While out and about today a couple of people asked about the bin collections this week.
The collections will be on the normal days, there will be no putting back the collections by one day for the bank holiday.
Oh, and this week it is the green bin
Further details are on www.northumberland.co.uk
Just a quick message to wish you all a Merry Christmas.
I’ll be available by telephone and EMail over the Christmas holiday, for any emergencies.
As usual, I’ll be making a donation to charity , and only be sending cards to close family and friends.
This year I’ll be sending my donation to the Parkinsons Disease Society.
If you read this and haven’t got a card, it’s not because I don’t wish you all the very best for Christmas, but because I’d like to make a contribution to a worthwhile cause rather than spend what otherwise would be a thrown away after a couple of weeks.
Anyway, with the telephone, EMail, the Global interwebby thing, I can pass on Christmas wishes by other methods.
I’ll probably be on this site again before Christmas, but in the meanwhile can I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.
I’m sorry that I haven’t updated this site in the last couple of weeks.
This post is just a brief one to keep you informed on progress.
The Town Council Finance Committee has started to look at next year’s budget. There is a range of services that the County Council are looking to devolve down to the parish (and town) councils.
We need to look at them and decide which, if any, we are taking on and how this will affect the precept. There is an argument that goes…. we paid for these under BVBC so by paying the Town Council to do them we are paying twice. But that is the simple position, by not having to do them the County Council can reduce the base budget by £400,000 over the county and therefore limit their council tax rise.
But the main point has been missed. It is a Labour government that has cut the payment to Northumberland County Council (among all local authorities) and it was a Labour government that imposed a single unitary council on Northumberland against opposition from all councils, political parties and members of the public.
Yet who are the main critics of the situation that the County Council finds itself in? I’ll let you guess!
Anyway, on what should have been a lighter note.
On Sunday I attended the Salvation Army Toy Service at Bedlington, and on Saturday I opened the Isabella Christmas Fayre.
These events should be above party politics, I was there in my Civic role as Deputy Mayor.
Yet on Saturday I received adverse comments from a Labour Party activist (not a councillor) about my presence, being a Liberal Democrat councillor.
So much for the season of goodwill !!
A BIG thank you to all those involved in the switch on of the Christmas lights yesterday.
Without meaning to exclude anyone, I must give special thanks to the staff of Northumberland Council, Blyth Valley Arts & Leisure, to 1000 Squadron ATC, to certain Blyth Town councillors, to Sue Noddings our new town clerk, and to Pudsey Bear for being the guest of honour.
But special mention must go to those members of the public who braved the cold weather and came to see the switch-on.
I didn’t actually see the switch on, as I was working behind the scenes, but I had a look around when it was all over. The lights , and the Market Place features, looked really effective. I may have criticised the Market Place features in the past, but when they work they look fine.
Final arrangements are being made for this year’s Christmas Lights switch on.
The entertainment will start at 4:30 with school choirs, and Pudsey will switch the lights on at 5:30
There will be a collection for Children in Need, collected by 1000 Squadron Blyth ATC
Hopefully the press releases will appear in the local papers, Journal, Chronicle and News Post Leader. If you have Facebook, please sign onto the “I’m attending the switch on of Blyth Christmas Lights” event , and invite all your Facebook friends
Many thanks to everyone involved.
Last night was Children in Need night, and in among some of the B list celebrities and seriously unentertaining stuff there was some good entertainment.
Okay, I know that all our tastes are different , but what stands out is the HUGE amount of money made.
Two Blyth Town Council councillors were due to appear to publicise Pudsey switching on the lights next Friday, but because of the terrible flooding in Cumbria being reported priorities changed.
But, until next Friday I have changed my profile ‘photo on here, and on my Facebook page. I challenge you to do the same and donate £1 to Children iin Need
The next meeting of Blyth Town Council will be this Thursday, 19th November, at 7pm. It will again be at the Church of New Hope, Newcastle Road, Newsham.
There will be the usual 15 minutes of public question time, and the main body of the meeting will be around one item, the services that will we be taking on (or are expected to take on), in the 2010/2011 year.
We will not be making a decision, but receiving a presentation from an officer of Northumberland County Council
Today I had the honour to lay a wreath at the memorial within Blyth Community College. Although a relatively new school it remembers those from former schools who have lost their lives in service of the country.
It was a simple ceremony, but it was really good to see young people taking an active part in the act of Remembrance. It’s so good to see, that on the special day, the sacrifices made have not been, and will not be, forgotten.
For administrative reasons the ceremony was at 9:30, so I thought I would make my way to Blyth Town Centre to observe my own 2 minutes silence. The bus wasn’t going to get into town on time, so I got off at Regent Street just before 11 o’clock. I observed the silence with a couple of other people who had got off the bus with me, and a young couple who had been to Herrons the jewellers to choose an engagement ring. They did not need to be told of the silence, they stood by their car and bowed their heads.
Good luck for the future to David and Lindsay, but mostly thank you for your simple act of remembrance.
It will soon be Christmas, and we will soon be switching on the Blyth Christmas lights.
Working with officers of Blyth Valley Arts and Leisure and Northumberland County Council , we have started the countdown to Christmas!
The switch-on will be on 27th November at 5:30 pm.
Thanks to great work by Fiona Wilson, my fellow ward councillor for Plessey Ward, we have got a true celebrity to perform the switch-on…… (drum roll………..) …………Pudsey Bear !!!
The event will be in support of the Children in Need appeal, and although the Children in Need night is the weekend before, we are really happy that Pudsey has taken the time to visit.
There will also be street entertainers, and we hope that the market and the shops will remain open late.
Full details of the night’s programme of events follows later.
