Express and Echo.

Sorry yo see That the Express and Echo has now gone weekly. The daily E&E has been a part of most of our lives for as long as anyone can remember and, even if you didnt buy it on a daily basis you always knew it was there when news of local inportance arose. I cant see how a weekly edition is going to be able to provide the sort of news covarage of the sort of very local news that is not covered by the existing broadcast media. Rgere will be a need for more blogs like this but it is worth always rememnering that mot evereyone has, or wants, internet acces. Print media still has its place..

The Clan marches On.

On my recent visit to Glasgow it was good to see that the mighty Clanadonia are still doing their very individual brand of scottish tribal fysion music in Buchanan Street on saturday afternoons. Fora flavour of their act you can find them on UTube.

On The Buses.

I was interested to note on my recent trip to the west of scotland that Stagecoach are now providing free Wy-Fi on their express coaches between Ayr and Glasgow. Although not normally a supporter of the Souter empire I must congratulate Stagecoach on the excellent half hourly service that they provide on the M77 route.

A a marked contrast to what they provide in Devon.

Property News

Sorry to see that the old Cabbeges and Kings shop is again empty. This, again sows the difficulty of running a sucessful small business in the current economic climate. If shops are having difficulty staying open on the High streets of bigger townsm how much more difficult for dhops in small villages where the decline ov retail establishments gas been a much longer established phenomena.

Good to see that the new social housing at Silverdale has now been let for occupation.  I hear that there are the usual moans about who the property has been allocated tu. The answer to the usual gripes is for the planning authorities to stand up to the NIMBYS and to allowpermission for the development of land for the building of social and affordable housing. PUT PEOPLE FIRST.

The Big Day.

It looked for a while as though Street Market might be badly affected by rain but in the end most of the day was dry. I started the day with the usual full breakfast at The Lamb and then toured the stalls and did some photography . After a slow  start attendabce built up and I would estimate that numbers were probably about the same as last year.  Good to see local enterprises like Flix doing well and also the craft exibitions.  Anne, George and the community band  also put on a good performance..

The highlight of linchtime was the appearence by The Cornisg Wurzells outside The Lamb mainly performing the back catalouge of the original band lead by the late Adge Cutler. Interestingly, the keyboard player with the cornish version, Terry Pascoe, played with the original lineup. Also of note, was the marching Samba band that made its way up and down Fore Street in the afternoon.

I suppose for many, the highlight of the day was the annual tug of war contest in The Little Rec, but the almost inevitable wins by The Lamb Inn team are becoming all too predictable. Lets see some real opposition next year. Get your practise  going immediately.

I must admit to not having seen much of the evenings entertainment having peaked too early but a good time seemed to have been had by all as far as I could tell.. 

Street Market Quiz. Result.

Our team ended up third in the StreetMarket Quiz at The Lamb last night. It was the dialect questions wot did it. Too many years in scotland for me to remember some of the answers, I'm afraid.

Recycle The Poor

An acedemic at Dundee  University has suggested that students night be able to clear their debts if they were allowed to sell organs such as Kidneys. What would have seemed like a suggestion from a satire programme on late night TV now comes from a respectable university and apparently was defended by another acedenic from Glasgow  Caledonian University on Newsnight Scotland last night.

I wonder how long it will be before we see the loonier end of the Tory party turning up at party conferenves wearing "Recycle The Poor" T Shirts.

Street Market Quiz 2011

Yje annual Street Market quiz will be held at the Lamb Inn tomorrow night. The theme for the quiz, as for the Street Market itself, will be  All Things Devon. Kicks Off 8.00pm or thereabouts.

The Bells.

Standing in The Square this morning, trying to hold a conversation with someone, I was just glad I dont live in that area and have to pit up with the church bells every week. I have never understood the attraction of standing in the Belfry pulling dangerously heavy bells on the end of a rope in combina\tions of sound that usually sound exactly the same to the uninitiated. Bellring seems to attract the same sort of obsessives who you can usually find on  station platforms taking down the numbers of passing engines.  Personally, I always thought that Steadman Triples was a cocktail which would be  probably more useful then some sort of ringing method.

Still I suppose its all part of english culture.

Like Morris dasncing.

and dont get me started on Morris Dancing.

Stunted Growrh.

Accordubg to the latest statistics, growyh in the UK in the second quarter of the year amounted to a measly 0.2%. According to the Chancellor Of The  Excheuqer the warm weather in April and the Royal Wedding are partly to blame for the poor performance but most people know that the real reason lies else where and the reason is quite simple.

If peole are libing ion fear of losing their jobs, having their benefits or pensions cut are facing rises in the cost of petrol, deisal, food, gas and electricity they are not likely to be flooding into the high street . This is of course, only the beginning, 

Neighbours.

Iy seems that the longstanding problems of anti social behavior of one soet or another  at the top end of Wyndham Road continue to rumble on.  Rarher then certain individuals rushing to judgement on some of their neighbours and turning to the police or the local council as first resort to resolve problems it might be better for the local community themselves to organise to negotiate resolutions to local problems. Involving the authorities in neighbouhood disputes at an early  stage often only makes attitudes harden.

The Gallery.

Nice to see that the work on The Gallery, The house at the bottom of Fore Street seems to be nearing completion.  The completed work will certainly enhance the look of the lower Fore Street- Square area of the village which is still unfortunately spoiled however, by the look of the derelict Londis building

Amy Winehouse.

Anyone who followed her career, even at a distance, could see that there was only lokely to be one outcome as has now been the case. Another great talent lost to drugs and booze,  Sadly, some people just self destruct and rhere is littke anyone can do to prevent it.  That however, should not prevent us from trying to support people in our own community suseptible to such addictions ib the hope that such support enables them to get the dtrength necessary to turn their lives around.

Norway.

The first thought of many when they heard anout the atrocities in Morway was that it was the work of Al Queda, or some other brand of Islamic extremists.  It turns out however, that the perpetrator was an extremist of rge european far right described by police as a "christian fundamentalist". 

In reality, the the difference between the islamic fundamenyalists and the type of far right extremists who carry out these sort of atrocities are not that great. Both are extreme examples of attempys to reject the modern world and to return to some mythical golden age. The islamic fundamentalists want to reestablish the caliphate that dominated the Muslim world in the period after the death of rge prophey Mohammed and extend it world wide whilst the european far right want to re establish nation states of pure celts and Aryans, nations that in reality, never existed outside the imaginations of the racist cranks who created much of the inrellectual basis for 19th century europwan imperialism.  Both sets of extremists hate the most visible signs of ever more rapid globalisation ny resorting to ever more violent and destructive acts.

We, in Britain, have seen both the destructive acts of boyth Islamic fundamentalism and the fringes of the Far Right. Before 7/7  there was David Copeland and over the years many other plots by people with connections to the Far Right  have been n uncovered. The only way to isolate and demobilise both sets of extremists is to isolate and defeat the idealogies that underpin them.

Cornish Times

The theme for the street market this year is supposedly all things Devon but the live music outside the Lamb Inn on street market this year will be provided by The Cornish Wurzells ( thats the way they spell it) a Wurzels tribute band . Should be a great accompliment for those of us who like to drink up our cider on street market day.

Heave Ho

Good to see last week, that the mighty men (amd yje one co optrd woman) of the Lamb Inn Yug O war team are well into their practising ahead of the annual contest which is always the highlight and climax of our annual Street Market.  In addition to the usual teams will we see an entry from the reopened Ruffwell which is, after all, within the Silverton bounderies ?.

Time will tell.

A Good Read.

I  am just reading : Downfall ; The Tommy Sheridan Story: by Alan McCombes the sorry tale of how a talented, but fayelly flawed individual, was prepared to destroy the political mpvemeny he had spent a good paty of his adult life building in order to try to protect the imade of himself that he had created for the media.   McCombes also shows gow Sheridan was encouraged down the road to self destrudtion by a babd of allies who were at best deluded  and at worst driven by opportunism and the urge to settle old scores. The book is clearly written and a warning to those who would be seduced by celebrity culture. 

Lord Of The Flies.

It seems to be a bad summer for flies this year. I seem to have hordes of the little horrors invading my kitchen at the moment. Not pleasent at all.

Can You Dig It ?.

Word has it that there havebeen atcheolofical investigations on the site of the old Village Hall.  Given the centrality of the old hall to the village and its age I would have thought that it was well worth an investigation.  Perhaps when they finish investigating and fill in the diggings they could bury the clowns who pressed for the hall to be demolisged in the first place.

New Councillors

I hear we now have two bew coopted Parish Councillors, Jim Blackburn and Cris Sleep.  One can only wish them well but note that the village is littered wih burnt out former councillors who were ground down by the mass of petty regulations and lack of power that dog Parish Councils at every turn.   even in less constrained economic times then those we are currently experiencing.
  And a thought.  Seventeen grand for a new Tennis Court fence seems a bit excessive doesnt it ?.

Junk.

I have been having a major clearout of the flat recently.  Its frightening the amount of junk amd rubbish in the form of okd utilitybills and the like that accumulate behind your back over a short period of time such as a year and its surprising how long it takes to shred it all up when you eventually get to grips with it.

The Curse Of Facebook.

Once it was possible to go out for a quiet drink and a laugh on a Saturday afternoon without the fear that every nove tou make will be broadcast to the Workd.  This no longer applirs.  A lurking camera can record your every move and have your photo up on Facebook the next day. Unfortunatrely of course, as I found out yesterday, the camera doesnt always catch you at the right moment. Be warned. Facebooj takes no prisoners.

Back Up And Running.

Following the break caused by dealing with the consequenxes of ther dearh of my Mother the blog will now be again up and running and updating daiky as far as possinle.

Disruption.

There may be some disruption to production of the blog for a while due to matters relating to a family bereavement. Hopefully, normal service will be soon resumed.

Funeral

The funeral service for the late Mrs Gwen Carroll is set for 12.15pm on sAturday May 21st at St Marys Church, Silverton to be followed by private cremation.

Tuned Out.

I noticed in the pub last night that part of some peoples idea of a good night out seems to consist of performing an aggressive rendering of the national anthem.  Having lived for many years in the west of scotland where this sort of behaviour is associated with the tattooed, union jack draped thugs of the loyalist/Rangers supporting fraternity the arrival of this sort of behaviour here makes me distinctly queasy.

The Weather Breaks

As was to be expected, the weather broke yesterday right in the middle of the second long weekend.  Thunder , lightining, and torrential rain hit the village driving those expecting sun for cover.

The fact that celebrations for a certain wedding the day previous escaped a soaking probably proves that the higher powers, if they exist, are not republicans.

The Men Of Kent.

As a life long republican I have very little interest in thr proceedings coming up on friday, As far as one can tell the happy couple are a decent pair and on a personal basis I hope they have a long and happy marraige, something that seems tohave  be denied to a good few of the close reletives of the bridegroom.  Sadly, they are caught up in a clearly political circus designed to divert the sheep from the reality that they are about to be slaughtered by death by a thousand cuts.

Unkije some of the middle class 'webel' ekement in the village I shall not be showing my displeasure at the proceedings by clearing off and sitting on the beach at Exmouthj, neither shall I be attending some guillotine party as Gyillotine parties are so 1789>  I shall instead be drinking a pint in memory of Wat Tyler and the men of Kwnt who, in the reign of King Richard the second, rose against their oppressive feudal landlords in what became known as The Peasents Revolt.  Tyler and his followers who included the preist, John Ball who wrote the words 'When Adam delve and Eve span, who was then a gentleman'.marched on London believing that the King would give them justice.  The King however, having a better grasp of where his interests kay then did Tyler and his comrades had Tyler and the rest of the leaders of the revolt put to the sword

The motto of that story is to be found in a line in The Bible, a book ahat is always good for a quotation or two.

 'Put not thy trtust in Peinces'.;

Happy Easter.

I hope you all have a bhappy easter Go steadt on the chocolate eggs amf take care with the Barbeqeues.

Anti Cuts Demo.

Beloeving, as we do, that working and niddle class families should not be bearing the brunt of cots caused by paying off debts largely incurred by rge greed of the bankers and the stupioity of the politicians who bent over backwards to bail them out, I shall be supporting the Demonstration called by Exeter Anti Cuts Alliance.  The march will begin at 11.00am on bank holiday monday may 2nd.at the Belmont Pleasure Ground.

A Proposal

Yrsyerday was St Georges Day and beyond the Bombadier promotion at the Lamb Inn you wouldnt have seen much sign of anyone celebrating ir.  Later this week there will be a party in the Rec to velebrate a certain wedding that seems to be the centre of much  currently. I propose that the event being planned for this friday be made an annual event held on the closest saturday to St Georges Day. This could be a celebration of English culture that would appeal to all whether royalist or republican.

AV.

Its the referendum on the proposed change to our system of voting in elections from first past the post to the alternative vote  system. I am not going to get into the workings of AV which have been well enough covered elsewhere but would only observe that the central problem of current British politics is the domination of political life by three parties who increasingly differ little in policy terms but rely for electoral sucess on projecting themselves as more competant managers oof the economy and society than their opponents. Looking at the studies of AV that have been conducted and the way that the system works in Australia it hardly seems to me that we are going to see an increase in representation for parties such as the Greens, UKIP or any party that emerges to the left of Labour, What we almost certainly would see would be the LibDems being permanently entrenched in government creating a form of one party state.

Personally, I prefer full proportional representation as practised in The Irish Republic which in the recent general election there brought a much wider range of voices into The Dail (parliament).  Alternatively, the list system, as used in elections for the scottish parliament also has allowed a wider range of representation.  Given that these alternatives are not on offer I see little point in moving from the current system of Dirst Past The Post.

Pass It On

A useful yip was passed to me the other day regarding those wishing to use a bus pass into Exeter before 9.30am.  Get the 8.50am bus from the quare  paying a 95p single to Thorverton.  When at Thorverton use your bus pass into Exeter. The reason you can do this is because consessions from Thorverton still start at 9.00am..

Paee It On

Asnefore, The blog will be only too pleased to publicise upcoming events. We may also post occasional guest posts on matters of local interest so if you have any contrinutiobs contact the blog

Vote Jenny Roach

One local candidate is standing for election in the forthcoming elections to Mid Devon District Council. Our former District Councillor, Jenny Roach, has decided to stand again for her former position.

Whilst not endorsing The Liberal Party of which Jenny is a member, this blog takes the view that by her experience and involvement in campaigns for improvements to health and social services Jenny is the best person currently available to represent the interests of Silverton on Mid Devon District Council.

Vote Jenny Roach on May 5th.

Big Society ?.

The news that only four nominations have been recieved for the forthcoming parish council electyions does not seem to auger well for the success of the Prime Ministers much trumpeted Bif Society project.  If a large, and fairly prosperous, local community like Silverton can hardly assemblw a quorum for its local representitive body then what hope can there be for greater democratic participation in the poorer areas of the big cities.

For yeard the reputation of nodies like the parish council has declined as there powerlessness in nearlt every area of public life has become more apparent.  Until councils like Silverton are given powers and finance equilrlant to their counterparts on the continent  its obvious that people of talent and ability will feel ever less desire to stand for election.

An additional reason why people are reluctant to stans for councils may wrll ne also because they are having to spend so much time and energy trying to earn enough to pay the mortgage, keep up with the rises in inflation and to show the boss that they are worth retaining come the next round of rationalisations. Alarm Clock Britain is not going to promote the Big Society.

Best Wishes.

Best wishes for a speery recovery to Maxine Edwards folloeing injeries recieved in the recent car accident.

Accidents Will Happen

I am not usually a persin prone to accidents. I have never broken a bone in my life and even managed to get through the ice and snow nightmare at christmas with only a minor slip>  At the weekend however, I managed to have two accidents within the space of twenty four hours.

Early on sunday morning I woke up and realised that I had left the kitchen light on and went to get out of bed not realising how near to the edge I was. Falling out of bed I bashed my ribs on the bedside cabinet causing a painful bruise. On sunday evening I slipped on the stairs and fell causing painful bruising to the base of my spine which is now having the effect of making it uncomfortable to walk uphill.

So, if any one sees me proceeding rather stiffly about the village they will know why and I deny entirely that it was all down to one to many pints of Ferrymans in The Lamb.

Hacked Off.

It seems that the News Of Rhe World has started owning up to the hacking of the mailboxes of public figures and no doubt there is much more to this story yet to emerge>  From what can be gathered it would seem that other newspapers beyond the Murdoch empire were for many a long year involved in similar dubious practices and it is to be hoped that those involved in phone hacking for other media outlets will also be put under the spotlight of their peers.

The British press hassome record of good work in the feild of investigative journalism down the years from the work of the Sunday Times Insight team in the 1960s to the role of the Daily Telegraph in exposing the  MPs expenses scandal in more recent times and genuine investigative  work carried out to expose wrongding in the public interest often requires unorthodox methods.  Its not possible to cite public interest when you are hacking  phone mailboxes merely to satisfy the manufactured public appetite for celebrity gossip.

Having seen the destructive power of the press at work in some of the events that lead up to the Tommy Sheridan perjury trial I hope that those currently being offered a payoff by the News Of The Woeld will reject such offers and persue the matter through thre courts to find out where the trail of responsibility leads.  Perhaps a full exposure of the phone hacking scandal will perhaps put some of the media back to persuing genuine investigative journalism rather then the easy way of filling their pages by building celebrities up to bring them down by any method available. 

Sweeping Up.

Congratulations to Olive and Max on their wins in the Lamb Inn Grand Nayional Sweepstake.  The luck of the Irish strikes again.

Sign Of The Times.

I smelt the first distinctive udue of the first Barbeqeue of the srason drifting across Wyndham Road last night. With a decent  weekend forecast the Barbies will be out, the tinnies drunk, the shorts will be dragged out of the back of the wardrobe and the english will be playing at being Australians again.  It was never like this back in the day. I blame global warming.

Gimme Shelter.

I think that this issue was covered on Silvertonia but in the current economic climate its worth pointing out again, that even without the ongoing cuts, Silverton is unique amongst the local villages in not having warden controlled accommodation for elderly and disabled people. Thorverton, with half the population of Silverton gas long had warden controllrd housing as has Bradninch which has a similar sized population to ourselves.

Whilst it can be argued that many of the most  vunerable in our society have alarm systewms they are no subsitute for a friendly daily check by a warden who can often spot problems before they reach the emergancy stage.  It also has to be pointed out thst little of what housing that we have which wasriginally intended for elderly people has been specifically retained for them or adapted or updated.  There has been no programme of general refurbishment for the four bungalows in King Street since they were built in the early 1950s.

We face the coming savage round of cuts to local government expenditure from a very low base in comparison to many other parts of England let alone my old stomping ground in the west of scotland. It is to be hoped that in the coming period our local representetives will spend a good deal less time in ego clashes and on nitpicking over planning applications and more on defending and prioritising basic services.

Up The Creek

Readers of The Daily Mail may have seen a recent story about a former submariner who keeps a Russian subnarine parked on the Medwat.  The story was the work of my nephew, Micheal Carroll who works for one of the news agencies.  As The story was published on April 1st I suspected that the story might be one of the annual April fool stories that the press run annually but Micheal assures me that this is not the case and the story is indeed genuine.

Micheal seems to be cornering the market in stories about the fate of obsolete military equipment having also written about the bloke who sold a Harrier jump jet on Ebat and the breaking up of the aircraft carrier Invincible.

So if you want some publicity for that nuclear bunker at the bottom of the garden or the Cheiftain tank in the garage hes the man to contact.

Can They Spare A Copper ?.

I heard on the radio recently, that a police force, Wiltshire I think, were considering sending plain clothes police into certain pubs to evesdrop on conversations in order to prevent crime before it happens and if such a tactic proved successful it could be extended to other areas.

Leaving aside the fact that such tactics sound like something out of the handbook of the Stasi in the late and unlamented, by most, east Germany I would think that when in a somewhat dodgy boozer, all you wouyld have to do would be to look out for the couple in the corner who spent two hours to drink half an orange juice without speaking directly to each other whilst occasionally muttering into their wristwatches. Probably all they would discover was that target A was a fervent supporter of Man U while target B backed Chelsea.

Meanwhile, of course, the real business would be going on outside in the smoking area where the Uld Bill would be banned from going for health and safety reasons..

Bus Blues

Stagecoach have now terminated consessionary fareson the 55B route between 9/00am and 9.30am fhus ensuring that the additional Exeter-Tiverton bus brought in at the beginning of the year will be even less used along with the previously existing buses. All in the name of cuts to subsidies to public transport I assume. So yet again our overpriced and thouroughly unreliable bus service takes a hit.

Local Elections.

Om the  May 5th there will ne elections to Mid Devob District Council. Given that a new couyncil is likely to be put in a position where it is likely to be under pressure to implement some ofthe most draconian cuts to council services seen in modern times it is to be hoped that we might have a councillor elecyed genuinely committed to defending our local services rather then some party hack associated with the ConDem coalition.

Willy Nilly.

I onderstand that the Cornish brewery, Skinners, are to produce a brew for the forthcoming royal weddibg to be called Kate loves Willy..

Ooh Matron,

restart,.

So, its back to thje Blog,  Wyndham Road Rage will be the sucessor to Silvertonia.  When I moved back here last year I had no intentions of blogging again but there have been so many requests to get going again I  have finally relented.  WRR will conyinue the Silvertonia tradition of covering events in Silverton and beyond from my particular perspective but I suspect may well turn out to be a little more hard edged and controversial thewn what has gone before.

Morning All.

Welcome to Wyndham Road Rage. Son of Silvertonia. Full entries begin soon.