A disappointing meeting
Last night, before the Town Council meeting, a group of us went up to St. Dominics Priory School for a presentation by Groundworks, the company carrying out the canal improvement scheme. I mentioned before Christmas that a community artist had been commissioned to create a piece of Community Art alongside the towpath and that he wanted local groups, businesses and schools to create a ceramic tile which will be included in the piece.
Well, tonight had been billed as a meeting to explain the scheme to local businesses - but sadly only a handful turned up. I was not surprised. The letter of invitation rambled on for two sides and only the really dedicated reader would have persevered to the end of the letter to find the invitation. I’m sure the vast majority would have been ‘binned’ at first sight.
And the choice of venue was baffling! We all thought we knew our way around Stone but on this ocasion we were beaten - at one point we were being escorted by a Sister down corridors in the Convent to no avail. We did eventually find the meeting room after making a phone call - and even then after making our way down a pitch black lane. And we later discovered that our Town Mayor, Philip Leason, tried to find the venue but gave up! If Philip, who knows more about Stone than any other person I know, couldn’t find the venue then no one else stood a chance!
And the meeting itself was a grave disappointment. I worry that a lot of public money is about to be spent on a scheme that is going to upset a lot of people in the town. It is a pity that no-one had the gumption to involve the community before calling a meeting to present a ‘fait accomplit’. I just hope it isn’t too late to retrieve something from this scheme that might benefit the town.
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