Just as we were arriving at The Dominoes Football Stadium at Yarnfield for the official opening ceremony yesterday, I received an urgent phone call from our Town Mayor Cllr. Mark Green who was already on site, informing me that the Town Council’s Star tent was badly ripped and in danger of blowing away in the very high winds! And sure enough, as we looked over the hedges, we could see loose fluttering canvas about to take off!

The danger in this situation is that the tent is anchored by metre long steel pegs into the pitch. Under tension and blown by a gale, these pins could easily become dislodged and , like a catapult, be thrown for yards. So we had to organise a speedy evacuation of the drinks and nibbles for which the tent had been the intended cover - and then swiftly lower the tent to the ground.

All of which was a bit of a distraction from the main event - the official opening of this tremendous footballing facility. Many people will not even know of its existence hidden behind tall hedges on the approach to the village of Yarfield. But once through the gate the most amazing facility becomes apparent. And most of the credit must go to Bob Bowers who, for over twenty years, has invested most of his spare time and effort and a lot of his money into creating a footballing centre of excellence.

Club rooms, changing rooms, bars, practice pitches and the new stadium - what an achievement! Funded by numerous grants and organised by a group of dedicated volunteers, this facility will inevitably play a major part in producing the football talent of the future in North Staffordshire but more importantly, proivide a place for the youngsters of the area to have fun in playing the game they love.

Well done everyone up at Yarnfield!

Another example of Stafford Borough Council ‘hiding’ bad news is the unannounced decision to close the public toilets in Station Road. No statement has ever been issued about the proposed closure and the Town Council only became aware of it when Councillor Collier let slip the fact in a recent meeting.

Confirmation was received at a meeting yesterday when an officer of the Borough Council confirmed that the costs of running the Station Road toilets had been deleted from the Borough Council’s budgets for the forthcoming financial year. Councillor Collier’s remarks had alerted the Town Council to the issue and yesterday’s  meeting had been arranged to ascertain whether it would be possible for the Town Council to take on the responsibility of running these toilets.

Obviously there are financial implications and in view of the fact that this year’s budgets have already been fixed we may have some problems finding the resources to keep the toilets open. However, I believe that the Town Council will want to do everything in it’s power to save the Station Road facility so, again, watch this space!

The Tory controlled Borough Council is skint and are doing anything and everything to save money. I’ve already mentioned the fiasco of the appointment of the new Chief Executive and the increase in car parking charges in Stone. Add to the equation the increase in burial and cremation charges - and don’t forget that the new Blue Bin collection scheme was the cheapest option on offer. And just when you think you are coming to terms with all that, a Tory councillor ‘lets the cat out of the bag’ by admitting that the Tory group have already agreed to close the toilets in Station Road. Yes! Geof Collier probably spoke out of turn when he informed us of this fact at the last Estates Sub Committee!

Which all goes to explain why the Town Council had been approached by the Borough to see whether we would be interested in taking over the management of the toilets. The Sub Committeee was unanimous in agreeing that the Station Road toilets must be kept open. With the increase in visitors to the town resulting from our extra markets and events now taking place we were all agreed that closing the toilets would be a retrograde step.

However the financial implications need to be studied in some detail before any final decisions can me made. But everyone was agreed that if we do take over responsibility, the toilets will need to be refurbished and maintained to a much better standard than exists at present.

Ever since the first announcement was made a couple of years ago regarding the possible closure of Roseneath, Stone Town Council has been trying to arrange a meeting with the County Council. All councillors were alarmed at the plans to rehouse elderly residents and wanted the opportunity to try and influence the decision. Sadly the County Council has avoided having a meeting with us - until last night. But better late than never.

Of course, the decision to close Roseneath has now been implemented and there is nothing anybody can do about it now. So last night’s presentation by Paula Furnival, District Director from the Directorate of Social Care and Health, was always going to be an explanation of the progress to date and their plans for the future care of the elderly. Paula gave a very full and frank summary of the present situation. She explained that there were 19 residents still living in Roseneath and that it was hoped that by the summer all will have been rehoused to their satisfaction.

There then followed a lengthy and detailed question and answer session. The overwhelming view from the floor was that there was no councillor who had any confidence in the care and support services which are in place for looking after our elderly who are living independently and that unless considerably more resources were put into these services the elderly were going to be very poorly cared for.

Several councillors related their own ‘horror’ stories of experiences with elderly relatives. Whilst Paula put forward some very plausible reassurances, I fear most of us still went home with serious doubts that support and care of the elderly has taken second place to the imperative to save money. We shall see.