POWER TO THE PEOPLE

[Stanley]

POWER TO THE PEOPLE?

As most of you know, I am in favour of ordinary people being allowed to have a voice and being able to make their opinions known. We may yet see a change in policies on care homes in the district because the taxpayers and voters are making their opinion quite clear. Unfortunately, self-expression can sometimes be misdirected and result in damage to our amenities.

As we all know, there has been a problem with mountain bikers using the parapets of the gardens on Fernbank Avenue and in the Town Square. At the time I commented that to a certain extent, I had sympathy with the bikers because the town as a whole hadn’t recognised that it would be a good thing for them to have their own space to practice what is, after all, a fairly healthy outdoor activity. I’d rather see them doing this than smoking crack in dark corners!

My boss Eigg, the Jack Russell, demands that I take a bit of exercise every morning and we usually go up to Letcliffe Park. I noticed after the Easter weekend that there were some excavations above the planting in the south corner and it was obvious that the bikers had taken matters into their own hands and constructed some fairly impressive obstacles and jumps. The problem was that in order to do this they had dug up the path and created some fairly dangerous holes, especially if someone was visually impaired. In addition, although it may not be the bikers, the example of the unauthorised alterations had encouraged someone to cut down several small saplings in the immediate vicinity. So what we end up with is self-expression leading to what can only be described as vandalism which is sad.

There are other examples of anti-social behaviour on Letcliffe that are even worse. It is a favourite spot for the lads to take their cars, and judging from the tyre tracks, their Urban Assault Vehicles, and drive round on the grass, cutting it up and generally making a mess. Add to this the odd bit of stone and turf stealing for garden improvements and the scattering of fast food litter and bottles after a midnight picnic and we have a situation where what should be a pleasant open space for exercise is being degraded despite the valiant efforts of the Leisure Services to keep it tidy.

When the Barnoldswick Urban District Council bought 12 acres of Letcliffe Farm on the 5th of July 1901 and the Chairman of the Council, the Reverend F W Patten opened it as a leisure ground for the town on the 20th of June 1902, the Council; was responding to a country-wide movement to provide space for the workers to take ‘rational leisure’ in order to improve their health.

This debate on ‘Physical Efficiency’ was triggered off originally when it was found that a high proportion of volunteers for the Crimean War were simply too unhealthy to serve. The realisation dawned that conditions in the greatest industrial nation on earth were so bad that the workers were desperately unhealthy. It was this that led to the provision of parks and open spaces in every town and city in the land during the late 19th century. Barnoldswick was no exception and one of the results was Letcliffe, surely one of the most beautiful parks in Britain with its extensive views and country situation.

Apart from the general beauty of the park, it had a miniature golf course, a hedged bandstand, a First World War tank on a plinth, the War Memorial and the Jubilee Fountain which used to stand in Church Street at the top of Butts. The fountain and war memorial have since been moved to more accessible sites in the town, the golf course fell into disuse and Lord knows where the tank went! However, what we have left is a tidy, well-cared for public open space with a kiddies playground, clean toilets and pleasant walks. By any standards, this is an asset to the town and one we would do well to defend.

So how do we improve behaviour in the park? Twenty four hour security, floodlights and video cameras might be one route but apart from the expense, this would be as great an act of vandalism as taking an old car up there and burning it. (three have been burned in the last twelve months) I can only think that we have to try education and persuasion.

My message to those who use the park for damaging activities is that tearing up the turf, cutting down trees, serial littering and setting fire to the litter bins is an insult to your grandparents who paid for the park out of their hard-won wages in an era when pennies counted. They didn’t have the advantages or the income that you have and yet they sanctioned a massive expenditure on a public park for the good of all. Don’t do anything up there that you wouldn’t do in your own garden at home. If you don’t take heed of this appeal you will eventually lose the park and the ability to do the non-aggressive things that it is useful for. Where will you go for a quiet snog on a summer’s evening? Where will you practice pitching your tents and having a sleep-out? Give it a bit of thought, in years to come you will be taking your children up there to the swings, do you want them to be surrounded by squalor? Use your heads!

One last thought about Letcliffe. I was watching a man with a model aeroplane having a good time flying it off the dirt car park. He told me that he was actually breaking the law as it is banned. Is this true? I can’t really think of anywhere more suitable for doing this than Letcliffe or have I missed something here?

SCG/15 May 2002
1007 words

[Stanley]

Bumped and here is the impromptu cycle track.

[Stanley]

Bumped again. As true now as when I wrote it twenty years ago.