Shot the Sheriff

Another glorious weekend; followed by a week full of weather, then the less than glorious weather of the Easter weekend. The garden is looking tidy, for now, roses pruned and only time will tell if I got a little too enthusiastic with the three older roses in the front garden.

On Monday, the week of Tom Finney’s 90th birthday, I attended a Public Health Conference, run by North West Employers held at Preston North End football stadium. Once again North West Employers organised a relevant event. Later was the group meeting in Chorley Town Hall, as always a useful forum for discussion.

Later still Charnock Richard Parish Council meeting in the Old School Room, where I provided a summary of the previous Police and Communities Together (PACT) meeting, update on the Fish Salesman, information on the Tree Preservation Order on the footpath alongside Pole Green Nurseries (TPO 12) and that I had requested the presently unprotected trees and hedgerow be considered for protection. I also mentioned that I had received several complaints about the driving skills of the Dutch Flower Waggon driver, especially along Church Lane.

During the meeting residents’ requested the hedges either side of the M6 on Mill Lane be cut, I mentioned that I had contacted Lancashire County Council and nothing was seen to be being done, I agreed in public to do the job myself. Of concern was the presence of a couple of loose terrier type dogs on Delph Lane, these have been reported as having attacked other dogs and were the cause of the school having to divert a walk. I agreed to bring this up at the PACT meeting later in the week. John Taylor the deputy chairman arrived late as he had been held up by a reporter from the Chorley Guardian asking questions about him having been shot, more about this later.

Following the Parish Council meeting I made a visit to the Hinds Head to meet the new tenants. Hopefully they will be successful, as they are trying to improve the general feeling of the place and have started to offer food. The new tenants did express concern about the food hygiene rating they inherited from the previous tenant. I followed this up and have provided the new tenants with advice on what to do, which will result in a status of awaiting inspection and the existing rating being removed.

Tuesday was Full Council, nothing controversial on the agenda and had the potential to be an amenable meeting. However a notice of motion was tabled (which wasn’t actually a notice of motion as no decision was required) where the opposition questioned why Chorley Council had not supported an employment fair, even though the venue and staff on the day had been provided free of charge, which is support in itself and no advance notice had been given, had I known about it then I would have taken some time off work to attend.  The discussion was, in my opinion, pointless other than watching Pat Case, the mayor, take control. I find it difficult to imagine that the next mayor would have had the same command in that situation. Pat is standing down from local government at the elections in May; it has been a privilege to have met her and seen her in action, even for such a short time.

I took part in the Licensing and Public Safety Sub-Committee, on Wednesday, requiring deliberation on a taxi driver who misunderstood the requirements for answering a question asking whether he had ever had any convictions. On this occasion the driver was issued with a warning and a full explanation of the question.

Later on Wednesday was the monthly Police and Communities Together (PACT) meeting, held at Park Hall Hotel. Reported on the night were one crime in Heskin, that being a burglary, where two people had been caught and cautioned, and 3 crimes in Charnock Richard, these being 2 burglaries and one assault. The assault, as referred to earlier, was the shooting of John Taylor on Saturday 31 March, in his garden. John is fine but now has an air gun pellet lodged in his chest, of concern was the fact that this is not the first, as a child had also been shot earlier in the week, no suggestion was made as to whether these incidents are related, or not. With John being deputy chairman of Charnock Richard Parish Council the Bob Marley Lyric springs to mind “I shot the sheriff, but I didn’t shoot no deputy”, not that the chairman has been shot, I might add! I brought up the report of loose and dangerous dogs on Delph Lane and some discussion followed, I was assured that this will be followed up by the Police.

During the week I wrote to the Pre-School accountants requesting that they review the tax position of the Pre-School. This is a follow up to the Community Futures meeting and the finding that, as the Pre-School is involved entirely in primary purpose trading it should not be liable to tax on its profits, as they are used entirely for the benefit of the Pre-School.

With no formal meetings on Thursday and the Easter weekend ahead, I looked forward to some time with Gill, Roxanne and Frank, at home, just pottering, which I did…

…On Friday I delivered election addresses on behalf of Debra Platt, along Runshaw Lane and the estates to the south side of that lane. On Saturday morning I cut the hedges either side of the M6, they do look better and now pedestrians can walk past safely. The remainder of the weekend was some general gardening, a trip to Cheshire Oaks, well TGI Friday really, which is a long way to go for Jack Daniels ribs, Gill had her usual chicken, whilst Roxanne was, once again, sleeping over at her cousins’ house. On Easter Sunday my mother came to our house for tea (that is the evening meal), an enjoyable lazy afternoon with Roxanne enjoying playing clock patience, Gill excelled with the meal. Sunday I installed some of the new Pre-School noticeboards, whilst on Monday we all had a trip to Preston, followed by dinner (that is the mid-day meal) at the Farmers Arms, Heskin. Later on Monday I had a go at revamping the appearance of this blog – let me know what you think (I have included the QR code image for access to this page).