Best wishes for a Happy New Year.  OK I know it is only September but for those in education it is the start of a new year.  For other people September marks the onset of autumn, and shorter darker days when summer begins to fade into a memory.
  Many folk have been heard to say that this summer has been one of the best for warmth and sunshine, even in Sedbergh.  Streams dried up, rivers ran low and fish were denied life.  It certainly was summer between the last week of May well into July, and it's not been too bad since.  Autumn will come hard I think.
  The good weather, or is it the books, have drawn visitors into town.  Us Sedbergh folk are friendly people, readily greeting each other with a friendly hello when we pass in the street.  Holidaymakers always make themselves obvious by looking startled when they receive the same greeting.  Some of them must live in some unfriendly places and I hope they enjoy a relaxing break among us.
  The time gap between writing for Lookaround and Viewpoint actually being published sometimes makes for some strange situations.  Last month I wrote about the gas main renewal outside the Post Office progressing slowly and surmising that at the rate of progress up to then, if they are to go along the full length of Main Street it would take till April.  Within a day or two of writing they had packed up and left town!  Are they to return later I wonder?
  Another topic I wrote about was the way some drivers negotiate the Finkle St mini spot-in-the-road roundabout.  Within days a bobby on the beat spent an hour or so observing motorists impeccably obeying the rules of the road there!
  I wonder what might happen this month between writing and publication.
  What's new this past month then?  The Post Office revamp has been completed and is looking good.  The coffee shop part is attracting custom and the Post Office, always a place for exchanging news and gossip, has surely come into its own in that respect.
  There are rumours that the old cattle market, if not sold, has received bids from Sedbergh School, from a supermarket, and from the farmers co-operative.  Don't I remember a few years back the site had planning permission for housing development?  I'm keeping my ears open and watching that space.
  As I write, the Book Town festival of Books and Drama is about to start, or as you read this, is about to end.  I hope it has been successful, but is the Book Town flourishing?  It appears that the Orange Skies book shop is closing and other new businesses are struggling.  The Posthorn café has had signs in the window for some months now threatening to re-open soon but soon seems to have been delayed and doesn't seem to have been soon enough to catch the holiday season.
  My old friend South Lakeland District Council seeks to cut its expenditure by £1.6 million because once again it is hard up.  Strange that; I get a whopping Council Tax bill every April which goes up by leaps and bounds each year.  It seems there is a big black hole in Kendal into which our hard earned cash disappears.  Few of us in Sedbergh are happy with the situation, I'm sure.
  Finally, two items of recent national news which might affect us here in Sedbergh.  Our farmers had to take out loans earlier in the year to get by because their Defra farm payments were delayed by months.  Now they are told they have been overpaid and have to pay back the excess.  I feel sorry for them.  What a sloppy way to run a national organisation.  Just imagine not getting paid for months yourself and then as soon as you do you get a bill to pay some back.  It makes living and budgeting rather difficult.  My commiserations to anyone affected.
  All otherwise unrestricted roads are subject to a 60 mph speed limit which is now considered to be too high for rural roads.  It is proposed to have lower speed limits on some rural roads.  However, seemingly only A and B class roads are affected by these proposals.  We could end up with both the A683 and A684 being given speed limits of 40 or 50 mph and the Dent road still having a 60 mph limit.  That doesn't make sense to me; but what do I know about these things.  I'm only a motorist who uses all these roads and know what speeds I feel safe at on them.  As is often stated, bad roads don't cause accidents but bad drivers do.  I trust I'm not one.
  I hope you and yours have a good September.  Best wishes,  N Hastle.

  The Committee of Management will meet shortly to consider applications for grants for educational tuition and/or educational facilities from girls resident in the parishes of Sedbergh, Garsdale and Dent.  The Scheme of Management for the Girls' Fund quotes the following principles of application:
1.  The income of the Fund shall be applied by the Committee for the benefit of beneficiaries, in one or more of the following ways.

1. The award of Scholarships, Bursaries or Maintenance Allowance tenable at any School, University or other place of learning approved by the Committee;
   

  I am sorry Nick Lamb was saddened by my letter. I was trying to be realistic about the situation. Unless the world of education has changed dramatically in recent years Craig Stephenson will have difficulty getting time off to attend daytime meetings. Now that council meetings, at district level and above, are often during the day that could be a problem. I would be the first to cheer if party politics were removed from local government. Unfortunately, except for parish councils, this is not going to be the case if for no other reason but costs.
  I made enquiries about standing as an independent in the last general election, I wrote to the House of Commons to see if there was any funding for such a venture
only to be told by the Speaker that I would have to join a party!
  On the matter of parties if, as Mr Lamb suggests, people vote for personalities, I wonder why Tim Farron spent so much time campaigning on Craig Stephenson's behalf and the congratulating the locals for electing a Lib Dem? I understand that Tim Farron also brought party workers from Stoke on Trent to help. Come on Mr Lamb be realistic. The matters which you say were national political issues were EU driven as all our politics are these days. Why did Prescott want to legitimise Regional assemblies? His masters in Brussels have put them into place. He then tried through the back door by uniting police forces etc. Nothing that is remotely political and many other things as well are driven by the unelected commissioners in Brussels. You have only to look at the mess of our rail industry, postal service not to mention our fishing industry, coal industry and iron and steel and last but not least our farming to see how we are ruled from Brussels due to our governments handing over power to them without our permission.  Brian Wright