John Hodges - An Apology from me.

Most people who know me will appreciate that I've missed John Hodges since he died last year (blog), and I wasn't even that close to him, but he influenced my life greatly. 

I miss watching and listening to him at Hastings Borough Council meetings, where he tore apart the rhetoric of others, I miss his welcoming me to those meetings, I miss his great knowledge of the history and politics of Hastings, I miss that I could go to him and he would tell me the reality behind what was going on, whether to do with Ecclesbourne Glen, the Winch Road, the Foreshore Trust, whatever. I miss we could talk about pubs and beer, that he used to provide me with his own articles for my blogs, and that I could use his knowledge to write blogs myself. I miss that I don't have him to pass on beer mats and pumpclips to, a hobby I could help him with, indeed, I hardly gave back much.

So I apologise to those who misinterpreted my use of his image regarding my last blog; his image was meant to represent "democracy" plain and simple, but some thought I shouldn't have used it when 'corruption' was in the reference. I can appreciate how that must have felt to some people, it wasn't my purpose.

I wanted to encourage people to ignore rumours and gossip, and to gain 'informed' knowledge, go to Council meetings, read the minutes, talk to your councillors, don't just accept gossip at face value, particularly as many gossipers have their own agendas. See democracy in action, find out why decisions are made, that, despite decisions apparently going against local residents, eg Ecclesbourne Glen and the Jerwood Gallery, there may well be good reasons, but these shouldn't be kept secret. We have a good council in Hastings, that does what it can despite annual reductions in it's income, thanks to 'austerity measures' from on high, and I'm including that councillors of all political persuasions should be used to discover the truths. I'll shut up for now...

John Hodges R.I.P.

Winch Road - FLAG response

I am very grateful for the following response from FLAG, which says pretty much what I said in Part 2 of the Winch Road saga, though it puts a bit more meat on the bones! 

"The Hastings FLAG (Fisheries Local Action Group) was successful in obtaining grant funding towards the upgrade of the Winch Road and improvements to lighting along part of it. This is a key component of the Hastings Fishing Beach Improvement Programme that seeks to improve the working environment for the inshore fishing fleet and encourage responsible visitors.   

The Winch Road will be resurfaced in reinforced concrete with an exposed aggregate finish. The project will also improve lighting and security along the eastern section of the Winch Road and is jointly funded by Hastings & St Leonards Foreshore Charitable Trust and the Marine Management Organisation. A compound has been set up on the beach adjacent to the RNLI station and work started on Monday 18th May and will last for approximately 11 weeks until the week commencing 20th July (weather dependent).   

Paul Joy and indeed the fishermen are all fully aware of the planned works and have been closely involved in securing the funding and planning the works." 

There you go then, one shouldn't believe gossip...

The Winch Road - Part 2

I've got there! Having just spoken to probably the best person to talk to, ie very likely the most informed person... The work is planned to last for up to 11 weeks, and is being jointly funded by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and the Hastings & St Leonards Foreshore (Charitable) Trust, funding doesn't come from HBC, nor from the fishermen, but does include money granted from the European Union. The rest of what I said before, as in, this is to resurface the existing Winch Road for the benefit of the local fishing industry, and for a better walkway, remains true. Now the rumours can stop, hopefully...