Tony Allen column: Young people in the community

INVESTING IN OUR YOUNG PEOPLE...

I’m very pleased to say that my recent appeal in the Mid Devon Advertiser regarding the lack of nominations for the Bovey Tracey Young Citizen Award 2014 has borne fruit, and thanks to some conscientious residents of our town, we did receive late nominations, and, at about the time this magazine is published, we will have a new winner and a number of commendations in place. I do think it is very important to recognise the voluntary work that our young folk carry out for the community, as they are our future, and they need every encouragement and recognition for their good efforts. So “well done” to all of them.

Correspondingly, I’m very pleased that the Town Council and others have been able to support financially our excellent Youth Café, which goes from strength to strength, but I must say I’m bitterly disappointed with Devon County Council’s severe cut backs of the Devon Youth Service, which directly affects our own youngsters in Heathfield. Thanks must go to Sparkworld for its provision of a site for them in Heathfield, and I just hope that volunteers will come forward to enable youth activities to continue there. It’s just ironic that the winner of our first Young Citizen Award in 2012 received the award mainly for helping the younger children with that very same youth facility in Heathfield.

THE YOUNG AND EUROPE...

This brings me on to something that I feel very strongly about indeed. If you listen to the moaners and groaners going on and on about immigrants (how many have you found hiding around the corner lately?) and how we don’t govern ourselves anymore (how many bother even to turn out at elections?), you’d think we’re going to have no future by remaining part the European Union, even with organisational and political changes that are undoubtedly needed. Well, although I hate to say it, it seems to me that the vast majority of those going on like this are from the older generation. Just look at the audiences you see on TV at UKIP meetings! I’d really like these people to spend a bit of time thinking about whom the long-term future really is for and how pulling out of the EU can be of any benefit to the future prosperity and wellbeing of the up and coming generations.

We’ve got very talented and enterprising young people that can make excellent careers in the many opportunities emanating from businesses and services operating in and from Europe, as well as going to Europe to work there themselves. This is the new and different world that is already here, and our younger generation are perfectly capable of making the most of it. Those from our mainland neighbours are already doing this, so in this country we have to be as bright and competitive as they are. Europe is a TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY for young people, and I don’t want to see those hankering back to the days of empire when many thought (and still do) that the world owed us a living, wanting to take this away from them. I have a strong belief that our super young people can and will put the GREAT back in Great Britain to help it become a true leader in an even more vibrant and successful Europe.

Likewise, those coming into Britain from Europe can and do make positive contributions to our community as well, as has been proven by our Young Citizen award winner mentioned above, who came to us from Poland!

NEW LEADER SOUGHT FOR BOVEY NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH FORUM...

As stated in the Town Council’s “Quality Update” newsletter, I have now stood down as the Leader of the Bovey Tracey Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) Forum, after carrying out the rôle for over 8 years. At the time of writing, there hasn’t been a single volunteer offering to take over, which is a pity, as NHW benefits the whole community in helping to prevent crime.

Being Forum Leader is a good way to get to know people in the town, and would be a positive experience for a young person wanting a useful volunteering qualification on their CV, or a recently retired person, or newcomer to the town, who wishes to get more involved with the Bovey community. I’m certainly prepared to make introductions to the existing thirty or so NHW co-ordinators in Bovey Tracey to help get someone started.

If interested, please contact me by email at nhw.bowdens@btinternet.com or via the Town Hall on 01626 834217. Alternatively, mention your interest to one of the local police support team (PCSO Paul Wilson or PCSO Tina Jordan) who’ll be pleased to advise you. I’ll update you should anyone come forward.

Finally, by public request:

MORE OXYMORONS...

Why do “overlook” and “oversee” mean opposite things?

Doesn’t “expecting the unexpected” make the unexpected expected?

If all the world’s a stage, where’s the audience sitting?

Why do we drive on a “parkway” and park on a “driveway”?

And why is the third hand on a watch called the “second hand”?

AND A FEW PUNS...

I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

A rubber band pistol was confiscated from an algebra class because it was a weapon of maths disruption.

A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

A sign on the wall at a drug rehab centre said “Keep off the grass”.

A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

Atheism is a non-prophet organisation.

Tony Allen is a Bovey Tracey Town Councillor & its representative on the Bovey NHW Forum. This column is written in a personal capacity and not on behalf of any particular group or organisation.