We went along to officially open the Barnoldswick’s Poppy Shop and met with their organiser Anne-Marie and president Eric. Eric was injured in WW2 and was captured by the Japanese in Singapore.
The tarmacer’s had also turned up this morning to do the driveway in front of the farmhouse. They are a hard working lot and soon had the area levelled. This is something that I have been planning to do for several years now but have at last got round to getting it done.
In the afternoon I called into the Town Hall for a chat with our communications team to sort out the plans that we had for future Mayoral events. Straight in to the next meeting, where we help put together the next edition of Pendle News. This goes out to all residents in Pendle quarterly.
In the evening I went to Trawden Parish Council for their meeting.
I have now visited 16 of the 17 Town and Parish Councils in Pendle. The 17th only holds occasional Parish Meetings so we have so far been unable to arrange anything with them. This is a bit unfortunate as it is Brogden and Bracewell where I live. At Trawden, the hall was full with residents, joining Parish Councillors to consider local issues. I once again thanked them for their hard work and commitment to their community.
Tuesday 6 November
The tarmacer’s returned to finish the job, and have left me with a great driveway that is just shouting to get roller skates and skate boards on.
The afternoon was again a sunny and warm day (again!). Tuesday afternoons are when we walk the Pendle Way, so today we did the Earby to Barnoldswick section. We are nearly there now with just one more section to do, so we will finish next week with tea and buns.
In the evening I attended the West Craven Area Committee. We move the venue around our patch and this time it was at Rolls Royce Social Club in Barnoldswick. This committee considers all of the services provided by Pendle Borough Council in West Craven.
I don’t watch much TV but a programme caught my eye on Helvetica at 50. Helvetica is the most used typeface in the world and was first drawn 50 years ago in Switzerland, hence the name. All ex-stamp collators will remember that the Swiss stamp has Helvetia on it. My background as a compositor and typesetter gives me an understanding of some the finer points of type design. I can well remember when we got our first case of beautiful 10pt Helvetica Medium metal type back in the early 1960's, it was like Christmas for me.
Wednesday 7 November
Most of today was taken up with my business where we are looking to acquire other companies.
In the evening I attended Barnoldswick Town Council. As the Chairperson was off ill, I had to chair it as vice-chair. Amongst other items we had a report from the Town Crier, Liz, regarding Barnoldswick putting on the British National Champion Town Crier Competition in 2009. If we were able to facilitate this it would be a very colourful and prestigious event. We have encouraged Liz to come up with a plan for it.
Thursday 8 November
I took the car in to get an irritating squeak sorted and then spent most of the day in the office at work. We had just received notice of a company that may be offered for sale, so we spent most of the time getting information on it. It is incredible what you can now turn up on the internet and this helped us to get a bit better understanding of them.
I was supposed to go to new war memorial opening in Barley but the organisers changed the day at the last minute.
Friday 9 November
We went to Park Junior School in Colne to hand out the awards for the Road Safety drawing competition.
It’s along time since I was in school and I didn’t like most of it, but this school was lovely. The children all had smiling faces and the teachers all looked to be enjoying their jobs. We opened 2 new libraries, which looked great for the children to get a love of books.
Opening the new Libary
We all need to be able to use the computer but we should never forget the wealth of knowledge and experiences in books.
A quick lunch, and then back to the Town Hall for a meeting with service managers, on how our plans were progressing. After that another regular meeting with officers on what was on the horizon.
In the evening, it was black tie again, as I went to Burnley Football Club for the Burnley & Pendle Law Society Annual Dinner. I was sat between Rev. Tom Bill, the rector of the parish Church of St. Peter, Burnley, and the Mayor of Burnley Peter McCann. An excellent dinner followed by interesting speeches, which didn’t finish until after 11.00. I was amazed at the numbers associated with law in our area, so business must be good.
Saturday 10 November
We went to open the Pendle Forest Model Railway Society 41st Annual exhibition. We were met by Peter Wainman their chairman, who showed us around. There were over 12 working models and lots of stalls.
With the tramway modellers from Derbyshire
I opened the event by telling them that Hornby Dublo’s profits were up so the next generation of Railway modellers were probably being created this Christmas.
I also welcomed the group from Creil in France who are from our Twin Town. One of their group is a Eurostar train driver who will soon be bringing his train into the new Eurostar terminus at St. Pancras, London.
All of the exhibits were very interesting and you could easily see the many hours of dedication that the people who had built them had put in.
A quick ride on the Thompson's Park train
Sunday 11 November (Remembrance Sunday)
A very busy Day and we had to get to Colne for 10.00 dressing in the full Mayoral outfit of red coat, gold civic chains, white gloves and an ancient hat. I put on my hiking socks as a shield against the expected cold. The day was sunny and not too cold. Starting from the Colne Royal British Legion headquarters we went in procession to the Cenotaph.
Here we laid wreaths and had a short service before heading back to Colne Town Hall for the parade past.
After the parade had passed we jumped in the car to get back to the headquarters to welcome them back. Afterwards we had time for a cup of tea and a sandwich. Whilst there I had a chat with some of the ex-servicemen about their experiences. I also met with Luke Riley who was wearing his great-great grandad's British Empire Medal.
With Luke Riley and friends at Colne British Legion ClubWe left Colne to get to Nelson for 1.30, where we went in procession from the Innovation Centre to the Nelson Cenotaph.
Getting ready for the service outside Nelson Town Hall
This time the Nelson Brass Band and the Accrington Pipe Band took turns in playing.
I laid the wreath at the Cenotaph and another at the Boy Scout Statue.
Accrington Pipe Band lead the Nelson march pastWe had then to drive quickly to Barnoldswick for their start at 2.55. This was held on the Town Square for the first time, as there is more space there and less traffic noise.
After a short service we followed the Barnoldswick Brass Band to the Cenotaph to lay the wreaths.
The day had got gradually colder and by this time I was glad that I was wearing the white gloves and the old Mayor’s hat (size 7¼!). Back home from there to stand in front of the Aga for a while to get warmed up. I decide that I need some chillies in tonight’s tea.
