Suddenly it seems very quiet around here!  Hmm….The Jamaicans must have gone ……. With their bags and pans!!!
  So it's time for us to say a big 'THANK YOU' to everyone for the warm welcome and great hospitality they received.  Also thanks for your generous contributions of just under £1,500 towards the Cancer Hospice in Kingston.
  Below is a summary of our feelings about this town and the visit of the Stella Maris Steel Band.

Sooooo
Exhilarating!
Definitely
Brought
Enjoyment,
Revival….
Great
Hosts !!!
Ernest & Monica Cousins

  I am writing this from Besançon in Franche Comté in France - my first real holiday in three years.  Most of my recent trips away have either been on National Park or South Lakeland business.  While Exmoor and Warwick University were both very pleasant there wasn't a lot of free time outside the formal agendas.
  Westmorland General Hospital - In spite of one of the wettest days in living memory there was an excellent turnout for the march through Kendal.  I went around with Richard Bell and Tony Rothwell.  I'm not normally a fan of "direct action" preferring reasoned argument and analysis.  However, the current position of the Hospitals Trust makes that impossible.  They find themselves in a horrible position with the need to make substantial financial cuts.  I understand there is a similar situation in Hexham, and judging from current press reports at 61 other hospitals in England.  For rural hospitals like Westmorland and Hexham the problems stem from the government's drift of funding from supposedly prosperous rural areas into the inner cities.  However, because of sparcity it will always cost far more to deliver primary care in very remote rural areas such as ours.  Closing WGH will make very little difference to the long term costs of the local NHS Trust - they would have to build to compensate at Lancaster and Furness.  It is often said that if we hadn't had a government minister, Michael Jopling as our MP in the 1980s WGH would never have been built in the first place.  This might well be true, but it was right to build it then and it is right to keep it now and for the future.
  Sedbergh Auction Mart - While I have been away it has been confirmed that the site has been bought by Spar.  In planning terms, if they do indeed propose to use the site PURELY as a distribution centre with no retail then it might well be difficult for the National Park Authority to turn their application down.  This is all very different from the situation we would have had if any of the other purchasers, apart from the farmers' group, had been successful.  Most of their possible intended uses would have been fundamentally inconsistent with the Local Plan.
  However, any application will be considered on its merits - there are three obvious problems which Spar will have to address.  The first will be the increased traffic movements, particularly with large lorries over Lincoln's Inn Bridge.  The second will be the disturbance to local residents by out of hours working and the third will be the loss of the auction mart per se.  When any application does come forward it is important that everyone as their say.  Do remember however that to make a difference an objection, or comment in favour, has to be based on sound planning reasons.  There is no point in saying "it will devalue my property" - even if it will.
  Sedbergh Farmers' Mart - And that brings me on to much of the work I have been doing for most of the summer.  As local farmers we have been looking at a number of alternative sites for an auction / collection centre.  We too will face some major planning issues as all our possible sites are in "open countryside".  However the loss of the existing site must be a material consideration in our favour.  Several of us have been on our favoured site with planning consultants looking at the possibilities.  I never cease to be amazed by the good will towards us as a group.  As a result of last month's article we had two more sites offered.  Although we intend to proceed with one particular site it will greatly strengthen our application that we can show we have considered four other possible sites, and a couple of impossible ones.
  The Conservative motion at Full Council at South Lakeland in support of Sedbergh Auction was passed at 10.35pm on Tuesday 5 September, even if attendance was pretty thin at that ridiculous hour.  It is good that we now have the support of South Lakeland in our quest for a new auction.  I am sorry that the controlling group took out our sentence opposed to housing on the existing site and I fear that might have repercussions in Kendal.  I guess they didn't understand the subtlety of the motion.
  Evening Meetings - One of the first things the Liberal Democrats did when they took control of South Lakeland was to move Full Council meetings into the evenings.  On the face of it this shouldn't have caused much of a problem as many other councils do the same.  They claimed it would increase public attendance - it hasn't; and that it would make it easier for working councillors to attend - it certainly doesn't.  All I can say is that if someone is still able to concentrate on a detailed council agenda at 10.45 pm then they can't have been doing much earlier in the day.  Of course the real work of council is done in the committees and thankfully they still meet in the daytime.
  Now we are in opposition and I am no longer in the cabinet I have had the opportunity to join the Licensing Committee.  Like planning there is a lot of member training involved but again like planning it is very interesting.  Before I became a member of the committee I thought the majority of licensing concerned public houses - in fact there are many other sides to the work.  This year most of the business has been related to Hackney Carriages and the like.
  Other Matters - It might be hard to believe, but there are still a significant number of Single Farm Payments owing in the area.  I remember all the work Tim Collins, his staff and we councillors had with "Foot and Mouth".  This is a different sort of a crisis, at least no animals are dying.  However, like foot and mouth it has gone out of the national headlines and so people think it has gone away - it hasn't - and they've barely begun processing the 2006/7 claims.
  Finally, a silly little story I saw on French local television - the equivalent of Border.  A Franche Comtois farmer with 35 very fit Montbéliard cows had been taken to court by his new neighbour who had moved into the area from Paris.  She was complaining about the noise of all the cow bells day and night.  Worryingly, she won and his cows are to keep at least 400m from her new country retreat.  I really would have thought  the French would have had more sense !

  This year's Victorian Fair will be memorable for everyone taking part, visitor or stallholder alike - could the weather have been any worse?  The Embroiderers group were at least in the dry once we got into the Institute, and a number of brave souls battled through the elements to visit, share a cup of tea and view the varied exhibits we had on display.  Everyone in the group had contributed pieces of work ranging from quilts, wall hangings and pictures to bags, boxes, bowls, jewellery and cushions.  A  wide range of techniques were on display and several were also being demonstrated during the day - felt making, constructing cords and braids, machine and hand embroidery and lacemaking.   We were just disappointed that we were not able to publicise our group to more people, as that had been one of the main aims of staging an exhibition.  Better luck another time perhaps?
  September is the AGM month and this year we combined it with a workshop run by Pat Mann on the making of a 'Calico Garden'.  This is the name given to a piece of hand embroidery usually worked in cream thread on a calico ground using a variety of stitches to depict a garden scene.  Obviously, as with most projects, there can be any number of variations on a theme and you can be really imaginative once the technique has been mastered.  The workshop was well attended and we enjoyed it very much.
  At our next meeting on 12th October we welcome Marge Quinn, who will show us how she makes cords and braids and suggest ways in which they can be used.  That meeting will be held at Cowan Bridge Village Hall from 2.00 to 4.00 pm.  This is our usual venue for meetings which generally happen on the second Thursday of the month.
  We are always keen to welcome visitors and would really like to enlarge our membership.  No knowledge or expertise is necessary, just an interest in stitching and textiles generally.  If you would like further details please ring Ann Hunter on 015242 41120, or Ann Wright on 015396 21567

  On behalf of the Lavender Trust at Breast Cancer Care I would sincerely like to thank the organisers, pullers, back up teams, funday and night teams and everyone who supported this years Kirkby Stephen to Sedbergh truck pull event where we received a cheque for £950 out of the monies raised.
  The Lavender Trust is a Breast Cancer Support and information fund, the only one in the UK dedicated to addressing the particular needs of younger women with this terrible disease including publications, weekend workshops and telephone support, all of which are free.
  Breast Cancer Care is now working to help hospitals further improve their care by running training seminars across the UK for hospitals and clinics on issues facing younger women.
  If you would like any more information please visit our website at www.Lavendertrust.org.uk We are told that you are planning next years pull now.  Well good luck to all involved and it's going to be some feat by all accounts.  I'm sure the team doesn't think of the pain but all the good causes that benefit from your excellent efforts.  Well done everybody.                                                                                                                                                      James Fletcher, Lavender Trust

Dear Editor
  May I reply to Brian Wright's comments in last month's LOOKAROUND, and also make a couple of observations relating to Edwin Bateman's letter in the same issue?
  The point I was making in response to Mr Wright's first letter was that Craig Stephenson was elected to attend to local issues, not national political ones. Whilst national politics clearly have an impact on local concerns, it is on how Mr Stephenson performs with regard to local matters that he should and. no doubt, will be judged by the electorate. If we, as voters, were to decide which way to vote for our local representatives almost exclusively on the basis of the national policies of their respective parties we may as well give up on local democracy. When I vote in local elections, I place my mark against the candidate I think will do the best job for the local community, irrespective of his or her political affiliation, and I hope and believe that is how the vast majority of voters approach the matter.
  The question of whether Mr Stephenson will be able to balance successfully his duties as a Councillor with the demands of his employment is indeed an important one, and only time will tell if he achieves this. If people were to be disbarred from standing for the Council because they had day jobs, or ran their own businesses (which would be the logical outcome of Mr Wright's argument), the choice of candidates would inevitably be limited to retired people and the privileged few with no other calls on their time. This would be bad for local democracy, which needs as broad a range of representation of the community as possible if it is to function properly. So, instead of condemning Mr Stephenson out of hand before he has barely had a chance to show what he can do, why does not Mr Wright wait just a little longer before rushing to judgement? Perhaps he could also fight his battles against the EU in a more appropriate context.
  Incidentally, Mr Wright has his facts wrong about the requirements for standing for election to the House of Commons. A person is not required to join a party to be a candidate, as at least three high-profile Independent MPs elected in recent years (starting with Martin Bell) amply demonstrate.
  Turning to Mr Bateman's letter, his reference to France and Germany being "erstwhile enemies of the UK" is deeply troubling. Both have been friends of the UK for many years - Germany for more than 60 years now, and France for nearly 200 years. How far back into history does one have to go to find a country that Mr Bateman will not condemn as an "erstwhile enemy"? After all, we fought a war against the USA in 1812 (only three years before we last fought against France) and in the 17th and 18th Centuries we were at war (at various times) with virtually every European nation other than Portugal! I would take Mr Bateman's views on the EU more seriously if they did not appear to be informed by so much isolationist prejudice. There is a very serious, rational debate to  be had about the direction of the EU, its failings and its benefits, and the UK's place in (or outside of) it, but to approach the matter from such an extremely parochial standpoint will get us nowhere. Yours faithfully                                                                                                                                                                                                     Nick Lamb