Logo Image
return to the previous page

 

 

 

 

report offensive content
click to view site banner advert 2

click to view site banner advert 3

 

text version

 

 

Homepage

bookmark this website print this page    


   

Years ending December 2014

A picture for TISBURY VOICES OUT OF FOCUS

How right Jon Amos is to comment on the anonymity of those whom Focus ascribes to be Tisbury Voices. I most certainly agree that any who write articles should let others know who they are. Jon Amos signed his contribution to Focus and I sign contributions I make to both the local Press and 'Blogs', but admit to using several pseudonyms in making hopefully constructive political comments to on line Newspapers, for such contributions too are not for self publicity, each being but a 'pearl of wisdom' cast for others to adopt as their own, or more frequently,do with as is their wont.

Focus has been more informative of late. This month there is even a report on the affairs of West Tisbury Parish Council, previously notable for its tacitness, so could it be that there was no previous mention of the Jubilee Seat in Focus ? If not is that why that anonymous Voice, be it from Tisbury or West Tisbury, was flummoxed by stumbling on that seemingly meteoric lump of slatted stone , carved in a Tisbury Parish Farmyard , but maybe it originated from Chicksgrove Quarry rather than from the next Parish ?

​'Whatever' as the saying is, clearly yet again there was a communications failure. When in its collective wisdom, will one or another of the Village's two Parish Councils, if not both, get around to erecting a capacious notice board where all and sundry might post detail of social events. Well intentioned though the thought was, the notice boards outside the Post Office and the Delicatessen are totally inadequate to the needs of our community, as illustrated by many a passed telephone pole.

Maybe of course mentioning such a deficiency might be construed as a criticism of the actions of 'people who democratically represent the village, giving up many hours of their own time to do so'. As so correctly stated 'There are many ways to get involved and make your voice heard if you want-including vacancies on the Parish Council'. There is a time for everything in life. One of those 'many ways' of being involved' is the airing of contrary points of view. Why doing so, might saddened or disappoint Parish Councillors is an anomaly, for some of us consider ourselves better able to contribute from ' outside the tent than from within' due to the restrictions of collective responsibility for decisions made by a majority.

One shouldn’t take things personally. Some in the Parish express concern about all sorts of things. There is the matter of the redevelopment of Station Works, That proposed Pedestrian Bridge alongside Poole Bridge. I believe much money was expended on that idea. Then there is the whole débâcle of the Campus , that started with the then Parish Council proposing the Parish buy the school for circa £300,000. +. Then there was a later decision of linking the Hindon and Churchill Estate with a through road, a decision one hopes none will have cause to regret. What now of the Nadder Hall and its Grand Piano ? What of the other variously owned Halls in the Village including the Victoria, Elizabeth,and Hindon Halls and the Methodist Hall, and The Tisbury Social Club and The Bowls Club? etc. Would it not have been an idea for the Village's two Parishes, and Hall Committees to put their heads together and build a Hall of our own more suited to Local needs. Both Dinton and Charlton managed it. What of the land the Catholic Church owns? How was it that the last Parish Council continued to financially support that Community Compost Heap. It cost us thousands of pounds. Was it the best use of the money received from Messrs Fry to provide forty thousand pounds toward the construction of a splendid Pavilion for The Fonthill Bishop Cricket Club on Lord Margadale's Estate? It was not the recently elected Parish Council who made that decision, but maybe it was a decision that should have been taken by The Parish Council that was elected in May 2013. Why didn’t the Parish Council use some of their windfall money for the draining of Tisbury United Football pitch? What of all that money spent on Christmas lights, and the training of an operative, or spent on the illumination of the Tennis Courts?

Then of course there was the suggestion of buying Johnson's field. Whom would buying that have benefited,other than local Traders and extra mural Commuters? What of the existing car park provided it seems by 'courtesy of Tisbury PC'. Rather than the local Community Charge Payers? What of putting a time limit on parking there. I think there will be a lot more car parking there off the Fry's Estate.

Might not Tisbury and West Tisbury amalgamate. It is absurd that our village has two Parish Councils and Two paid Parish Clerks, one of whom lives in Warminster. I brought this question up when Wilts. Cllr.Mrs Janet Scott attended our Parish Assembly earlier in the year, making reference back to a question I'd asked of the Parish Council on the 4th.April 2009. (Duly noted in the Minutes).When I light heartedly said that only one member of the2009 Parish Council seemed against the idea, it didn't go down well. The only other question asked of our guest was also mine. Seemingly too few wish to be involved in local affairs, which is a pity as we have three vacancies on the Parish Council, which may be filled by co-option tomorrow evening. Do hope all the existing Parish Councillors are there to vote this time.

I suppose our family has had the benefit of Focus, that well produced monthly, ever since September 1980. Its a Church Publication that attracts many advertisers, but is it over egging the pudding to describe it as a Community Magazine? Which its distribution, which its Community ? Are there no other local businesses than Agriculture in the fifteen Parishes of The Nadder Valley Benefice ? Goodness me there was a chap constructing aeroplanes opposite the Station a while back. Possibly he still does! J.B.P. December 1. 2014.

Photograph of Madeleine Mc. Cann who is still missing.

A picture for TISBURY VOICES OUT OF FOCUS

contact : John B. Pope
Email : brownfieldpope@gmail.com