The good, the bad and the 'grumpy' turn out at Ridgway Hall.
Langport held a town assembly today (Sat) to hear a council presentation on the financial state of the Town Trust - the charity which looks after and runs properties such as the Hanging Chapel, the Town Hall and the Ridgway Hall.
It was fairly well attended with at least 30 local hoodlums in the audience...and that's before the Freemasons turned up.
By the time town council leader Val 'Confidentiality' Saunders got to her feet to kick off proceedings, there were enough of 'the usual suspects' in the room to start auditioning for the remake of Carry On Screaming.
In fact, when the seats were all taken the door had to be locked shut, angering Moorpark Road residents who'd turned up late:
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| Moorpark Road residents earlier today. |
The presentation, which was also a question and answer session, was highly informative and, at points, entertaining as different factions fought it out.
So what happened? Lots - the most prominent item appeared to be that the town trust is to be 'legally separated' from the town council in the sense that not all Langport town councillors would automatically be on the trust - outside individuals would be brought on board too.
The trust would also have a separate adminstrator, at the moment it's the town clerk with a different hat on who is the admin' officer.
These changes, councillor Saunders and the clerk assured us, would make it far easier to bring in other changes which would in turn lead to the trust's finances being a lot healthier in that it would be easier to raise money and help the trust pay for itself (and indeed pay for things like town hall and chapel repairs)
Other issues were raised too, some relevant and some not so. At one point a Freemason quite firmly told Carry On Langport's Editor that "there is not a hot tub upstairs in the Hanging Chapel"
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| Upstairs in the Hanging Chapel Friday night |
The event lasted 2 hours (the meeting not the hot tub session) with constant groans from behind me of "can we please move on" from councillor Jenkinson - who asked not to be named - who hadn't had any lunch yet and whose stomach could clearly be heard by a customer standing inside a wardrobe over the road at Langport Reclamation.
But you've got to hand it to our current town council, whether you agree with what they do or not, at least they're bringing the public in on things with events like town assemblies and forums. Whether or not they listen to us is another matter!
If this report isn't enough for you, we are sure a full write-up of today's meeting will be in the next copy of Levelling Langport magazine...even though its editor was nowhere to be seen.
Tut tut Mr Lee.
😊
