Athletes, young people and rural watch

THE PARALYMPICS&&&

Well, this may already seem a long time ago, but how inspiring these were after the Olympics which had broken all expectations. It was brilliant to see the athletes of both Games parading through London to receive the applause and recognition of the British general public. There were numerous moments during the Games which one could choose as memorable. One that particularly stands out in my mind is the magnificent horsemanship of Sophie Christiansen, who won two individual gold medals and a team gold. Sophie suffers from cerebral palsy, which makes it difficult for her to control her movements. But what a bright, intelligent and articulate person lies underneath all this, which goes to show that disabilities on the surface can hide the true person within. I do hope that the achievements of our Paralympics athletes are changing attitudes to disability in this country and around the world. They certainly show what is possible with encouragement, dedication and determination to overcome their many obstacles and difficulties.  

BOVEY TRACEY YOUNG CITIZEN OF THE YEAR 2013&&&.

The time has come around again to make nominations for this annual award. The 2012 awards were very successful, and all 12 young people nominated (including one group of two and one of three) received certificates of commendation. I was particularly pleased that the judges decided that a member of the Heathfield Youth Club edged the award. This was an excellent testimony to all the hard work put in over recent years to establish and run youth services in Heathfield by people such as PCSO Tina Jordan and the late Liz Westwood. Of course others have generously contributed too, particularly the volunteers, our local councils and the club’s site owners Sparkworld. 

The Town Council will be putting out more publicity about the award scheme over the coming weeks, but I would ask you please to note any activities or achievements in the community by any young person or small group of youngsters that you feel may merit having their names put forward. Please contact the Town Hall office if you need further information or advice on this.

BOVEY YOUTH CAFÉ&&&.

Talking about our young people, I was very pleased to see that the highly successful Craft Fair has provided the Youth café with an award of £500 to boost its funding for this year. The Youth café is a valued venue for the youth from the town, and any additional financial support it can receive is always welcome. The Director of the Craft Fair, Sarah James, and the Director of the Guild of Craftsmen, Erica Steer, are to be thanked for this generosity. The Craft Fair will encourage members of the Youth café to get involved in next year’s event and to take their collection tins with them. It is also planning to organise some activities for the youngsters during the coming months. I think it is excellent that the Craft Fair is broadening its activities to benefit such community organisations.

The Town Council is also very supportive of the Youth café and currently provides an annual grant of £5,000 on behalf of our parishioners, which in my view is money well spent.

FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS AT MILL MARSH PARK&&&... 

With regard to the Craft Fair, I did not mean to give the impression in my previous column that it was to blame for the bad state of Mill Marsh Park in June. It was just unfortunate that the event coincided with the terrible weather, and there was insufficient break in the weather for some areas of the park to be able to recover in time for the Vintage Car Rally, in particular the entrance to the park from St Johns Lane. The Town Council is looking at ways in which this area can be improved for the future, and I hope to be able to impart more news on that soon. 

Work should also start very soon on constructing the Wray Valley Trail cycle path through Mill Marsh Park, together with improvements to the surface of the car park at the Scout hut.

ENCOURAGING OUR MORE RURAL COMMUNITIES&&&&

I haven’t forgotten that I started writing this column originally under the auspices of promoting Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) in Bovey. The Bovey NHW Forum is ticking along very nicely, and relationships with the local neighbourhood policing team are excellent, despite the many changes to police budgets and organisation. I know the police value the support they get from NHW, which helps make our communities safer places to live and work in. So it was very pleasing to be contacted recently by a group of residents just over the Bovey border in Ilsington about resurrecting a dormant scheme there. 

PCSO Tina Jordan and I attended a very positive meeting with the group, and after discussion of the whys and wherefores it was agreed to go ahead with starting up the scheme again. The lead members of the revived group intend to discuss the benefits of NHW with Ilsington Parish Council, and possibly via the Ilsington Parish magazine, to see if more groups can be encouraged there. We were interested to hear that some residents of Haytor Vale might be keen to set up something there. Both Tina and I have offered to help advise any potential start-ups if it would help, and I certainly would like to see an Ilsington councillor volunteer to be the NHW liaison point with their council. I know people in Ilsington read this magazine, so over to you!!!

Tina is also PCSO for Liverton and for those of you living there who might also read this column, I can’t give you a bigger hint than that!

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

Other columns by Tony Allen