Great Harwood: Farmers Market raises £4,000 for charity

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Much has been done at the town which has taken away from it rather than adding to it.
This has been done over many years...in fact over decades...and some of it I feel was done for political point scoring, by people who had their own agendas.

Do you think if the market had been left where it was and the size it was that it would be as busy now as it was 40 years ago or do you think it would be full of empty stalls because of the amount of people who want to use supermarkets and the internet to shop?

[Margaret Pilkington]

I'm not sure it all hinges on the market Neil( except Accrington sells itself on being a floral Market Town), there have been vast changes in the shopping habits of many, but some markets continue to thrive...maybe it is because they have stuck to the old format of what a market is.
And if the Farmers market can make a go of it, then this is surely an indication that it IS possible to have viable market trading conditions.

I think you can use the supermarkets, but still buy some things from the market...and internet shopping is something that is alright for some things, but it isn't a very satisfying way to shop.
I prefer to be able to see and feel the product that I am buying......the internet might be fine if you want to buy a TV or a hair brush...but ornages and cabbage...give me the experience of being able to see them and decide if they are good value...and more to the point fresh!

[Neil]

The farmers market is once a month, maybe it's seen more as something to do than shopping.

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by g jones

'This is no good, that's no good... everything is no good' is to often the lazy (don't care) answer which I am implicitly against.

Ken isn't one rung up the ladder. It's little reward financially for the effort made. He's making an effort. If as much time was transferred from typing absolute drivel into going to your nearest pensioners social (or engaging in some way with society), then society and those individuals would be a better off.

It's worrying behaviour because the latest prosecutions over the abuse to the lady over a female face on bank notes revealed the two perpetrators lived lonesome lives and had serious mental health problems. There appears to be a trend where keyboard warriors and trolls who sit alone behind their computer screen, particularly those who engage in personal abuse - who desperately need some form of help. From serious mental health problems to anger management.

The LT website is worrying.

Most councillors (a favourite villain of trolls) in my experience by contrast spend hours in the community giving something back and live a normal life amongst real people.

Wow...keyboard warriors, trolls, lonely people with mental illness and in need of anger management....

Your dead right about me though..

I use my keyboard to bring the fight into open debate.
I troll newspapers, magazines, blogs, twitter and other media, all by my lonesome, for information to use in said debate.
I often feel like banging my head on a brick wall or pulling out my hair because of the ineptitude and inflexibility of politicians to admit when they get it wrong.
I'm angry that you feel you know better than me about Europe because of something that Sir Humphrey has told you.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Neil

The farmers market is once a month, maybe it's seen more as something to do than shopping.

Maybe it is Neil, but if it proves to be something that makes people turn up...look, then buy, it has done its job.
If it is a pleasant place to go people will tell others and this is how the popularity of a place grows...which is exactly what I am saying about portraying a place as something it isn't. Initially people will come and have a look, but when it doesn't meet expectations then the people who have visited will tell far more people of their dashed expectations than those people who have had their expectations met.
Good experience = 10 people told.
Bad experience/unsatisfactory experience = millions of people told.....the internet is a wonderful thing if you have an axe to grind...or feel you have been duped.

[lancsdave]

I think of today's keyboard warrior as the historical chest thumping militant. Different generations but same process of registering your dissaproval at the system

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by Neil

The farmers market is once a month, maybe it's seen more as something to do than shopping.

I've long said that Accrington outside market is over-marketed. The requirement of the council to fill it with crap on traditional non-market days will never bring people in to make it a day out.

[Margaret Pilkington]

lancsdave, with great respect, these flea market days when all the stalls are full(even if they are full of tat - one man's tat is another man's treasure) are more patronised than the regular market days when there are empty stalls.
The flea markets must generate some revenue or they would stop....but you are right in the fact that people will not come to Accrington just for a flea market.

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

lancsdave, with great respect, these flea market days when all the stalls are full(even if they are full of tat - one man's tat is another man's treasure) are more patronised than the regular market days when there are empty stalls.
The flea markets must generate some revenue or they would stop....but you are right in the fact that people will not come to Accrington just for a flea market.

Your opinion is respected Margaret

Just a couple of points though;

Which is the most popular market in the North of England,and does it populate it's stalls on traditional non-market days with 'tat' ?

One stall is on there 7 days a week selling the same stuff, is that a 'market' stall or a flea market stall. ? The distinction has long gone because nobody has controlled it.

[Margaret Pilkington]

I would have to guess that the most popular market in the North of England has to be Bury...and no, it doesn't populate its stalls with tat....maybe that is because it doesn't have to do that to make it viable.
Accrington really doesn't have a viable market. The market hall is a joke - well, except it isn't funny.
Yes, you are right when you say no-one has taken control(or for that matter responsibility) to make the market not jsut viable, but a success.
A market is like a marriage - it doesn't just 'happen', it takes work, maintenance and love to keep it going.
Accrrington, sadly has none of those things. We should not proclaim ourselves a 'Market Town'.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

lancsdave, with great respect, these flea market days when all the stalls are full(even if they are full of tat - one man's tat is another man's treasure) are more patronised than the regular market days when there are empty stalls.
The flea markets must generate some revenue or they would stop....but you are right in the fact that people will not come to Accrington just for a flea market.

Maybe that tells you a lot about the spending power of Accringtons shoppers and why the big shops stay away

[Margaret Pilkington]

There is a challenge which has not been fully addressed. The challenge is to make Accrington a town where there is something to bring people in.......selling it as a 'Market Town' hasn't done it.
There has to be something that will appeal to people. So far there isn't anything.
It is all very well for Clare Pritchard(I know she has worked hard) to expend time and energy to promote the businesses in Accrington, but if these do not provide something that isn't available/cheaper elsewhere then all that work is lost.

I went shopping in Blackburn yesterday(against my better judgement)...it was a thoroughly disappointing experience. I hate the market. It has no 'feel' to it.
The Shopping Mall gives me eyestrain(that floor is hideous...very glary).
I can tolerate Accrington.....but I hate Blackburn and will not be going back there for a very long time.

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

There is a challenge which has not been fully addressed. The challenge is to make Accrington a town where there is something to bring people in.......selling it as a 'Market Town' hasn't done it.
There has to be something that will appeal to people. So far there isn't anything.
It is all very well for Clare Pritchard(I know she has worked hard) to expend time and energy to promote the businesses in Accrington, but if these do not provide something that isn't available/cheaper elsewhere then all that work is lost.

I went shopping in Blackburn yesterday(against my better judgement)...it was a thoroughly disappointing experience. I hate the market. It has no 'feel' to it.
The Shopping Mall gives me eyestrain(that floor is hideous...very glary).
I can tolerate Accrington.....but I hate Blackburn and will not be going back there for a very long time.

Don't blame you Margaret, I think they should let the IRA practice on it, they couldn't make it any worse, yet the clowns in charge want to call it a city, its short of an SH and another T.

[Margaret Pilkington]

yes, what I think of it rhymes with city, but I am far too polite to elaborate on what it is. I think you might be able to guess

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

There is a challenge which has not been fully addressed. The challenge is to make Accrington a town where there is something to bring people in.......selling it as a 'Market Town' hasn't done it.
There has to be something that will appeal to people. So far there isn't anything.
It is all very well for Clare Pritchard(I know she has worked hard) to expend time and energy to promote the businesses in Accrington, but if these do not provide something that isn't available/cheaper elsewhere then all that work is lost.

I went shopping in Blackburn yesterday(against my better judgement)...it was a thoroughly disappointing experience. I hate the market. It has no 'feel' to it.
The Shopping Mall gives me eyestrain(that floor is hideous...very glary).
I can tolerate Accrington.....but I hate Blackburn and will not be going back there for a very long time.

Iprefer Blackburn than Accy for shopping but Blackburn Market isn't nice.