……..in the Nottinghamshire Renaissance Heritage Awards, scooping the top award which recognises excellence in Museums and Heritage Societies and  have also received accreditation from the Museums, Libraries and Archive Council.

The museum staff are deservedly very proud to have won the award which marks Mansfield Museum as the best in the County.

….Peafield Park has been successful in its bid for the prestigious Green Flag. All the hard work and dedication by Friends of Peafield Park and local Councillors has paid off and we intend to celebrate!!!!! We missed out last year, but with the guidance of Kathryn, MDC’s Parks Development Officer, we managed it at our second attempt.

The Green Flag for parks is the equivalent of the Blue Flag awarded to beaches which  reach a level of excellence in their category. We are all so thrilled to have done it, but we have to keep up the good work - 2009 is just around the corner!

…………TWO FINGER RULE ON BIN COLLECTIONS
West Wiltshire District Council has come under fire after its waste contractor told its bin emptying staff that they should only collect bins if they could pull the wheelie bin with two fingers. How discrimating is that to anyone who has ‘heavy rubbish’?

I have heavy fire ashes and  cat litter, in addition to everyday household waste. If the refuse collector tried to move my bin with two fingers, he would probably break them! How mad is this world becoming? Take the mascot off your wagon -that’s another idea. Where’s the harm?
 

….what does it mean to you? Probably exactly what it meant to me, up until a few days ago. It was pretty much a closed book to me - didn’t really know why it exists, what agencies make up the partnership, what are its functions or what its plans are.  Since the leaders’ meeting, when MASP was discussed, I have been more aware of the workings of the partnership.

I gleaned even more information last night when I attended a presentation by the Executive Mayor, Tony Egginton, who explained all about MASP. If you would like to know what MASP is all about you can find out by following this link to the MASP  website. It covers a wide range of subjects and is a very informative site.

http://www.masp.info/_2007/community-strategy/moving-forward.php

………..to look at Peafield Park and after deliberations, we shall be given feedback with regard to things we are getting right and areas where we need improvement. We shall learn the result towards the end of July…….here’s hoping for a positive judgment.

Pictured are Councillor Jill Usher (2nd R)and MDC Parks Development Officer Kathryn Poxon (L), with the Judges.

………final! The toilets on St John Street will not be kept open and the original decision, taken in February by the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, will stand. I can’t say I disagree with her. 

The scrutiny of the decision following the Call-in was carried out diligently by Select Commission 1 members, regardless of their personal opinions on the matter. We had to be totally unbiased in our public consultation and as a result of all the research a veritable mine of information has been gathered which may be invaluable in future, should MDC decide to look to alternatives for the provision of Public Conveniences for Mansfield.

……….St John Street public conveniences.

Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Councillor Kate Allsop,  will decide whether to uphold her original ruling to close the toilets.

I am convinced that Kate, as an experienced Councillor with lots of ‘nous’ will make the judgment in the best interests of all concerned, whether this means that the decision is to be upheld or reversed. 

This review of the  Portfolio’s original ruling followed the call-in of that decision by 6 members of MDCouncil. A public consultation was conducted by Select Commission 1  and results of this and other findings have been passed in a  report to Councillor Allsop.

……..a heady combination. I have passed the starling chick I have been raising to the owners of the Cedar Bird Rescue Centre at Kirkby-in-Ashfield. I felt a pang of sadness as he left my hands to fly up to the top of the branches in the aviary. Funny how after only 10 days he had found a place in my heart, but I was so happy that he would not have to live his life in a cage.

He was ready for flight; in fact he had his maiden flight, purely by accident, in my bedroom and he was a sight to behold.  Whilst I was feeding him he got out of his cage and flew around the room. It was obvious that my term of care had come to an end and he needed more than I was able to give. He needed to socialise with other birds and have the chance of life in the wild, which was always my hope for him. I was very impressed by the setup at Cedar. Wendy and Phil are committed to releasing birds and I have every confidence that ‘Joey’ will leave the aviary when he is equipped with the social and survival skills he needs.

Cedar Bird Rescue Centre are having an open day on Sunday, 8th June and I shall go back to visit and see how much he has grown. It took a couple of days to adjust to not having to feed him every 45 minutes, but it is good not to have to get up at dawn for the first feed of the day!  

……..is coming up fast and today we Friends of Peafield Park, together with MDC Parks staff, are preparing our promotional boards for our display.

If you use the park and find litter or dog mess, will you please report it to me and I shall ensure it is cleaned up. We are pushing hard for the status that a Green Flag award brings and any support you can give us would be appreciated. I’ll keep you informed; as soon as we know the judging day, I shall post it here.

….with my site, will have ’sussed’ that I am a person who looks on life with a positive attitude - my glass is half-full and like Eric Idle I always look on the bright side of life!

Our local newspaper regularly publishes letters from ‘Irate of Mansfield’ and ‘Disappointed of Mansfield’ bemoaning the demise of Mansfield market and laying the blame at the door of MDC, but if the following experience is not an isolated incident then perhaps the blame should be laid at the feet of traders……….. 

On Saturday, having answered the call to support our local traders in their fight to survive in the face of competition from ‘out of town stores’ and supermarkets, I was  sold less than perfect goods by a market trader.  His produce was beautifully displayed and  mouth-watering but from one pound of cherries, 5 oz were inedible (I weighed them!) and had to be thrown away.

Maybe because I wasn’t a regular customer he saw an opportunity to offload his less than wholesome stock; this is hardly a strategy that will encourage me to return to his stall. If instead, he had sold me delicious, good quality cherries, like those on display, I would have returned and in time, may have become a regular customer.

 So, I say to traders………Sort your stall out!