Graham Ellis - my blog
Road Closures and seeking Events Officer
The Christmas Lights Switch On closes Melksham Town Centre to motorised traffic for a few hours one evening a year. And there's no doubt that alongside all the pleasure brought to thousands, the event inconveniences some residents and businesses in the area. Although early information is put out in the area, including door to door hand delivered leaflets, the closure and the effects of it always seem to take some by surprise, and each year has seen some pretty upset people and very strong words with abuse to the team who are there - volunteer and paid - to keep things safe and enjoyable.As a former President of the Chamber of Commerce, as a member of the SCOB that had the issue of reaching everyone with town plans, as one of The Council's representatives on the steering group as the Neighbourhood Plan, and as one of two Town Councillors representing the Town Centre ward and also living in it, I offered last night to help speak with those concerned ahead of time to avoid nasty surprises and altercation on the day. However, the Committee's decision was to delegate the letter writing to our communications officer, snd the visiting of businesses to The Mayor. Fair enough; the Committee's call and I defer to their decision. Christmas is still 5 months away, and detail for the day will be in the hands of the new Events Officer that we are recruiting at present,
The Christmas Event is popular and exciting, and if you would like to project manage it and have the background and robustness to take the lows of the job with the highs, you still have a few days to apply to the Town Council for the job of Events Manager - advert currently available at https://www.melksham-tc.gov.uk/local-news/melksham-town-council-job-vacancies. It's a permanent, all year job with challenges for the right person.
Sorting out the trains - what problems?
I was interviewed in that BBC Radio Wiltshire on 18th July (2024) about the new Government's plans for our railways, and the interviewer asked "What one thing could you do to get the railways up and running and people using them again, arriving on time, getting a seat and that sort of thing?". Listen to the interview again (here)A good question, yes - but:
* People ARE using the railways (though not as many as could be)
* Most trains that run ARE are reasonably on time (but too many cancelled)
* You WILL usually get a seat if you want one (but some pinch points)
So ... where does that leave us?
* A need to properly define what has to be / could do with fixing / updating
* A strategy to look at where we want to be in the further future
* Tactics to help get us towards that future
I'm going to suggest that trains and buses are mass transit and are a much more sustainable and carbon friendly way of getting around in bulk for people than private cars or planes and our strategy should be going beyond fixing current actual or perceived issues and look to having us able to get around "better".
Illustration - people joining the train at Chippeneham just before 8 p.m. on Saturday evening for Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury. There were 50 passengers on that train, more that half got off at Melksham and more joined it
Published Monday, 29th July 2024
My meeting attendance - record and plan
In the early days after my election to Melksham Town Council in May 2021, I attended a number of meetings via Zoom as a councillor, as did a number of my colleagues. But the rules (law) has been changed and I am no longer allowed to do that. I must now be in the Town Council chamber in the Town Hall to act as a councillor at meetings. Good on the Town Council for running meetings hybrid these days so that the public and staff can take part.Over the past year, I have done my very best to be in the chamber for full council meetings, meetings of committees I am on, and meetings of working groups I am on. And I have achieved an 80% attendance rate - a pretty average number. That's from "call"s to 56 meetings; my choice of how many groups I sit on, and again 56 is pretty average.
But it's all a bit frustrating - the system and how it's used does not value the unpaid volunteer resource of councillors.
* I have been present, via Zoom, at other meetings. The minutes record that, for example, for last month's full council, I was there as a member of the public but still the record shows a failure to attend. True, when I wanted to say something I raised my hand but was not called - perfectly allowed by law; as a member of the public the chair would have had to suspend standing order to let me speak.
* Meetings are in a calendar planned well ahead and that's good. And I make plans to be in Melksham to attend them. But they get changed far too often and casually. I have dashed back on the ferry from France for a town council meeting (that I must be there for in person!) to have in cancelled while I travel. I found out that last Thursday's Quiz night was cancelled only on Tuesday, and next Monday's full council that I have planned around was moved too - no reason given. For sure, changes are needed from time to time, but they are frequent, and made with scant regard to those of us who give our time for free and must plan to be physically present.
* We have several of our key staff attending meetings remotely (via Zoom) and indeed taking fully part in those meetings exactly as if they were in the chamber. Excellent, sensible, practical but so GALLING to be sitting there as a councillor having different rules applied to me because I'm elected.
Dear residents, I will continue to attend meetings IN PERSON as a councillor where I sensibly can - look back at the end of the current term next May, and you should still see an official 80% record. In reality that's a "being present" record of around 85% to 90%. However, I am shifting my decisions on what meetings to attend from what looks good and is in the line of duty to what I believe is good for the long term. And I am minded not to put myself in a position of making significant changes to none-council plans to be able to attend a less than crucial meeting of event that may not even happen.
On that basis, I have agreed to speak at an event this autumn where we are looking at the future of public transport in the constituency, a topic on which the direction for years to some is being set. And that's in preference to a Town Council meeting where topics might once again include 30 minutes on whether we should provide individual cup cakes or slices from a larger cake in the Town Hall after the Remembrance Parade.
Footnote - much of what I do is concerned with travel and transport, and that includes learning from other places. Next week I will be in Barnstaple seeing how their hourly train service works and is promoted. And I have recommended changes here from learning at Penryn, Cornwall, and from Estonia, and from talking to and listening to people the world over. Such activity does not put me out of contact ... just outside the law should I try to vote or say something during a council meeting. GWR train changes have been negotiated sucess fully from midAtlantic, resident's issues dealt with from Finland, and a bus presenation given from the Swiss / German border.
Published Saturday, 27th July 2024
Travel without a car - Better for me
When I'm travelling, I try to use sustainable and public transport as much as I can. Not *just* for the good of the planet, but for numerous other reasons too. I'm writing this text on the bus from home in Melksham to Bath, and there's an immediate benefit for me - I'm not having to concentrate on driving, but I can be writing, or sleeping and I could be chatting with others - so it's not time wasted. Let me look back at the last week, and the journeys I have made - not choosing a car even in one case.
On Saturday, I walked to Melksham Train Station and spent £14.90 on a day return to Weymouth, and from there I took the Portland Coaster bus out to the lighthouse at Portland Bill, which is included in my senior bus pass. Probably saving money, even with an electric car - certainly saving me parking fees, saving my energy. Providing interaction with a number of people I met, helping update and educate me on train and bus use and how these things go together - what's good and what's not so good about them.
On Sunday, it was Melksham Open Gardens day, and I took our electric bike around a number of the outlying gardens - Portman Road, St Margaret's Gardens, Redwing Road, St Michael's Road and I can think of a legal more rapid or greener way from one place to the next. An electric scooter might have been faster, but they cannot be legally used in Melksham - ironic!
On Monday, a trip to the Railway Station to meet with the new Coffee Seller who's just started there once a week. Electric Cycle again - 6 minutes each way to and from home, and I didn't time it down to the second because it's not a race. But I do know I would have allowed just over 20 minutes to walk each way. Followed in the evening by a full council meeting - that's a five minute walk from home.
On Tuesday, at home until late afternoon and then to Bowerhill Village Hall. As deputy chair of the Joint Melksham Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, it's good to meet the public coming to our consultations, hear what they have to say, explain, and answer any questions. Home for a 20:30 (yes, really!) Zoom call connecting with Bristol and with Somerset. 5 minutes on the electric bike to and from Bowerhill.
Wednesday was SplashPad duty - each Wednesday in July and August I am volunteering with the Town Council to supervise the water play area in the park, for which I have been trained. It involves switching the equipment on and off, cleaning and checking, water testing, logging, and helping / advising customers. Needless to say (this is getting repetitive), 5 minutes each way on the electric bike - or it should have been, but in fact I returned through the Town Centre to pump up the tyres at the Town Hall.
On Thursday, Lisa and I had an appointment with a solicitor in Devizes, and we took the bus up there. Timing on the way up perfect - 25 minutes from the stop just across the road from our home. Less perfect on the return, except we chose to make good use of the time by having a meal out and visiting the market. No parking hassle, even though it was market day. And in the evening a meeting of the Melksham Amateur Photography group - I'm on the bus on the way into Bath as I write this. Follow up (rest to come). Follow up - 272 bus into Bath, 522 to Bear Flat and a walk up to the Viewpoint - met friends there for a photography evening. Walked back down to Bath Railway Station; 22:13 train to Chippenham, change there to 22:46 to Melksham, walked home from the station.
And on Friday - now updating this. And I expect to be at home all day.
So there you have it - 7 days of not driving. And not because of some sort of climate or morality check, though I do feel good about those. Here are the good points:
*+ Somone else is doing the driving; I am not getting tired and neither am I "wasting time" - I can be doing other things
*+ On walking and cycling, it's just as fast in Melksham as driving and less hassle than getting a lift
*+ There's no issue on parking and no fuel costs (although with an electric car charged off solar panels, that's a moot point)
*+ There is excellent interaction opportunity with people on the way, and an excellent opportunity to observe and see how public transport is working
*+ It's healthier / excercise cycling, walking and also accessing public transport
But some things not quite so great
*- There are time when the public transport times are not ideal; working / writing at a laptop so much of the time, I am usually able to compensate for that - for example Lisa and I stopped out for lunch on Wednesday, and I gave McDOnalds in Bath some business on Thursday
*- Public transport isn't always perfect for the total journey. For our Devizes appointment it took us closer than the car park, but I've had a couple of walks to do.
*- There will "always" be journeys which are too long to walk or cycle and cannot be done easily by public transport, or where there is too much to carry on the bus. For people with very occasional travel requirements not met by walking, cycling and public transport, taxi / private hire car / Uber may be the sensible option
Published Friday, 26th July 2024
Dog Poo and CCTV
We had a long discussion in Council last night about our new CCTV system and how it's to be used, bearing in mind all the data protection requirements. I know that if you go into a shop such as a convenience store these days,the chap or chappess behind the counter will have a screen showing parts of the shop out of his/her direct view, but it's not that easy for us as a council and with monitoring public areas rather than private premises. Cutting the very long discussion last night short, lots of changes suggested to the CCTV policy and our staff team will come back to us with the suggested changes brought in at a later meeting.But I do have one answer to share. The system is there to help the police with serious crime issues and access will be very limited. I was asked last week if I could use the CCTV to find out who's dog had fouled in KGV right outside the children's play area. I raised this last night and, no, this is not what the CCTV is intended for; it's there to help the police dealing with crime and our involvement of two key and trained staff members who can view it is to help the police in that filtering. It is unlikely that the police will be interested in dog fouling or the enforcement of the bylaws.
In my view, our bylaws could do with updating. "No cycling in the park" is interesting when national cycle route 403 passes through and there are cycle racks and a repair station there. "A person shall not in the pleasure grounds bathe, wade, or wash in any ornamental lake, pond, stream, or other water" which seems to make it against the rules to use the splashpad. "A person shall not cause or suffer any dog belonging to him or in his charge to enter or remain in the pleasure ground unless such dog be and continue to be under proper control ... a dog shall not be deemed to be under proper control unless it is on a lead." which means that dogs are not allowed off-lead even in the areas set aside as dog parks.
The rules also suggest to me that "Council Officers" and "Constables" can remove people from the park if they are breaking the bylaws. Makes sense though I have not seen it done by council officers who might be uncomfortable in that role, and that they may fine people breaking certain bylaws £5 or £50 if they see them in the act of breaking the rules. But that's if the actually catch them in the act and not if they're seen later on a CCTV recording.
Footnote - the picture was NOT taken in the park, and on being asked about the mess last week, with a specific mess being pointed out, I cleared it away. Most dog owners ARE responsible about clearing up after their pups in public places - it's just the odd one who gets us a bad name
Published Tuesday, 23rd July 2024
"What is happening on ..." project list
I admit it - I have got pretty fed up with being part of a talking shop that passes resolutions and makes plans far beyond what we wish to achieve, with some projects going into a black hole where we don't know what progress is being made, and making enquiries in itself loads our very limited in number (but not limited in skill) staff. We want to do more than we can, and in trying to do so have failed to do very much at all. But there are some shoots of encouragement - our strategy, which we met to set in June 2021 (seriously!) and should have been our four year plan has moved forward and, hopefully this Autumn we will be able to set a budget for next year that will provide the foundation for the next council to actually achieve something.
I am asked, almost daily, about how "X" project is getting on and I have to waffle far too often, or say "I don't know", and I had planned to ask about each of them at last night's full council meeting. The public want to know, and I want to know. However, I changed my plan because one of our staff team is getting together a list of all the projects and resolutions to be implemented we have on the books for councillors to prioritise on 5th August, and we need to give that thread of action an opportunity. Hence I changed my plan to ask as follows:
Questions from Councillor - from Graham Ellis - for 22nd July 2024
Our Council has a very large number of projects in various stages. I am often asked by members of the public about progress on a particular job or project and I was going to ask at this meeting for updates in the public domain on perhaps a dozen projects. However, on Monday of this week (15th July) our "Strategy Task and Finish Group" met - 10 councillor and 5 staff members present and we resolved to get a list of projects to our officers so that we know what we've got on our plate to prioritise.
So:
1. Can you please give a brief public update on when, where and how members of the public and councillors can find updates on projects in progress now and in the future?
For information - I am aware we have been here before - Councillor Goodhind was steering a system though Sharepoint that we could refer to, and more recently Councillor J Westbrook was instigating a system of including an update on all projects in the agenda for each Finance and Performance meeting, but this has not happened either due to (I understand) a lack of staff resource, and indeed councillors have been reminded / asked to be aware of the load we put on officers by asking. We are encouraged to let things slide, on the basis that if we don't, we'll be putting pressure beyond reasonable expectation on officers. On that basis, and looking to help move things forward, I am asking below only items which are both important and urgent.
We have lacked an active permanent clerk, a responsible finance officer, and a deputy clerk for some time now. And we have lacked an events officer for several months. We have excellent staff in some other roles who are picking up an amazing amount of the extra work, but that's sometimes at the expense of their own job, sanity and perhaps beyond their training.
2. What steps are we taking to ensure that we are staffed appropriately in consideration of the welfare of our staff and our ability to perform as a Town Council working for Melksham in line with an agreed strategy.
I understand that councillors are providing a list of project by 22nd July (the date these questions will be addressed) and that a list and status on each of them will be available to the Task and Finish Group on 5th August.
3. May I assure members of the public who are asking me that I will be able to give them an update on all the projects they are asking me and I register with staff by 22nd July about shortly after the 5th August meeting?
Submitted by 09:00 on 18th July 2024
Answers ... as written by the clerk ahead of time and published here for the public record. You should also be able to watch back the Facebook feed to see the answers as they were actually stated
""The role of the Deputy Clerk and the Events and Community Development Officer are now live on the website
https://www.melksham-tc.gov.uk/about-melksham-town-council/vacancies they are also advertised in various other council locations.
""The Personnel Committee agreed to keep myself and Kalpesh as Locum Clerk and Locum RFO until the council settles and to see it through the next election period.
""I regularly meet with the staff to ensure that they are not stressed in their job roles. I am soon to conduct appraisals as these have not been undertaken since 2021.
""All staff are collectively producing a project list which we have been asked to provide for the next meeting on the 5 August. This will then be prioritised by Councillors.
""There is no statutory duty to provide to the public a list of our projects, however, this will be recorded in various committee meetings. ""
We have no fewer than five people who have been Mayor of Melksham on our current council - in alphabetic order Pat Aves, Simon Crundell, Jon Hubbard, Tom Price and Adrienne Westbrook. So no lack of experience. We have four councillors who have joined within the last two years and have a more youthful vigour than those of us in our fourth year. And we have three councillors who also sit on Wiltshire Council, with a wider view of the local government scene and remunerated for the time they spend serving the public. So we should have the expertise we need to get this house into better order. But perhaps we have too much expertise and history, and yet at the same time we are a bunch of people selected for our ability to woo the voters rather than pull the whole together
I would love to see a mayor, and a permanent clerk, leading and inspiring us as we move forward. He's been in post less that two months, so perhaps that's the current mayor and I offer my support, as I do to the locum clerk and financial officer who are helping us reset for the future.
At this stage - here is my "items of question" list - projects, and little things ...
Questions to council for 22.7.2024 – Graham Ellis. Aborted because of Task and Finish work to list and sort these things for 5.8.2024 ...
1. How are we monitoring and keeping councillors and public informed of projects? Goodhind failed, now not meeting J Westbook's even limited scheme for reports at each Finance meeting.
2. Happy to Chat and memorial bench - raised 17th Jan 2023 and now been chased around 9 times with 4 different staff. Last promise – May 2024 – "soon".
3. WC has offered us the option to buy the Blue Pool for £1 - that was last year. How are we doing?
4. I have been asked what is happening with the dog park. Should be on project list?
5. I have been asked about Assembly Hall availability dates - I understand we now turn away members of the public wishing to book on the ground of "no staff" or "not fair to ask staff that day".
6. I have been asked for an update concerning control / masking of the lights for residents near KGV
7. I have been asked to confirm that the AH is now watertight and that we have paid for the works done.
8. I have been asked about the status / progress on the Sensory Garden.
9. I have been asked about progress on potentially taking on the Church Street loos with particular reference to potential use by the Pet Larder
10. It has been noted that the real time bus information is now provided at "The Pilot" and but not (yet) at the Market Place stops. Is that still on track and if so when will it happen
11. What is the status of the splashpad resurfacing project?
12. What is the status of the subway project?
13. Are we clear of good stored for projects such as Homes for Ukraine and for the Melksham and District Historical Association?
14. Is the rear door bell on the back door too high for wheelchair users
15. How are we doing on health and safety monitoring for the assets team and public? I was supposed to be involved with a monitoring process but all seems to have gone quiet
16. Can we confirm that our "leisure" provision strategy covers both indoor and outdoor venues and events equally?
17. How are we looking on having the right staff in place, and retaining them?
18. Maple Close / Sandridge Road corner - what's happening?
19. Explore Wilts App - data feed, data updating, publishing, monitoring?
20. How are we implementing our environemnt and climate resolutions such as specification to hold an annual event (such as) ClimateFest and what is happening this year within the council
21. Staff room and staff toilets at the Pavilion - what is the arragement?
22. Clock on Town Hall - stopped. Will it be restarted?
23. Our council website, and with reference to an easier search capability and contact points for staff which are no longer there
24. Cemeteries, running out of space. What are we doing about it / how are we considering stuff
25. Public Participation and council questions at council meetings – revamp on how it works
26. Yellow lines on Waverley Gardens
27. Neighbourhood Plan - progress, etc
Written and updated late on 22nd July and to be updated. Illustrative picture is perhaps THE largest decision we need to make.
Published Monday, 22nd July 2024
Looking forward past the next year
Ladies and Gentlemen, I won't be campaigning for re-election to Melksham Town Council in May 2025. I do intend to remain actively and positively involved in a voluntary capacity where I feel I can be of some effective use, where I am welcome, and where I enjoy myself.Some reasons behind this decision
1. Campaigning for elected office at any level brings out both the best and the worst in people. On the good side, it causes them to take a long hard look at themselves and what they have achieved and wish to achieve. But on the other hand it causes them to be economic with the truth, overlooking parts of the picture which are inconvenient (like "who got us in this mess in the first place"). It causes them to look at short term potential gains which may be or may look attractive even if they have pretty poor long term outcomes. It causes them to press themselves forward to take credit for good they have had little or nothing to do with, or indeed have worked against. And it causes them to be pushy / aggressive / bad-mouthing / bullying towards others who they are competing against for election. We've seen this in the recent general election, we're seeing it in the USA's competition for president, and we're seeing it in Melksham Town. I could indulge myself in these techniques, but have no wish to. One of my colleagues on the council asked me to "check my moral compass" on something. I did, I found it to be pointing in the right direction, and I wish to continue to find that when I check again or she does.
2. Being a Town Councillor requires the patience of a saint which I lack. That is not patience with you the public, who are lovely, but with the systems of local government and how we in the town apply them. Quoting a fellow councillor the other day - "we seem to have achieved nothing in three years". She's wrong, but we have achieved painfully little at painfully great expense in our own volunteer time. I don't mind volunteering, but I would much rather do so usefully.
3. I am far better as a back room technical specialist than as a generalist, and as being part of the team doing something and perhaps helping direct it rather than passing resolutions and then sitting back and watching. And I need to understand much more than I do as a councillor. I took a phone call yesterday from a qualified accountant asking me if I was happy with signing off something along with all the other councillors in a vote. Truth be known, no, not really happy because I did not understand the detail to my satisfaction - and I was less than happy when the legality of the decision made and our individual liability was questioned, as I don't know and I worry.
4. Local Council rules are archaic, and since I was elected in 2021 have taken steps backwards. At the time of election, councillors could attend meetings remotely as well as in person, a modernisation that had been brought in the previous year. Sadly, this modernisation has been revoked, and whilst Melksham Town Council DOES now provide Zoom and Facebook live links to meetings, and I do attend, I cannot vote and can rarely speak when I'm away; as a member of the public I can put my hand up on something, but it is up to the chair to notice and decide whether to ask the council to let a member of the public speak. I WILL thank Simon Crundell especially for enabling me to interact with certain key meetings.
I will at this point sdd a brief but heartfelt thanks to those Town Council staff, past and present, and also those councillors who have left us in the last couple of years, who hve put their heart and soul into Melksham and the Council. You ARE appreciated, even if (at times) it doesn't feel like it or it goes unsaid ... and we have a marvellous town and people, don't we?
So - where does that take me forward?
1. Until next May, continuing to serve to the best of my ability on the Town Council, in such a way that it's beneficial to the long term future of the town. I continue - just as a "for example" - to sit on the steering group of the Neighbourhood Plan; the main work on that is complete, and so it can pass over to others for the final sign-off and credit late in 2025.
2. Just as I was writing the above, and seated in the train from Melksham to Weymouth, I was contacted by a good friend who suggested a catch-up on public transport matters and suggested I might like to resume a deeper role that I gave up in order to find the personal resource to take up the council. Tempting, and I suspect that could be much more effective for Melksham than my being of the council.
3. I will continue to be vigorously interested in environmental issues, and they overlap the boundaries of Melksham Town. The hustings we ran late last month introduced me to Brian Mathew, who's our new MP and I'm early-impressed there, and also by the teamwork that we've started to establish on environmental matter across the consituency
4. Yesterday evening, I popped into the Assembly Hall to - well - offer encouragement to the great new team we have started to build there. They're doing a good job anyway, but in amongst all winds blowing in Melksham it's worth re-assuring them how much they are appreciated. Sounds like it was a great event too. I will remain a friend of Melksham Assembly Hall long after I leave the council, and when that happens there will be some things I cannot do, and other things which I can do without the "You can't do that - you're a councillor" line when I volunteer / offer.
5. I will not loose my interest in what is going on and sharing what I learn, probably here on my blog amongst other places. I am resolved not to become a thorn in the side of the next council, but rather help in a positive way / partnership..
Finally, dear friends and family, I love doing things / working productively with you / listening to and learning from you and hope to continue to do so. And let it be known that I have left that most important comment of all to the end so that you are left with in your mind after reading all the above
Illustration - the chair of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group (David Pafford) explains the changes made at last night's consultation event in The Campus.
Published Saturday, 20th July 2024
A new personal Facebook profile
I'm getting there! Last week, my old laptop drowned and cannot be restored, and I have been rebuilding. Meet "Cato" - a MacBook Air so small he can be opened and used between the close-pitched seats on a train. I'm writing this on Cato, currently undergoing training to be my effective helper - and that means installing software (at current versions) and restoring files. Yes, I had most things backed up, but rather sadly it's turned out that one or two things were so well secured that I have lost access.
On Facebook - I have a new personal profile at https://www.facebook.com/graham.ellis.melksham/ - set up at the weekend, and already re-connected with lots of friends. But many more to re-link. If you see a request from me, it's probably genuine, though please take a careful look because there have been "cloners" out there too. My Town Councillor page at https://www.facebook.com/Graham4Melksham/ is reconnected as well and to that new profile, as are some groups such as the Friends of Melksham Assembly Hall, the West Wiltshire Rail User Group, and the Melksham South Ward group.
If you are a LinkedIn user / contact - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wellho/ and more connections welcome. The Great Western Railway Passenger Forum and a whole host of other web sites are running and have been without missing a beat, including those which are now more archives like my IT training career pages, hotel pages,"The Horses Mouth" blog that ran from 2004 to 2018 at http://www.wellho.net/horse and the articles arranged by subject via http://www.wellho.net/net/modules.html
Illustrations - my current (new) Facebook profile, and my old laptop in typical use - working with people in and around Melksham while learning about other parts of the world.
Other sites:
* Melksham Enviroment Group
* Option 24/7 Wiltshire Buses
* Friends of Melksham Assembly Hall
* Well House Consultants (IT Training)
* Well House Manor (Hotel)
Published Wednesday, 17th July 2024
Melksham Carnival - review
A wonderful sense of community at the Melksham Carnival yesterday (13th July 2024) ... with thousands of people (literally) lining the streets and perhaps five hundred actually taking part in the parade. To each and every one of you, so good to see you out in town, enjoying the afternoon, and celebrating our town, our people, our activities. The work that goes into arranging Carnival, and running the event on the day is massive. Without project managers the whole thing could so easily be a flop. That management is a team effort and I'm going to tip my hat with respect and admiration to the team, at the same time as singling out Michelle Brightwell for her lead at the event and on the run up. Michelle has bubbled and smiled all the way through, even in intimidating settings such as coming along to Town Council meetings to ask us (I'm writing as a councillor) to make and clarify grants, support street closures, etc. Well done, and thank you Michelle and the whole team.
Each and every entry - there were around 35 - was in itself a team too. Thank you to each of those teams - both behind the scenes and in the parade - for all the work put in, and the joy brought. There's a joy in taking part (I wouldn't miss walking in support of a local community group) snd so much good from the promotion and fundraising with those groups. Talking to individual groups as we got ready to walk, people were celebrating and promoting their own activities, but at the same time raising funds and awareness for prostate cancer support, for pet food support, for althzheimers, and for other excellent and charitable causes - again I list just a selection I happened to come across.
What about the thousands who saw us walking? An overload, for me, of brief conversations along the way, ranging from people I have known for years though to people I was meeting for the first time. From people who's lives are turning a corner from the gent who's wife passed away recently to our new MP talking about the enormity of the task he has taken on and how he is getting on with it. To people who live in and love the town, but have moved on in their employment and were just in the audience as cheerleaders yesterday, and people who live here and come out and engage with their community just occasionally. I was really touched to see so many people along the way who's health or age limitations restrict them in what they can do - many seated outside or near their homes, and to see some of the groups stopping to give a little performance for them. A "win/win" and a memory that will endure long after the floats have been dismantled and we've all had our summer breaks and are back in the autumn.
And so to the group I walked with - the Melksham Environment Group. A new group and a late entry into the parade. Many readers, I know, feel overloaded with information about climate change, its effect on the environment around us including the natural world, and what we can do as individuals to help ensure a sustainable home, street, town, county, country, planet for ourselves (for aren't we always selfish) our children and our grandchildren. It's an issue we are wrestling with and looking to provide a local focus and switchboard of information - enable and encourage information sharing and good practise by supporting others locally in all the various facets involved.Yesterday, our objectives were to market the group - have our name start to come onto the Melksham radar, and to inform and give residents and visitors some ideas and thoughts as to what they can do which is both beneficial to their own quality of life, but also kind to the environment. No intent to have a memorable float - just a barrow of literature and co-ordinated tabards in hideous florescent lime green, and information to pass out that's targetted - designed to be read and kept by those who take it.
1. At http://melksham.info/you'll find "Great things are done by small things brought together" - the front and pages of our LOCAL leaflet which includes "Use Public Transport", "Grow your own and share produce", "Generate and use sustainable energy", "Shop, eat and entertain local", and "engage with others". The leaflet also includes a Melksham Train timetable for people to keep and refer to.
2. At http://www.fomah.org.uk/ you'll find a link to the program for Melksham's Assembly Hall until the end of September, backing up the "entertain local" message. Why always travel to Bath, Swindon or London for a good night out when we have local comedians, stars, music and tribute acts visiting us. The "environment" message is "reducing your emissions" but the personal corollary is "and increase your quality of life by cutting travel time, cutting your costs and supporting and making better your own town".
Our team of five from "MEG" (Melksham Environment Group) started with a barrow heavy with literature. Half way round, it was virtually empty and I refilled it from a strategic stockpile I had available if needed. But yet our objective was not to hand out as many as we could - it was to hand out the information to those who WANTED to receive it. We "briefed" ahead of time, and walking along the crowds described what we had and only passed out one, other or both pieces if hands came out. And where people were together in household groups, we typically just passed out a single copy. It was really noticeable just how enthusiastic many people were to get the information the Assembly Hall leaflet almost universally. With the "use public transport" line, a proportion of people were saying "I look online" and that - let's be fair - is greener than a printed piece. There also remains a significant number of people for whom public transport is so alien that they won't even consider it.
Overall, job well done - very well done by the distribution team of Gill, Caroline, Pat and Mike, and a big and grateful thanks to my wife Lisa for producing two wonderful leaflets. Over 1,000 of each distributed at Carnival, but we intentionally had an overrun and they'll be available at the TIC, and hopefully at the Town Hall too.
Well - that's Carnival done for another year. Next Saturday, Melksham Rock and Roll at the Assembly Hall, or a day trip to Weymouth by train and so it carries on with so much happening through the summer holidays. We are left with memories of a wonderful day in the town, and also with a legacy of it motivating us to look onward, upward and forward.
Published Sunday, 14th July 2024
Small Grant awards - Melksham Town Council
I am no longer on the Town Council's finance, admin and performance committee, but I attended last night's meeting as a "sub" - substitute - for another councillor who was unable to attend.One of the ways the council can make a very real difference is by making small grants to small community organisations to help them get started, or to help them meet an extraordinary one-off expense. Our community thrives on it little volunteer groups who can "match fund" their volunteers time with some funding from the public purse. But as a Town Council we need to be very careful indeed not to give away public money unscrutinised, nor to give money to worthy causes which however, are properly funded from elsewhere. Of the 17 requests we received last night, we granted funding to 10, and in seven of those cases we only granted part of the money asked for. We were asked for a total of £13,112, and granted £4,000 which is a quarter of the year's budget.
Congratulations to Celebrating Age Wiltshire, Group Five, Melksham Amateur Swimming Club, Melksham Gardners Society, Melksham Lions, The Riverside Centre, That Meeting Space, the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust, Wiltshire Search and Rescue, and Wiltshire Mind.
Why did we not provide any funding at all - not even a token amount - to the other seven? Some were not for projects in Melksham Town. Some were from commercial organisations where all we would have done is to boost their profitability. Others were to meet general running costs, or gave the appearance of not making the best use of money. In many cases the paperwork wasn't complete. Not a single applicant was present in the room, nor on zoom, in spite of encouragement to attend. That would have made a very real difference as we could have raised queries there and then rather that saying "come back in the autumn" or "no, because it doesn't appear to add up".
The rejection or partial funding of only 3 out of 17 requests, with all 14 of those scaled back being in my view "worthy causes", indicates a massive investment of time by organisations filling in 5 or 6 page applications, and then by a Town Council officer producing a spread sheet that evaluates each of them against 21 criteria. It's administration gone mad, and burns up what could and should be productive time of officers, councillors and applicants - symptomatic of modern society where there are complex authorisation processes. How do we fix that? As a start, we would do well to have a council officer or councillor talk with / advise applicants so that what comes forward is good, clean, understood and tuned. I would far rather see 7 good applications that we can fund fully that 17, most of which we cut back and I really hope that our partial funding doesn't result in the worst of both worlds - money granted and paid, but not enough for the project to go ahead ... and resulting in the volunteers looking for yet more sources of the rest of the fund, more admin for the volunteers who I would really like to have their time available to do the voluntary work and not the admin.
Iluustration - the left had side of the spead sheet that we considered last night, taken from the public agenda
Published Tuesday, 9th July 2024