Making a difference?
I wonder, quite often, how much difference I am making as a district councillor. This week I found that I had helped in a way I had not expected. I serve on the joint committee (with Torridge District Council) of the North Devon Crematorium.
At our meeting last Friday afternoon, the Crematorium manager, Mark Drummond, reported on progress towards installing solar panels on the building’s roof. Although advisers had suggested that battery storage would have too long a payback period, Mark mentioned that a councillor had suggested he look again at this option.
A recent power outage had prompted Mark to revise his opinion, as battery storage would give the Crematorium greater resilience – and to store power from overnight charging at cheaper rates. Reader, I was that unnamed councillor. My views are informed by attending the Energy Fairs held regularly in Barnstaple Pannier Market by 361 Energy. All those talks my wife and I have attended have paid off!
New public art for Barnstaple
People who live or work in Barnstaple will soon be able to have their say on the public art they would like to see in the town centre.
I represent North Devon Council (NDC) on the Cultural Partnerhip Board with Torridge District Council. Because of this role, I was quoted in a press release last week. This invited comments from the public on the shortlisted submissions for new public art in Barnstaple town centre.
If you would like to take part, here is the link: https://www.barnstaple.co.uk/barnstaple-projects/barnstaple-town-centre-public-art-consultation
As a young man I was trained as an editor at a university press and still have an eye for typos and bad grammar in public utterances. The Minister for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon, sent out a letter last week to council leaders. It began: ‘This Government has been clear on our vision for…’ The word Government may be singular or plural – but No, Minister, not in the same sentence. Most typos and illiteracies could be avoided if texts were quickly checked by their authors before pressing Send.
Another Brexit shortcoming
I recently made purchases from two very different businesses – the Agroforestry Research Trust, on Dartmoor, and Bloodaxe Books in Newcastle: three Sea Buckthorn saplings from the former, the Collected Poems of Fleur Adcock (RIP) from the latter. What both businesses have in common is that neither now sell goods in EU countries because of Brexit.
Water testing
I test water quality each month as part a Citizen Science project run by the Westcountry Rivers Trust. The WRT was set up by Ted Hughes and associates back in the 1990s.
The name of its headquarters is Rain Charm House (which refers to a Hughes poem). I test at Landkey Water, near our house, and from a friend’s garden beside the River Venn at Bishop’s Tawton. I have, surprisingly, never found phosphates in either water-body. Last week’s visit brought the pleasing sight of Celandines beside the Venn and Primroses on the walk to Landkey Water.
What Have We Here?
I’d like to finish by mentioning Hew Locke’s superb exhibition What Have We Here? – about Imperial plunder – at the British Museum (just finished but there is a book), and recommending the Tirzah Garwood exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery.
She was the wife of the painter Eric Ravilious and mother of James Ravilious, the splendid photographer of North Devon. Now she has belated recognition as an artist in her own right. Here is a characteristic painting – Horses and Trains, 1944.
Thanks for reading.
Mark