Boston was branded with its usual soubriquet in yesterday's News of the World - "our fattest town with almost a third of adults dangerously overweight."
Yet oddly enough if that IS the case why did we fail to qualify for a place among the nine areas which were today given the go-ahead to become "healthy towns" under a plan by ministers to combat obesity.
Dudley, Halifax, Sheffield, Tower Hamlets in London, Thetford, Middlesbrough, Manchester, Tewkesbury and Portsmouth will share a £30m pot.
If we are as fat as they say, we should have swallowed our pride instead of our sausages and grabbed a share of that sort of cash.
And if we're not now the fatties the papers claim, then why we don't we put the word out so that comics like the NOTW stop rubbishing the town?
E-mail us at boston.eye@googlemail.com
Monday, November 10
Boston Eye contributor "Scanner" agrees that traders must be heard
I was, like your correspondent, ready to praise either the Chamber of Commerce or the borough council for providing an ice rink in the town on the run up to Christmas. Lincoln has had a rink for several years, paid for by the Chamber of Commerce and, at last, Boston is following suit - though it seems that here the borough council is footing the bill. Whoever is paying, I have two left feet so will not dare risk life or limb to try it out but I certainly don’t begrudge giving those that can balance on thin blades the chance to do so.
It was, also, a hopeful sign that the powers that be are reawakening as to how important Christmas could be to the town. If they had not withdrawn their support several years ago, by now we could have had a major visitor attraction for the town. In tandem with Lincoln we could have had two really great events to pull in crowds of Christmas shoppers. It is still not too late to catch up – but is the will really there? I have already said the increasingly expensive Party in the Park should be abandoned. If even half, of the near fifty thousand pounds it cost the council last year, was spent on a Christmas Fayre (or whatever we call it), with market trader goodwill and Chamber of Commerce input, we could soon have something that would be of much more value to everybody who lives, works and shops in our town - not just something that inflates the drink sales of the supermarkets and the off licenses.
Including their fiascoes with the Tourism Information Centre, the Haven, the Guildhall, the Continental Market and now the Farmers' Market, it seems that the council is just paying lip-service to their much-stated aim of attracting tourists to the town. With this latest action of, once more, upsetting the market traders, I wonder if they are going to gradually close down our biggest tourist attraction as well?
If you, like me, regularly walk through the coach station on a Wednesday, you will see at least seven or eight visiting coaches most weeks of the year, with even more in the summer months. We obviously, still have product (to use modern slang) that is enjoyed by our visitors and it is one that they feel is worth coming to see. Apparently, some coach companies run regular Wednesday excursions to the town. And, in spite of the way markets generally are contracting, ours is holding its own. Part of this must be due to the tourists that flock in on a Wednesday. They don’t have to come here. I’m sure there are at lot of places that would welcome them with open arms.
Come on councillors! You can’t blame anyone but yourselves for this. You should be thinking of ways of making the market brighter and bigger - not chipping away at the goodwill of the traders and, so, possibly causing its eventual closure – after at least seven hundred years! In future, before you have grand ideas, like running buses in Strait Bargate or putting a huge pimple in the centre of town, please consider the effect any new proposals may have on the market. Also, please put your money where your aims and objectives are and make our market and town a magnet for tourists from throughout the East Midlands. But please, oh please, make sure you take into account the views of the market traders FIRST before you publish any plans.
"SCANNER"
It was, also, a hopeful sign that the powers that be are reawakening as to how important Christmas could be to the town. If they had not withdrawn their support several years ago, by now we could have had a major visitor attraction for the town. In tandem with Lincoln we could have had two really great events to pull in crowds of Christmas shoppers. It is still not too late to catch up – but is the will really there? I have already said the increasingly expensive Party in the Park should be abandoned. If even half, of the near fifty thousand pounds it cost the council last year, was spent on a Christmas Fayre (or whatever we call it), with market trader goodwill and Chamber of Commerce input, we could soon have something that would be of much more value to everybody who lives, works and shops in our town - not just something that inflates the drink sales of the supermarkets and the off licenses.
Including their fiascoes with the Tourism Information Centre, the Haven, the Guildhall, the Continental Market and now the Farmers' Market, it seems that the council is just paying lip-service to their much-stated aim of attracting tourists to the town. With this latest action of, once more, upsetting the market traders, I wonder if they are going to gradually close down our biggest tourist attraction as well?
If you, like me, regularly walk through the coach station on a Wednesday, you will see at least seven or eight visiting coaches most weeks of the year, with even more in the summer months. We obviously, still have product (to use modern slang) that is enjoyed by our visitors and it is one that they feel is worth coming to see. Apparently, some coach companies run regular Wednesday excursions to the town. And, in spite of the way markets generally are contracting, ours is holding its own. Part of this must be due to the tourists that flock in on a Wednesday. They don’t have to come here. I’m sure there are at lot of places that would welcome them with open arms.
Come on councillors! You can’t blame anyone but yourselves for this. You should be thinking of ways of making the market brighter and bigger - not chipping away at the goodwill of the traders and, so, possibly causing its eventual closure – after at least seven hundred years! In future, before you have grand ideas, like running buses in Strait Bargate or putting a huge pimple in the centre of town, please consider the effect any new proposals may have on the market. Also, please put your money where your aims and objectives are and make our market and town a magnet for tourists from throughout the East Midlands. But please, oh please, make sure you take into account the views of the market traders FIRST before you publish any plans.
"SCANNER"
Saturday, November 8
Ice rink gives traders the cold shoulder!
We are often accused of taking too negative a line in our take on Boston.
But sadly that's because we feel there's a lot to be negative about.
Ironically, we were just about to pen a paean of praise to the ice rink attraction that's coming to town in the run-up to Christmas, when we noted the Market Place location.
So earlier today, we braved the wind blown drizzle to find out exactly where it was to be located.
We learned that it will be in the old five lamps area.
But it will not - as one might imagine - be on the paved section that's supposedly for "public entertainment" because the rink is "too big" (full marks for the borough's forward planning there then.)
Instead, we were told that a number of market stall holders will be re-sited for the duration - something that has not gone down well with those we spoke to, as they have been re-sited for the borough's convenience so many times before.
We asked some of the same questions that they had already put to the jobsworths.
Wouldn't The Green be a better location?
Sorry, that would cost the council precious parking revenue.
How about the area used by the farmers' market stalls?
Sorry, that would get in the way of the magic buses.
Apparently, no one thought of using the Central Park, which with a bit of imaginative input from the borough (oxymoron alert!!) would create a near perfect location.
One stallholder told us that the council cares nothing about moving them wherever it pleases to accommodate other attractions - but couldn't care less about the people who contribute heavily to the local revenue and create a magnet for locals and visitors alike every week of the year which brings an incalculable financial benefit.
A while ago, the council famously got it wrong when it decided to create parking for the new bus service on Fish Hill - because it hadn't measured up properly (no pun intended!!)
It would not surprise us to learn that the ice rink will not be able to be located in its planned position because the site is not level enough.
E-mail us at boston.eye@googlemail.com If you would like your contribution to be treated in confidence, your request will be honoured.
But sadly that's because we feel there's a lot to be negative about.
Ironically, we were just about to pen a paean of praise to the ice rink attraction that's coming to town in the run-up to Christmas, when we noted the Market Place location.
So earlier today, we braved the wind blown drizzle to find out exactly where it was to be located.
We learned that it will be in the old five lamps area.
But it will not - as one might imagine - be on the paved section that's supposedly for "public entertainment" because the rink is "too big" (full marks for the borough's forward planning there then.)
Instead, we were told that a number of market stall holders will be re-sited for the duration - something that has not gone down well with those we spoke to, as they have been re-sited for the borough's convenience so many times before.
We asked some of the same questions that they had already put to the jobsworths.
Wouldn't The Green be a better location?
Sorry, that would cost the council precious parking revenue.
How about the area used by the farmers' market stalls?
Sorry, that would get in the way of the magic buses.
Apparently, no one thought of using the Central Park, which with a bit of imaginative input from the borough (oxymoron alert!!) would create a near perfect location.
One stallholder told us that the council cares nothing about moving them wherever it pleases to accommodate other attractions - but couldn't care less about the people who contribute heavily to the local revenue and create a magnet for locals and visitors alike every week of the year which brings an incalculable financial benefit.
A while ago, the council famously got it wrong when it decided to create parking for the new bus service on Fish Hill - because it hadn't measured up properly (no pun intended!!)
It would not surprise us to learn that the ice rink will not be able to be located in its planned position because the site is not level enough.
E-mail us at boston.eye@googlemail.com If you would like your contribution to be treated in confidence, your request will be honoured.
Friday, November 7
What a bunch of pi££ocks!
We've already slated the borough council's dismissive attitude to council tax payers in the way they delayed issuing refunds until the eleventh hour and hung on to claiming maximum repayments as late as possible.
So it comes as no surprise to learn than the council robbed more than 2,750 people using direct debit five days earlier than the victims expected.
In an area where earnings are so low, it is inevitable that this glittering incompetence will plunge a number of people into the red, and lumber them with eye-watering bank charges.
Not only that, but they may well find that other of their direct debits have been refused, causing problems with their creditworthiness.
How generous of the council then to say it will "consider" compensating anyone who had incurred bank charges as a result "if that is appropriate."
The Direct Debit guarantee seems to be pretty unambiguous when it says "If an error is made by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid."
Obviously if that incompetence extends to further charges, there should be no question about reimbursing the victims.
What next, we wonder?
If any members of the borough's finance department would like an alternative membership to Unison, could we suggest that they point their browsers to the Clowns International website, where the organisation is celebrating its 61st anniversary, and would doubtless welcome some new and highly gifted members.
Write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your-mails will be treated in confidence if requested.
So it comes as no surprise to learn than the council robbed more than 2,750 people using direct debit five days earlier than the victims expected.
In an area where earnings are so low, it is inevitable that this glittering incompetence will plunge a number of people into the red, and lumber them with eye-watering bank charges.
Not only that, but they may well find that other of their direct debits have been refused, causing problems with their creditworthiness.
How generous of the council then to say it will "consider" compensating anyone who had incurred bank charges as a result "if that is appropriate."
The Direct Debit guarantee seems to be pretty unambiguous when it says "If an error is made by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid."
Obviously if that incompetence extends to further charges, there should be no question about reimbursing the victims.
What next, we wonder?
If any members of the borough's finance department would like an alternative membership to Unison, could we suggest that they point their browsers to the Clowns International website, where the organisation is celebrating its 61st anniversary, and would doubtless welcome some new and highly gifted members.
Write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your-mails will be treated in confidence if requested.
Monday, November 3
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