A FRESH VIEW OF BARLICK
Posted: 06 Apr 2026, 01:43
A FRESH VIEW OF BARLICK
01 April 2002
I’ve had a visitor for the last ten days, an art teacher from Florida and it has been very interesting to see Barlick through her eyes. Some of you met her when she prowled through the town taking photographs, the group in the picture will probably get a bit of a surprise when they find themselves in the Times! I was fascinated by the fact that she took different photos than I would but even more so by her comments about the town, it was the first time she had been in England and I thought you might be interested as it reminds us how lucky we are.
Dannette’s first comment was how interesting and friendly the people were. She spoke to quite a few people and was impressed by how open and well spoken they were. She was fascinated by our use of language and said that the vocabulary we use is far more extensive than the children she teaches or most of the people she meets at home. She is aware of the current controversy about Cravenside and made the comment that the County Councillors who are pushing for closure probably wouldn’t see the old folk taking the sun in Albert Square as an asset to the town but as a liability in terms of their future needs.
The biggest difference she noted about the layout and construction of the town was that everything was so compact and well built, a stone house in Florida is a rarity. She said that everyone seemed to know each other and that people spent so much time chatting to their friends when they met on the street, nobody seemed to be rushing about like headless chickens.
She was invited to several homes and had a roast beef and Yorkshire pudding dinner with the Barritts at Kayfield in the week when they had their first calving and started milking again after being wiped out by foot and mouth last June, having been reared on a farm in Idaho she knew what this meant to them. Her comment as she came away was that they were a wonderful family and that Barlick is so lucky to have working farms in such close proximity with the town as it gives variety to the area.
I could go on at great length about the facets of our life that delighted her, she found it amazing that we had so many paper shops with a great variety of local and national papers, America doesn’t have news like we do. She liked the fact that we are a walking-distance town, you don’t have to climb into a car to go shopping or get to work. The small butcher’s and greengrocer’s shops were new to her and when I explained the situation to her she was amazed that we had allowed Rainhall Road School to be closed.
Listening to Dannette made me realise that she is right, we are so fortunate in that we have a great town with wonderful people living in it. Perhaps every now and again we need someone from outside to come in and remind us how lucky we are, a fresh view like hers might encourage us to be more alert to changes forced on us from outside like the closure of Rainhall Road and Cravenside. It will be too late when we find we have a Do-it-Yourself barn sat on the old railway sidings and another supermarket dominating the end of Rainhall Road and blighting the town centre shops even further.
What can we learn from all this? I think that the bottom line is that if we simply sit back and complain to each other we are lost, we will finish up with a town that is a clone of so many other small towns in England with no character, no local shopping, no essential local services and no relaxed atmosphere. I know it is hard to believe this but we shall finish up as a dormitory town, a suburb where people live but commute to larger towns for work, shopping and leisure. We could even end up like some of the villages in the Yorkshire Dales, full of holiday homes because of the low property prices and deserted in winter. I have great difficulty in imagining this but I fear it is one possibility if we don’t act now.
We are, on the whole, quiet and polite people and this is one of the joys of living in the place. However, we have got to get into the habit of standing up and shouting every now and again. Have you all signed the petition against the care home closure? How many of you have written to your County Councillor and protested about Rainhall Road School and Cravenside? It only takes five minutes and a stamp to do it. Believe me, when someone in that position gets a flood of letters on a subject they take notice. They are thinking about the next elections and make the assumption that people have short memories and will continue to vote for them, why don’t we give them a shock? Will someone please print a list of the Councillors who supported the closure of Cravenside so we can make sure they lose their seats!
Those of you who know me will probably agree that I’m a fairly quiet, law-abiding bloke but I am getting so angry about the way we are being treated by people in ivory towers who can see no further than a budget and a balance sheet. These people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. It is up to us to educate them in any way we can. Forget politics, Pendle Council did last week when they voted unanimously against the care homes report. Support any local councillor who is fighting for your cause, take note of the ones who are staying silent and make your voice heard in the May elections. It is a slow process but I promise you it will work. Ahhh! I feel better now I’ve got that lot off my chest! Go forth and protest!
01 April 2002
01 April 2002
I’ve had a visitor for the last ten days, an art teacher from Florida and it has been very interesting to see Barlick through her eyes. Some of you met her when she prowled through the town taking photographs, the group in the picture will probably get a bit of a surprise when they find themselves in the Times! I was fascinated by the fact that she took different photos than I would but even more so by her comments about the town, it was the first time she had been in England and I thought you might be interested as it reminds us how lucky we are.
Dannette’s first comment was how interesting and friendly the people were. She spoke to quite a few people and was impressed by how open and well spoken they were. She was fascinated by our use of language and said that the vocabulary we use is far more extensive than the children she teaches or most of the people she meets at home. She is aware of the current controversy about Cravenside and made the comment that the County Councillors who are pushing for closure probably wouldn’t see the old folk taking the sun in Albert Square as an asset to the town but as a liability in terms of their future needs.
The biggest difference she noted about the layout and construction of the town was that everything was so compact and well built, a stone house in Florida is a rarity. She said that everyone seemed to know each other and that people spent so much time chatting to their friends when they met on the street, nobody seemed to be rushing about like headless chickens.
She was invited to several homes and had a roast beef and Yorkshire pudding dinner with the Barritts at Kayfield in the week when they had their first calving and started milking again after being wiped out by foot and mouth last June, having been reared on a farm in Idaho she knew what this meant to them. Her comment as she came away was that they were a wonderful family and that Barlick is so lucky to have working farms in such close proximity with the town as it gives variety to the area.
I could go on at great length about the facets of our life that delighted her, she found it amazing that we had so many paper shops with a great variety of local and national papers, America doesn’t have news like we do. She liked the fact that we are a walking-distance town, you don’t have to climb into a car to go shopping or get to work. The small butcher’s and greengrocer’s shops were new to her and when I explained the situation to her she was amazed that we had allowed Rainhall Road School to be closed.
Listening to Dannette made me realise that she is right, we are so fortunate in that we have a great town with wonderful people living in it. Perhaps every now and again we need someone from outside to come in and remind us how lucky we are, a fresh view like hers might encourage us to be more alert to changes forced on us from outside like the closure of Rainhall Road and Cravenside. It will be too late when we find we have a Do-it-Yourself barn sat on the old railway sidings and another supermarket dominating the end of Rainhall Road and blighting the town centre shops even further.
What can we learn from all this? I think that the bottom line is that if we simply sit back and complain to each other we are lost, we will finish up with a town that is a clone of so many other small towns in England with no character, no local shopping, no essential local services and no relaxed atmosphere. I know it is hard to believe this but we shall finish up as a dormitory town, a suburb where people live but commute to larger towns for work, shopping and leisure. We could even end up like some of the villages in the Yorkshire Dales, full of holiday homes because of the low property prices and deserted in winter. I have great difficulty in imagining this but I fear it is one possibility if we don’t act now.
We are, on the whole, quiet and polite people and this is one of the joys of living in the place. However, we have got to get into the habit of standing up and shouting every now and again. Have you all signed the petition against the care home closure? How many of you have written to your County Councillor and protested about Rainhall Road School and Cravenside? It only takes five minutes and a stamp to do it. Believe me, when someone in that position gets a flood of letters on a subject they take notice. They are thinking about the next elections and make the assumption that people have short memories and will continue to vote for them, why don’t we give them a shock? Will someone please print a list of the Councillors who supported the closure of Cravenside so we can make sure they lose their seats!
Those of you who know me will probably agree that I’m a fairly quiet, law-abiding bloke but I am getting so angry about the way we are being treated by people in ivory towers who can see no further than a budget and a balance sheet. These people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. It is up to us to educate them in any way we can. Forget politics, Pendle Council did last week when they voted unanimously against the care homes report. Support any local councillor who is fighting for your cause, take note of the ones who are staying silent and make your voice heard in the May elections. It is a slow process but I promise you it will work. Ahhh! I feel better now I’ve got that lot off my chest! Go forth and protest!
01 April 2002