CHATTERBOX - Lochwinnoch

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A point of view In the course of a conversation the other day I mentioned that I had written to the leader of Renfrewshire Council to tell him that, even with my new lightweight wheel chair, I could not access the proposed library at the Mckillop Hall because the ramp is too steep and far too dangerous for me to come down. I then said, that in his reply, Mr MacKay told me that he had referred the matter to various people including his colleague Mr Davie Arthur. My neighbour turned to me and said “You do have to remember that Davie Arthur is your representative on the Council”. That statement hit at the very root of everything I stand for. David Arthur does not represent me on the Council. Just who he represents I have no idea, but when he stood up in our first Public Meeting about the proposal to close our present library and said that he was voting for the proposal to move the Library to the McKillop and that he was using his brains and not his heart, he forfeited all rights to speak for me because he had not then heard many, if any views from the floor, no message had come to me by any means from the Council to say they had any such proposal in mind, I had found no one across Lochwinnoch who knew anything about the proposal ahead of the Community Council's call to a Public Meeting. Absolutely nothing was posted locally anywhere. There is no such thing as a Public Notice Board in Lochwinnoch. So who does David Arthur represent and what agenda does he subscribe to? Is there an SNP Party ruling to close some libraries and reduce the scale and staffing of others? Is this a local SNP matter or one from Executive level? The MSPs all deny it is their doing. Is it nothing at all to do with politics and is this whole thing a matter of the local Chief Executive and his staff making a decision and more or less telling the elected Council what to do and when? Rehabilitation at Home Is it not enough that two very able and necessary part time library assistants have been dismissed to the loss not only of themselves but all of the community? What ever else it is, this latest Library project is poorly thought out, deceitfully announced, totally unrepresentative of local feelings and resolves only problems the Council has itself created. I am old enough to remember when Public servants were just that, when it was an honour to be on the local council and for the Mayor to be made a Justice of the Peace. This has brought to the forefront of my thinking the need for us all to look again at what Councils are for. One thing absolutely definite is that a Local Council is not a Parliament. We do not elect councillors to make decisions on our behalf as we do members of Parliament. We elect them to represent our points of view. We expect our views to be taken into account. We do not expect to be told that a decision cannot be changed because six months has not expired. The First rule for the Council so far as I can make out is: Don't whatever you do put the brakes on, steer a better course or go into reverse. What you do is Part two of Rule one: crawl away into some corner and hide your miserable self until the danger has passed. We have almost precisely a year to make sure the Council understands that we have had enough of their ways however they are defined. Let us begin by giving notice very clearly we have had enough of drifting, of inefficiency, of salaries being paid for poor performance. We have heard enough about how good we are from the Council. Overall they are not very good: some are and some are not. On this matter of our Library and the Annexe they have failed in every I offer physiotherapy services in the comfort of your own home including : Injury rehabilitation / Relief from back pain Managing long term conditions (eg COPD, Parkinsons, stroke or heart problems) Massage – remedial and relaxing Palliative physiotherapy If you think I can be of service, please contact me: Sabita Stewart BSc (Hons) MCSP 07940 587943 sabitathephysio@gmail.com Health Professions Council: PH91860 Member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy: 083677 6 regard of us and our librarians. I am not asking Mr Mackay to do me a favour and will he please put in a ramp just for me. I have told him in a courteous way that he has a problem. His permanent staff have set about redesigning the inside of a building for an unnecessary purpose and have neglected to obey the law in one particular regard and that is that all people shall be treated equally. That means that along with any other disabled person I should be able to get myself into and out of any public building. His staff has so far failed to make that possible. They and he can hide behind so called building services decisions, in this case that this is not a new building and a ramp exists. That is so. But that ramp is not usable because it is too steep and it has only one hand rail so even if I could get up it I could not get back down again. I understand that last year a 17 year old disabled lad could not get into his Natwest Bank in Yorkshire and asked for help from the Bank which then suggested he could do his transactions on the pavement. The youngster's parents objected, lawyers became involved and took the matter to the High Court. Natwest/RBS lost and the Judge ruled that the bank must provide a low rise lift for disabled people. The youngster was awarded £6000 damages and the Banks costs came to £200,000 or so I understand. I am pointing out that there is more to moving a Library than knocking down a wall and doing some re-decoration. If Mr Mackay and his Council fail to make proper provision for disabled people at any of their premises then they, like the rest of us, are subject to real Laws, both UK ones and European ones. In particular the Disability Acts. They could argue that they do not have the funds and that is always a case; but a Judge might reasonably ask. “That being the case Mr Mackay, why were you embarking on the project in the first instance?” Alan Lovegreen April 23rd 2011 16 Graham's Avenue. Lochwinnoch Editor’s Note—this is Alan’s personal view and is not endorsed by the editorial team or Lochwinnoch Community Council Sorry Sabita! Due to an unfortunate production problem local physio Sabita Stewart's Rehabilitation at Home ad last month was missing the last digit of her Health Professsional Council registration number. This meant that anyone trying to check her credentials would have been unable to do so. We apologise to anyone who was inconvenienced by this error and of course to Sabita. We hope the gremlins won't strike this time. Ed.
From the Parish Church Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia! The traditional Easter greeting will have been shared around the world this past weekend. Alleluias were resounding through our village as we gathered to worship at the Loch side at 7.30am and then each of the three congregations gathered to celebrate the Good News of Christ’s resurrection. You will be very aware that Easter is late this year and the weather in the later part of April has been glorious. Normally during Holy Week, the weather is dreich at best, which somehow suits the mood of the sombre Bible Passages we share. This year, the sun shone through Holy Week and as we gathered at the Loch on Sunday morning, the sun was shining down upon us, reminding us of the power of God to break even the darkness of death – it was glorious indeed. While the good weather is set to continue in Scotland for a few more days (at the time of writing), the forecast for Friday 29th April, in London is to be overcast and showery. By the time you read this you will know whether or not the sun shone for Kate Middleton on her wedding day. Christians are very good at quoting the Bible. Sometimes we are very good at selectively quoting the Bible, especially for our own ends! I grew up with a misquote from Matthew chapter 5, verse 45, “The sun shines on the righteous,” my mother would proclaim every time we stepped out of the house on a sunny day. Yet the true quote is, “your Heavenly Father … makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” So whatever the weather for the Royal Wedding, it is not a sign of anything other than the weather. I well remember one particular visit to Greenbelt, the Christian Arts Festival, held in Derbyshire in August. Being an outdoor festival, there are many similarities with music festivals held around the country – especially camping, rain and mud! On Sunday morning about five thousand people gathered for worship in the main arena. Rain was falling in Biblical proportions (pun entirely intended)! The priest leading worship began the service by looking to the heavens and declaring, “How gracious of God to pour down these blessings upon us!” I did hear that it was considered a sign of good fortune to have rain on your wedding day. There are so many superstitions surrounding weddings that one begins to wonder if there are saying with good and bad sides to any eventuality occurring on the day. I love preparing weddings with couples. One of the most important things that we do is try and put their own personalities into the service, because at the heart of a wedding service are two individuals who have chosen to spend their lives together in faithful marriage; they have chosen to make their commitments to one another in the company of their families and friends and before God, seeking God’s blessing on their union. I strongly believe that in choosing to make a public commitment to one another, a couple are also seeking the support of those they invite to the wedding. When we attend a wedding, we are being reminded that the lives of the couple are about to change and we must accept that change – fathers must let their daughters go and mothers must not interfere with the way their sons and daughters-in-law organise (or otherwise) their lives and their homes. As well as superstition, marriage seems to be a money trap. The average wedding now, allegedly, costs £20,000. No wonder so many couples claim they cannot afford to be married! Yet in truth a wedding costs £70 – which are the legal costs you must pay to the registrar. Everything else is icing on the cake (again pun completely intended). Yet even the most parsimonious of us would agree that a wedding is something worth celebrating and therefore you do want to splash out at least a little. That brings us to the question, “What is important in a wedding?” The list that answer provides will be different for each couple, for as I said earlier, each marriage is made up of two individual personalities. However, I would hope that at the top of the list, every couple would put their love for each other. Yes, I do realise that many of you will be reaching for a bucket at the moment, yet, as I share in the journey to their wedding day, I often say to couples, “When all the planning becomes a little too stressful, remember why you are doing this.” I also suggest that if the planning is becoming too stressful perhaps they are trying to be too flamboyant or have indeed forgotten the focus of the day. Please don’t misunderstand me, I love weddings, I love any excuse to celebrate: we had a big wedding with as many friends and family as could attend, yet we were also lucky that many of those friends undertook 7 much of the planning and preparation; many friends gave us a wedding gift of their skills and so we were able to have a “big do” without having to pay over the top for it all. For everyone reading who is planning a wedding, and for the royal couple, I pray that your focus will be on the life you will share beyond the “big day” and for those of you who have already walked down the aisle, I pray your love continues to deepen and grow. Yours, Views from the spire—Duncan Bremner The bell —Duncan Bremner
Page 1 and 2: Nuisance Helpline Anti-Social Behav
Page 3 and 4: Well done Max Dougall In March, 10
Page 8 and 9: Forthcoming Events: Summer Fete & C
Page 10 and 11: What’s On Regular clubs, classes
Page 12 and 13: Thank you to everyone who responded
Page 14 and 15: THE STIRRUP CUP RSPB Lochwinnoch Na
Page 16 and 17: Library Action Group Update Leaflet
Page 18 and 19: Crafts of Calder Gallery & Framing
Page 20: Chat from the Chair Last month saw

CHATTERBOX - Lochwinnoch

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