Please find details of half term activities for next week in Prestwich for details of other events outside Prestwich during half term and all year round  you can visit Bury Council’s What’s On guide at  http://www.bury.gov.uk/Events/default.htm 

May I take this opportunity to ask if you are the parents/guardians  responsible for children who may Trick or Treat to ask them to take proper care when they knock on a door, if it is not answered, to walk away.  Many residents are vulnerable and do not wish to answer doors in the evening.

BUTTERSTILE SCHOOL

Dance Talent — Free October Half Term Workshop for children aged 4-11. Book ASAPSamantha IngramChildren’s Centre AdministratorButterstile 0161 253 7900

HEATON PARK SCHOOL

Free Sports Camp 10 am till 12 Mon-Fri, For further info call 253 7076

PRESTWICH CRICKET TENNIS & BOWLING CLUB

A Fun Event with a tennis theme will be held from 10.30 am to 12.00 noon on Wednesday 28th October 2009 aimed at children under 10 (although older children would be welcome). Entry fee £1 per child.12.30 pm – 3.00 pm, a tennis camp (coaching) where the charge will be £12 per person or £10 per person for members of the same family.Ring Keith on 0161 773 1677 for further details.  

SEDGLEY CHILDRENS CENTRE

Sedgley Children’s Centre would like to invite you to a Pink Community Café on Friday 30th October 10am – 1pm to raise money for Breast Cancer.For further information Tel: 253 7476

VENWOOD ROAD BALLZONE  Ballzone Sports Camp – Mon-Fri,1pm till 3.30.pmFor further info call 253 7076

AREA PARTNERSHIP PROGRESS UNDER THREAT 

Bury Council has unilaterally decided it is to move Area Partnership Managers around from Area to Area in what councillors have been told is to help improve skills and best practice etc across the Borough.

The move has brought condemnation from councillors across the party divide and especially from Area Partnership Chairs.

As the Chair of Prestwich Area Partnership it might interest readers to know that Area Partnership Chairs were not consulted, Area Partnership managers were not properly consulted. AND, when we made clear our strong opposition those views were ignored. Then a couple of weeks after the event on October 14th we received a letter from a senior council officer confirming the situation and if anything just adding insult to injury.

The Area initiative relies heavily on the managers – these are the only staff the local townships have. They work in the community, build up community relationships, develop contacts and work extremely hard to respond to local issues, take forward Partnership initiatives and address the local agenda.

At a stroke Bury Council has put at risk the effectiveness of the whole innitiative. Whilst previously I was concerned about the Councils committment to local involvement and local decision making, I now know they are committed to maintaining the status quo – power and control from the centre.

It’s frankly an insult to the hard work that the Area Partnership Managers have put in over the past few years and a blow to the hopes of delivering real improvement on the ground and real community engagement and cohesion from Ramsbottom to Prestwich, from Radcliffe to East Bury.

Diverse communities, diverse requirements and strong local voices that demand local solutions.

I suspect a hidden agenda behind these proposals, in the meantime all I know is we are expected to put up with yet another bad decision from Bury Council. 

ELMS COMMUNITY CENTRE, GREEN LANE WHITEFIELD from 6 to 7pm

Come along , say hello and find out more about Vic D’Albert, Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Bury South at the next General election.

What are your priorities for the next Government? What kind of MP do you want? Do you have a burning question you would like to put to Vic?

Following last nights Public meeting organised by local Lib Dems following concerns about the future of the Longfield Suite, Bury Councils Executive Committee has agreed to a special meeting in Prestwich.

At last nights well attended meeting residents called for the Council leadership to come to Prestwich and face the public over their plans to alter facilities at the Longfield Suite.

Vic D’Albert chaired the meeting and welcoming members of the public he told the meeting, “Coming only a couple of months after this Council adopted the Love Prestwich Strategy document, following the biggest ever public consultation in Prestwich, this amounts to nothing less than a betrayal of the wishes of local people”.

The meeting was also attended by St.Mary’s Cllrs Donal O’Hanlon and Mary D’Albert, Sedgley Councillor Steve Wright, Ivan Lewis MP and Michelle Wiseman.

Several organisers of events at the Longfield Suite spoke, highlighting how well used the facility is, all condemning the proposals and calling for protests. The overwhelming view of those attending was that the much prized dance floor should be retained and that the size of the Suite should be maintained.

One resident told Conservative, Michelle Wiseman, “You don’t understand, we like it the way it is, we want it to stay the same”. Under pressure from local residents Cllr Wiseman would only confirm that “the leader of the Council has given assurances that there will be a Council civic “amenity” in Prestwich”.

Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.

Prestwich Local Area Partnership is supporting a range of Christmas festivities in the town with a grant of £1,500.

Throughout the run up to Christmas local residents and visitors will be able to visit a Christmas farmers market at Longfield Shopping Centre on Sunday 22 November.  The grant is also being used to support the Community Lights Switch On later that day as the finale to the day, as well as a community carol service at St Mary’s Church on the evening of Monday 21 December.

Continuing the Christmas theme, Church Lane Community Centre was awarded £3,000 from the Local Area Partnership to help fund equipment, such as tables, chairs and kitchen equipment for its newly refurbished building. This will allow the community centre to host a special reception during the community carol service.

And finally Downham Tenants and Residents Association will be helping elderly and disabled residents with their gardening as a £800 grant from the LAP has funded a sit-on lawn mower.

Councillor Vic D’Albert, Chair of Preswich LAP, said: “As we approach the Christmas period it is great to know that there will be a range of events taking place. This year the LAP has awarded £30,000 towards supporting local groups in Prestwich to support a variety of projects and this has helped make a real difference to our local community.”

PLANNING APPLICATION 

A Planning application has been lodged by Care UK for the siting of a mobile Health Clinic at Tesco’s for a period of seven years.

Details would be appear sketchy at present but presumably it will be one of those mobile testing clinics – where you can get your blood pressure checked out or perhaps have more serious matters checked/tested for problems. All potentially very good but immediately questions spring to mind.

Firstly why isn’t this happening at the walk in centre (or its much hoped for LIFT centre replacement)?

I thought the NHS was hard up. So why are they paying a private company to dump a mobile clinic at Tesco’s for 7 years and staff it?

It also seems a bit bizarre – have your heart checked out, while your better half rumages through the fruit and veg!

And I assume Tesco’s are getting a pretty good slice of the action also. Let’s face it they’re not exactly know for their benevolence to the local community. So perhaps someone will let us know who is paying what to whom in this novel initiative?
 

So as we (hopefully) approach the final chapter in the expense claims scandal, MP’s are receiving letter detailing over claims.

It is being reported in the news that not all MP’s are happy about some of what they are being asked to repay – especially the sums arising from the retrospective setting of spending limits for for instance cleaning.

However, what I would say to any MP’s (yes even Lib Dems) that don’t think they should repay is that they are completely missing the mood of the country if they think they have a case. The public aren’t interested in MP’s whinging about expenses, they would be more interested in how they plan to create more jobs and get Britain out of recession, and rightly so.

Public confidence in MP’s is so low at present the only acceptable thing is to pay up and shut up. Either that or stand down.

If confidence is to be restored the public need to know that their is a tightly regulated expense claim process and strict controls on what is acceptable. Only then can we move forward.

It is a matter of national disgrace that this scandal has dominated the news when the focus should have been on matters affecting the well being and quality of life of the British people. So hopefully this will be an end to the matter.

As Gordon Brown announces a £16 Billion Sale of public assets I can almost here the character from Dads Army shouting “Don’t panic”.

Any remnants of “prudence” has finally been expunged from his character with this one. The timing of this sell-off off public assets, in the midst of a recession has to be questionable proposal and one could almost lead to panic as to the true state of public finances. If indeed it was a simple case of being able to pick the timing in order to maximise interest and income, then this wouldn’t be happening now.

However, It could be that this sell off has nothing whatsoever to do with the state of our public finances and more to do with an impending General Election preceeded by a Budget. It could well be a cynical attempt to try and free up some resources – only time will tell.    

Clearly Cameron’s speech to the Conservative conference yesterday was full of fine , warm, words for those suffering at the front line of the worst depression  for decades. However if you have lost your job , struggling to feed a family, maintain your dignity and confidence in the future and keep a roof over your head , would those words make a difference to you?

The thing is we’re not talking about some wonderful economic theory, or building aircraft carriers, or policies to address endangered species.  We’re talking about peoples lives, here, now, and how they can be helped to recover and thrive.

That is where yesterdays fine words fail to meet the reality of the people he was clearly trying to reach. Because when you scratch the surface it’s the same old Conservative Party. They say they want to help the poor, so they plan to cut benefits. They say they want to help struggling families, so they plan to cut public services.

To paraphrase a famous quote, the author of which I have temporarily forgotten (to my shame). “Why is it that when they want to encourage the rich to work harder they pay them more, and to encourage the poor to work harder they pay them less?”

Cameron and Osbourne are right. If they win the next election there will be a lot of pain to endure, and they will be inflicting it without pain killers. Same old Tories. Squeezing the public services to pay for tax cuts for the fortunate.