Chamber of Trade had received figures for supply and installation of a new Broadway Clock. The meeting felt we should make a contribution of up to £1000, if the changes became necessary.

Local crime rates had dropped, but in the absence of Cllr Brooke, we could not find out the status of our Alcohol Free Zone. Pat Talbot commented that whilst crimes were down, someone with a ball-bearing gun or catapult had inflicted £2000 of damage on the Methodist Church windows.

The Chairman spoke about a new plan to link Footpath 5 with the Ashington Cutting Open Space. This appeared to have the blessing of English Nature and the Golf Club, and involved running the path from the top of the Down, directly towards Ashington, and then using a subway to pass under the normal path for the golfers, and thus emerge beyond the Golf Course. The path would then climb up the side of the embankment to join the Ashington Cutting footpath. BoP would put the plan in motion, and once approved would take the lead in trying to obtain finance, probably via the Landfill Tax.

The Millennium History of Broadstone was now nearing completion, and thoughts were turning to finance of an initial run of 500 copies. Chamber of Trade had been pushing to get money for the purchase of some respectable Christmas Lights. Last year they had had a panic lease late in the year, and the results were miserable. This year they needed to be much earlier in the field, and also to get enough local money to trigger the extra £1000 promised by BRA. The Christmas Parade this year was to be on December 1st.

Broadstone Middle School hit national headlines with the school and governors decision to ban skirts, and allow only trousers for the girls. This came after a lot of comments about very short skirts and rolled up skirts, showing a lot of the female anatomy. As usual, one decision brought a wave of opposition, and authority retreated to a compromise and consultation strategy which should last until Christmas.

For Broadstone.net
dudley.hull

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