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Isn't it a case of now - all for one and one for all?

It’s only taken me 12,000 miles and a move down under to come up with a solution. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed but the two community centres to the east of the area aren’t exactly a hive of activity throughout the week.

St Andrews on the corner of South East Road and Butts Road and the Sholing Community Centre (SCC) no more than three minutes walk away up Butts Road have it seems, forever in memoriam, offered a place where the community could come together from Sunday School through to knitting groups, weddings and receptions. My own parents had theirs in the Community Centre in the summer of 1965, after a ceremony at St Mary’s on the other side of Bunny’s Hill.

Many of us will remember the reckless walks between the two, which could for the unwary, result in a chase down the street from either the Bassett Hound from the Bull’s Eye, or the chocolate and black cross, which resided on the top of Bunny’s Hill. Thank God it seems the days of roaming dogs are gone, we can sleep well that our kids are safe on the streets.

Or can we?

And here comes my point. In order to professionally staff one of these venues and kit out a place adequately so that kids of all ages have a place to go to, a place they feel they belong, and which they are proud to be a part (this place is great example http://tinyurl.com/3eqh7mq ), is it seems beyond the means of a singular entity. Either coming from the donations provided by City Church http://tinyurl.com/3cbf49t who run St Andrews or the coffers of the Council who ultimately hold the keys to SCC http://tinyurl.com/3gn4otg doesn’t seem likely, especially in these belt tightening times.

The solution I hear you ask.

The SCC stands on prime piece of land for development for housing. And I’m not talking about a clearaway all and start from the foundations up. The community centre is part of our heritage and it should be treat at such. OK, it might not be considered Grade 2 status but it is our heritage. So why can’t an imaginative architect/designer come in and utilize at best the façade and incorporate a two/three story row of town houses, built for the affordable end of the market but also utilizing the latest environmental capabilities.

The funds from the sales could go to the development of St Andrews becoming the hub that could provide professional services to the community as a whole.

I recently moved to Melbourne, Australia and in one way or another had professional contact with two organizations that have inspired me in their work.

http://tinyurl.com/3emtm4l Men’s Shed and the Wesley Mission http://tinyurl.com/3elf8f7 both work with the aid of government handouts. Now I’m not expecting that to happen back home, but could some loophole be found that would enable my proposal to happen? Failing that, isn’t it about time policy changed for this kind of rational rationing of services be allowed to happen. Surely there must be instances nationwide where those more community minded than most of us are battling for our attention to come and use their space, glad that the lights are on for a dominoes tournament, full with toddlers at a playgroup, rocking and rolling at 50’s revival night, or hosting a youth club or maybe even a hip-hop choir http://tinyurl.com/3dwb3to , now there’s engaging, but like not to put a pisser on it, but the upcoming world financial crisis is really going to see the proverbial shoite hit the fan and it’s then that community is really going to come to the fore. We often hear of the Blitz spirit, I’m not putting to fine a point on it, but I think it is something akin to that which I think could be needed to see us all through what is to come. And no I’m not some sort of Armageddon speculator or conspiracy theorist but I do think there’s a hell of a slide coming before we get on our feet again.

So now that little rant is out of the way, regarding the houses and money going to a St Andrews fund, I’m sure everyone would be happy in the end. The SCC bookings, diary and staff, both professional and volunteer, could, I can only assume, be accommodated at St Andrews.

The money could go into a trust for the running and upkeep of the venue for the community as a whole. And hopefully provide Sholing’s youth with the kind of venue, facilities and professional help that sees them engage with the area, its people and environment and take a positive persona out into the wider world.

City Church can be the custodians and guardians of the purse if you like, with the help of an elected committee selected from members of the community to oversea capital spending. And of course, joining any events at the Church doesn’t mean everyone has to become a born again.

Some might think I have no sympathy especially given my personal connection with SCC but I think change is a good thing, done right. And giving back the funds from the sale of local assets like this is the right thing to do, as we’re so often told by the politicians. It should go straight into a local fund and not head off to clear a council’s debt.

It’s just a thought and I wondered if it might be something worth debating. Just throwing it out there like.

Sholing is a district on the eastern side of Southampton, UK

#England #Southampton #Sholing #sholing community centre #city church #st andrews #St Mary's #Blitz #Men's Shed #Wesley Mission #Hip-hop #Melbourne #australia #Bunny's Hill #Butt's Road #South East Road

A series of shots taken over a week on my way to places across Melbourne. I was going to get arty but I wasn't around for decent light and only had the Canon 30D on one or two occasions. The rest are taken on a Canon IXUS 80IS and 7 year old Olympus MJU mini which is kept in the glove compartment. I was initially getting out of the car to take shots but it was getting ridiculous so the majority are taken from the drivers seat as I was adding as many carbons to the atmosphere as the telly producers when getting out and setting up for a shot. Believe me, this is only the tip of the iceberg. On the way to a job today I encountered another suburb about to have its hard rubbish collected. Every other house had a tv to be collected. WTF?!?!?!

Featuring Leopold Stokowski's magnificent rendition of Bach's exquisite Air on the G string from the suite in D.

#television #waste #fashion #refuse #recycling #recycle #art #photography #youtube #design #news #melbourne #gillard #australia #sidewalk #nature strip #grass verge #crt #lcd #plasma #led

obsolescence

In this chuck away society which extends from Melbourne to Marylebone nothing it seems is quite as prolifically disposed of as electrical goods. Fly tipping always seemed to involved the odd fridge, washing machine and such like but nothing seems to have been got rid of with such gusto as the cathode ray tube, put more simply, your old style analogue telly.

Only a decade ago the mere notion of a tv that sat flat against the wall was a far flung sci-fi dream for most of us. There was the odd plasma about but you had to have the income of a modern day footballer (the soccer kind) to afford one. The boffin breakthrough came when they figured out how to put out a decent picture on an LCD screen. Essentially the same technology as used in that Casio watch you had when you were a kid, only now they are full colour and anything up to 108" in width.

So what is wrong with the old analogue? Apart from protruding into the living room a bit further (unless you had one of those preposterous flat screen jobs that took as much space as an American larder fridge....or the Fridge), they still do exactly the same job (for quite a while, a lot better than the continually pixelating images of the LCD & Plasma) but their time seems to have come.

Journeys across town this past week or so have been taking double the time or even more than usual due to my fascination with dumped CRT's. On nature strips from Carlton to Campbellfield and Deep Park to Dandenong, it seems everyone is doing away with their trusty old tubes. It's not as if there is anything wrong with them either. As many an attached note will attest, they are in perfect working order.

So what is at play here? Australian senior citizens are about to each receive a digital set top box at a cost to the tax payer of $400 for supply, install and support. It seems a lot doesn't it? But when you consider a self tuning, plug it in and do nothing box from the shop can be got for about thirty bux. Do you really need support for that? And if you do, a neighbour, relative or asking the vicar or newsagent would almost inevitably lead to some good samaritan or another popping round to explain what is needed to be done.

So is it a conspiracy? Well I do not much go in for them, but I am bewildered by the lack of media letting people know that a simple $15 RF modulator will allow them to continue using their old style tv, even if it is from out of the dark ages. It seems manufacturers and retailers are having a field day if the numbers of dumped CRT's on the streets are anything to go by.

Particularly galling is at what cost all this needless manufacturing. Not only are there precious metals being mined to make all these LCD< LED and Plasma tv's, fossil fuels are at use from the mining through to driving down to the shopping mall to buy them. And then there is the issue of what is happening to all the old tv's. Remember the mountains of CFC producing fridges a few years back, well there is usually only one fridge per household so have a think about the mountain of tv's being expelled from living rooms, bedrooms, play rooms, studys and kitchens the world over. It is a travesty. And for what? Gameshows, cooking shows, endless repeats, exploitative reality, more cooking shows and round the clock news.

So my journeys around Melbourne have left me feeling somewhat sorry for the good old television set. The old ones I mean. They sit there on the grass verge or nature strip as it is known down this way, shunned from the house from where it once looked adoringly back on its owners as they laughed and cried. Waiting forlornly for the council dump truck where once it waited for its family. They are like a shaggy old dog, kicked out into the cold of the night, a model who has lost her looks, a favourite comedian whose jokes are no longer the flavour of the day. Each of them, lost, not knowing what to do next but look back through the windows where they once proudly stood tall amongst all that admired them.

Watch the accompanying video, seven minutes of waste

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utterings of a malcontent