Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

We've got more than enough shops. They are forever building shops when half the town is already full of empty ones.

Nicer places, nicer views. Yes, I'm all for that, but our council seems to have a very shortsighted view if you'll pardon the pun. We have an area in town which could be very beautiful if it were developed properly but of course that costs money and they're very good at wasting money on things we don't need and already have too many of - like shops.

Ironically we have a "viewpoint" - a small layby on the A56 as you come over the coppice towards Huncoat. Unfortunately any view there may have been from here is obscured by scrubby "trees" which were never on t'Coppie when I were a lass and in the opinion of many residents should never have been put there at all! The layby also attracts litter louts who don't only drop whtever they happen to have on them at the time, but also seem to go to the trouble of bringing their bin bags from home!

Civic pride? Hyndburn? Perhaps if the kids had something to be proud of it would be a start. I'm sure the decent ones outnumber the vandals and hooligans but we all seem to suffer at the hands of the latter.

In contrast we drove around Whalley at the weekend and the views were somewhat pleasanter.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

I ducked out of the discussion last night because it was getting late and I was tired. Funnily enough I had been out earlier in the evening to the theatre - to Burnley.

So to answer a few questions.

HBC got an Arts Council grant to fund the arts posts, so argue that either way they were employed by HBC but with money from elsewhere - the grant has run out as they all do and HBC has decided that instead of building on the work that they are only just starting to do, they will scrap the jobs and leave us with a distinct lack of arts activities.

But once again I must stress that just because you don't know about them doesn't mean that the work that they are doing isn't valuable to this town.

The theatre situation is terrible - I had to go to Burnley to see something. The Mechanics always has good stuff on and it's only a slightly larger theatre than Ossy. This is something that needs fixing and I've on numerous ocassions approached the Council to ask to look at their business plan for the theatre and always been refused. Perhaps I might get some authority in the near future to demand it.

Public art - yes we need some. And again, if the current regime changes then it is possible that HBC may be open to some.

Mid Pennine Arts have pulled out of Hyndburn (more or less) because HBC have refused to pay their subscription to MPA. The other Councils in the area - Rossendale, Pendle and Burnley - continue to pay their subscriptions so naturally MPA will concentrate on working in those areas.

So I will stick to my guns about the arts dev officers, they are much needed.

But the rest of the issues, you know I wholeheartedly agree. We are an area bereft of arts and culture and it's one thing that I will be (hopefully) in a position to tackle very soon!

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

PS - Neil - in May if you do want someone daft enough to sit in stocks for a fund raiser, I'll be happy to help.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

It sounds like fun doesn't it ;)
I have not seen it done anywhere for ages.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

If the amenities are in situ and operable (no pun intended) and there’s sufficient demand from the public why don’t you form a Friends Association in partnership with HBC and the Arts Council and develop Theatre in Hyndburn.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Because I know little about these things and time is become tight due to contractual obligations could someone come up with a Poll that gives us some idea of what the People of Accrington Web would like to see in respect of Arts and Culture initiatives in Hyndburn i.e.:

Should we have Public Statues?

What should they represent?

Where should they be placed?

Should we develop stronger Theatrical Links in the area?

Should Theatre in Hyndburn be managed by HBC or a Friends Group?

Should it cater widely to other cultural groups?

Should we develop Themed Recreational Facilities in the area i.e. Canal Life etc.?

Should we develop and consolidate our local amenities like parks and garden in to areas of public art?

What is it that members what to see. Is it:

More Festivals

What should they represent?

When should they be held?

Who should arrange and control these events?

More Street Art:

What should it represent?

Where should it be displayed?

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

We'll have to wait until May for the charity sponge throwing for charity then.

Depending on the result of the election, it might just be Neil with his wet sponge, or hundreds of people if Peter Britcliffe wins.;)

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Flyer in this week's Observer.

Cultural life in Hyndburn this Spring 2006-

Line dancing.

Sequence dancing.

Saturday night dancing.

Water colour exhibition at the Howarth.

Alice in Wonderland.

Neil Innes and friends.

The Flanagan and Allen story.

Phil Cool.

Roy Orbison tribute singer, Blue Bayou.

Meatloaf and Cher, tribute act.

Marty Wilde, the real one!

Jack and Jill.

The 9th Lancashire food festival.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Presumably this was all arranged by the four who have lost their jobs. If that is an example of the best that can be made of an Arts Council Grant and council funding, then I have to say that it is probably better for the borough that they have gone.

Not one of the events listed above would entice me to venture from the comfort of my armchair - even if I was so bored that I was reduced to counting the number of times HBC used the word "inclusive" on its website in the attempt at finding some mental stimulation.

Facts must be faced, the people of Accrington and the wider borough have little understanding or appreciation of the Arts. Thus it can come as little surprise to find that HBC, as representative of the people, similarly has little understanding and appreciation. HBC mismanages Haworth Art Gallery, not because it cannot afford it, funding can be found but, because it does not understand what it is for. It has tried various roles for the Haworth and its collections, the latest being part of the Accrington tourist haven idea, and all have inefectually petered out into insignificance. It understands that the collections have a monetary value but that is about as far as the understanding goes. Concepts of the necessity of conservation, access, display and explanation are lost on them. This is why they sold off the Ashton-Frost steam engine and also why the Oak Hill Collections were dispersed.

Why do people in Accrington have such an ingrained resistance to the influence of High Arts and Culture? Mainly, because they are not taught that it is a legitimate adult pursuit. "Art" is something you do at school on wet afternoons with sugar paper and poster paint. It is diametrically opposed to the prevailing protestant work ethic. That is why whenever public art is proposed the project is always given to schoolchildren, who produce dismal and apalling mosaics.

Is there a way out of this situation? Probably not, unless we give way to tyrants like ELP and the North-West Development Agency who are prepared to impose art on the borough...and foot the bill. Other than that, I am afraid, it will continue to be more of the same.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

No, none of these are organised by the Arts dev team. I think I may possibly have mentioned more than once that the Arts dev team are working on community projects, youth theatre, and various festivals etc.

Most of the stuff above is booked by the Theatre manager (not sure of his actual title). He is NOT part of the arts dev team.

I'm getting a bit fed up of repeating myself!

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Got to agree with you.

Yes, there is a way out of the situation. It will take guts and it will take passion but it is possible.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

I agree with that too AB the same happens here all the time, sounds like you'r quite a large town but suffer the problems that we have as a small town proably because your sandwiched between two larger towns.

When I say more shops whispy, what I actually mean is more shops, not buildings, although building more shops isn't such a bad thing as long as it doesn't take the shops out of the buildings in town centre. we are in the unusual situation that not only are they not building more shops but they are taking the existing shops for flats whilst trying to push the town as a tourist town. We're creating a book town but have no sizable shops to put the bookshops in. You need a couple of thousand books out to make it work so i'm told but cant fit that many in a lounge sized sales area. If it works and it seems to be albeit very slow( perhaps better than boom and bust), that will fill all the empty shops up and we'll have no town centre space to build more.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

In our experience if you wait for any council to do anything such as streets shows or festivals you'll wait forever. Our councils pay for very little esp the borough council, most of what happens is paid for by groups raising money off public, match funding and grants.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Ditto here whispy but we have none of your high street shops, here is like ossy by the sound of it.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Admitted, but when we have paid public servants who aren't doing their jobs to the full extent, it should be brought to the attention of the people who are paying for it via their council tax.

I don't mean the four strong, soon to be axed, arts development team, but exactly how many people on HBC are responsible for the arts, if all the other bits weren't in the 'remit' of the arts development team?

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

When do they ever do their jobs or do anything properly rindy. These are council employees, the two just don't go together. They seem to enjoy wasting our money, then try to brag about it, and to cap it all, they try to block any group getting grants because they've had good ideas that they never thought of or simply put more effort in than they did.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

"Facts must be faced, the people of Accrington and the wider borough have little understanding or appreciation of the Arts."

Wow that has got to be one of the most offensive, sweepingly innacurate statements I have ever read on this site. And there have been a few!
I'm sure the many thousands of people in the borough would probably argue with that, don't you think? But it's okay, because there are people on Accy web willing to stand up for them! To point out the innacuracies in such statements and do their best to fight for the arts!
Oh. No there's not. Just those willing to criticise from their armchairs. Booo, hissss.

----------------------
My views, my opinions. blah blah

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Are you missing doing the Mr Angry column?:D

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Apparently, around 5% of the population of East Lancashire is employed in some creative means - the definition includes web designers, film and media industries as well as freelance artists, actors, workshop tutors, etc - so it's a really broad definition.

What it means is that around about 26,000 people (I got rough population figures off the Lancashire County Council website) are earning their livings through being creative. For Hyndburn that means around about 4,000 people if my calculations are ok.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Would a barber/hairdresser be classified as working in the "creative" sector? Not that I use 'em much, but I would guess that there must be a good few hundred of 'em around Accy.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Doubt it very much!

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

If it is, why doesn't your arts venues put on more and better quality shows, events etc, why does it struggle to get people to a museum, why do they keep changing it's direction. I think it's true, and I don't think it's offensive, because it's the product of a vicious circle created in the first place by cut backs, lack of arts in all areas, lack of promotion of those arts. Other town smaller than accy have a civic centre that puts on some great shows, bedworth civic hall in warwickshire is probably my nearsest, but even then that isn't advertised as it should be.
If you deprive people of the arts, your going to get people who don't even know what it means, some people have never been to a theatre in their life. I don't consider that to be entirely their fault.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Said The Accrington Observer's equivalent to Kenneth Clarke. Okay dillon, let's see you stand up for the insulted mass of Accrington's culturally aware. I am looking forward to reading of the inaccuracies (note sp.: one n, three c's) in my offending post, and I just can't wait to see you get your sleeves rolled up and get stuck into The Fight for the Arts in Accrington. Do you perhaps intend selling tickets? If so, may I reserve a ringside seat?

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Dillon works for the LET I think. Used to work for Acc Obs.

Re: I almost daren't post this...
 

Thanks Gayle, that would explain a great deal.