….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!

..that our local schools are finding it extremely difficult to recruit teaching staff. I am a governor at The Manor School and during the short time I have been in post, I have been  impressed by the school’s attitudes towards the welfare of its pupils and the enthusiasm of the teaching staff. The school has received glowing reports from Ofsted and if you should ever have the opportunity to teach at Manor, please don’t turn it down. The school is situated close to local amenities and a ’stone’s throw’ from world-renowned Sherwood Forest. The cities of Nottingham, Sheffield, Derby and Lincoln are all within easy reach, the ‘natives’ are friendly and Mansfield Woodhouse is a thriving  ‘large village’.

….is being reviewed by Councillor Kate Allsop, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration. Following the publishing of the report of Select Commission 1, chaired by Councillor June Stendall, the Council members voted in favour of the decision being referred back to Councillor Allsop, who told Council that she would ‘read the report thoroughly before making a final decision within a few weeks.’

We await her decision with ‘crossed legs’!

….replaced by ‘outreach’ counters. Hundreds more outreach counters will be opened in libraries, churches and pubs to quell the fury over PO closures. Critics have condemned these so-called ‘Post Office Lite’ counters, saying that nothing can replace a proper local post office. However, Sir Simon Milton, chairman of the Local Government Association is quoted: ‘ It is a huge step in the right direction as for some time councils have been putting forward proposals to save some of their local branches. Many councils who have been trying to find innovative options have often been met with unhelpful stonewalling’. (This story appeared in  The Mail, Telegraph and The Mirror.)

I am unsure about future plans for the scheme of Post Offfice outreach facilities in the Mansfield area, but it is food for thought, isn’t it?

…the submission of the report of Select Commission 1, regarding the closure of Public Conveniences at St John Street in Mansfield. It remains to be seen whether the campaigning by local Pensioner Groups and the public consultation by SC1 will have any bearing on the decision; a lot of hard work has been put in by all SC1 members, but especially by the Chair, Councillor June Stendall, who has done a magnificent job in dealing with this call-in. It is thanks to June that I have learned a considerable amount about this procedure, during this 6 week review of the decision to close the toilets.