor, Jeremy Yabsley, who has done a great deal to ensure that this initiative could go ahead.
Has anyone other than me wondered why Mill-on-the-Mole is in Bishops Nympton parish?
I know that historically the parish boundary on that side of town is the River Mole, but I doubt whether many of the Mill-on-the-Mole residents ever go to Bishops Nympton.
Why would they? After all, the facilities they use are literally just up the road in South Molton.
Sad to hear that Jeremey Thorpe has died.
No matter what you might think about his behaviour (or politics), he was an excellent constituency politician.
I went to the South Molton Tourist Information Centre AGM on Tuesday.
They ran at a loss last year and things are going to be worse this year. Partly because an increasing number of people are booking things on-line, but primarily because North Devon+ have withdrawn all their funding!
Their biggest items of expenditure are staff costs, rent and gas and electricity.
Their sources of income are:
In 2013/2104 they received just one grant – £1,500 from SMTC.
Why no grants from surrounding parishes, NDDC or DCC, or indeed Somerset County Council or even the EU ?
Devon County Council have stopped running the Youth Resource Centre, and, as far as I’m aware, the YMCA haven’t yet started running it. And yet on both Friday evening and Tuesday evening there were people in there. Not that I’m complaining – it’s a good thing it’s still being used – but who has responsibility for it at the moment?
UPDATE: It appears that SMTC (driven by Andrew Coates) are keeping the centre open until such time as the YMCA can take it over. This is extremely good news as it gives continuity to all the groups currently using it. Well done SMTC!
After coming back from the NDDC meeting in Barnstaple, I had a cup of coffee (excellent as usual) and a panini in That New Place.
It’s always interesting sitting there watching the world go by and today I spotted this abysmal bit of parking:
Looking at the following picture you’d never think that there was a weight limit on this stretch of road would you? Of course it could have been delivering to one of the shops along the road. Christmas sweets for Bon Bons perhaps?
