Hello from Bedford!

Occasional newsletter - mainly for expats

Sport in Bedford

It was remiss of me not to have mentioned the Sport Bedford awards for 2007 - particularly when I had been invited to the function. Richard Tapley, the Principal Sports Development Officer for the Borough, together with his willing band of helpers, puts this event on at the Corn Exchange each year, and quite an event it is too!

A dozen or so judges are given a pretty hard task, inasmuch as they have to take into account the huge diversity in the size and resources available to many local clubs, individuals and teams. And to ensure absolute impartiality, judges who are members of, belong to, or have strong associations with any of the organizations nominated are of course not allowed to vote for them.

The winner of the Sports Club of the year was the Riverside Tennis Club, which caters for 3-0 year olds. There were many nominations for the Sports Team of the year, the winner being the Grangers Hurricanes Netball team. Maggie Jackson, a netball specialist, won the Sports Coach award, and Barbara Heathfield, an expert in diving, the Adult Sports Personality award.

The sporting school of the year award was Biddenham Upper School. When I first became a governor there, the P.E. department consisted of two - now there are nine, and scarcely a day passes without some fixture or other being played. Well done to Biddenham!

And the Open Pride Award, last year won by Gail Emms, an unassuming, brilliant Badminton player, this time went to Paula Radcliffe. Paula had not run a Marathon for over two years since giving birth to her daughter, and she celebrated her comeback by winning the New York Marathon in 2 hours, 23 minutes - an astonishing achievement.

The whole event, as always, was timed to perfection. The evening's guest of honour was Malcolm Dalrymple, who competed in the javelin throw in the 1948 Olympics in London. His father, in turn, had competed in the 1924 Olympics in Paris - in the same event, being the first father and son to achieve such a feat. For some time both of them had worked at Allens' in town.

Training facilities must have been minimal in those days. Malcolm reports: "To prepare myself for the 1948 Olympics during the winter, it was impossible to train during the daytime owing to being at work. So I had to train in the evenings in the dark. This made training with a javelin very difficult. But when the time came to use a javelin, I was in the street, with a couple of old school pals at either end of the road to warn people that I was about to throw the javelin!"

Bedfordshire and the 2012 Olympics

Given the interest in sport in many of its forms, for some time Bedford sports enthusiasts have been eagerly awaiting the results of several bids connected with the 2012 Olympics, and at last it was revealed that Olympians will be making their preparations in Bedfordshire, for the Bedfordshire Olympic Opportunities Support Team (BOOST) has been successful in bidding for eight of the county's sporting facilities to be used as pre-games training camps.

World-class athletes from around the globe will train at Bedford International Athletic Stadium, while Bedford Modern School will host top table tennis stars, Bedford Autodrome will welcome road cyclists and the Bunyan Centre, Bedford, will be home to fencers, wrestlers and judo players.

Rowney Warren Woods will be the practice ground for mountain bikers, and the College Equestrian Centre in Keysoe will be used for equestrian training.

The University of Bedfordshire's Bedford campus will have the world's top archers, and all of the athletes will be able to use its sports science laboratory. The university's halls of residence will also be used to accommodate the athletes while they train.

Gordon Johnston, chairman of BOOST, said: "We're absolutely delighted so many facilities in the county have been put forward to train, prepare and acclimatize athletes in their sport prior to the Games.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for the county to maximize the benefits of the Olympics, which will be a great boost to the local economy, as well as to increased mass participation at grass roots level and increased funding for sport. Bedfordshire is an ideal location."

The University of Bedfordshire's Bedford campus has also been put forward as a training location for the Paralympics.

PS What a dreadful logo! Obviously cobbled together by a committee!

Unitary issue

A few weeks ago it was put to me that I was becoming somewhat biased in my siding with the Borough in its bid for unitary status, and that I ought not to be involved in politics.

I think that the writer misunderstands the term politics. The Wikipedia entry defines it perfectly:

"Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. Most commonly it is generalized as "who gets what, when, why, and how." Although the term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, politics is observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions."

If she meant "party" politcs, then I'm with her on this. Party politics in local government is the very thing that arrests development! For years the Borough Council was locked in party politics, there was endless bickering, and it was only when someone came along and made a virtue of attacking this stranglehold that things began to move on. Frank Branston, the present mayor, sees no problem in appointing to his cabinet people from any of the political parties, and it works!

I suppose I only began to feel heated about this was three years ago, when following a local election I was suddenly dumped from the gverning body of Biddenham Upper School. Someone - and I can't honestly remember what political group he belonged to, had nominated me. Now, without providing any reason, without any analysis of performance, I was no longer required, and this had all come about because of changes in the political balance within the County Council.

I wrote a blistering letter to the Councillor who had informed me that I was not required. It concluded:

"In passing, I would add that I have never quite understood why Bedford people have to put up with they County as well as a Town structure, which is wasteful in terms of manpower and resources. It's only virtue, if it can be claimed as such, is to provide a lot of people with fat salaries. Beds county council, despite its self-adulation, has had a pretty dismal record of late, and I wonder whether as an organisation it has not gone well past its sell by date, and should be replaced by a more efficient, less party-politically orientated, less complacent, less arrogant and less wasteful unitary authority."

I think that subsequent events have proved me right!

Well, this issue has at long last gone to the High Court, and judgement has been reserved. But we learn that the county council has spent half a million pounds in one year on saving its own neck - and there is no end in sight yet. This from Bedfordshire on Sunday:

"That is the amount Bedfordshire County Council has spent so far on its attempts to gain unitary status. The figure does not include officer time spent working on the council's plans.

The figures were revealed in response to a Freedom of Information Act request made by Conservative councillor Stephen Male.

The council faces abolition if it is unsuccessful in its bid for unitary status.

It also does not include legal costs of the Judicial Review, which was held in the High Court last week.

This was because the county council is fighting the Government's view that the borough should be made a unitary authority and Mid and South Beds should create another unitary council.

The judge is expecting to make his decision later in the week.

Local success for Biddenham Upper school pupil

The News of the World has joined with the Post Office - at the heart of all our communities - and Barnardo's, the UK's leading children's charity, to honour the people we think have done a brilliant, unsung job improving the lives of our children over the past 12 months.

Following a nomination from Mr Berrill, the school's Principal, for his work in creating the school radio and the new quadrant social area – it was learnt this week that Phil Lack has made it to the final 5 nationally in the Children’s Champions Award.  The News of the World newspaper came out to photograph him last week and we keep our fingers crossed for him as the final looms.  Winners will be taken down to London to meet with Mr Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street, followed by a VIP trip on the London Eye before attending a Celebrity Gala Dinner for the presentation.  The whole event will be broadcast on Sky One on Sunday 16th March.

Winners in each category will receive a prize of £5,000.

This and that......

• An interesting brief history of Bedford can be found here.
• I stumbled across a slide show of buses in the county in the eighties. See here.
• There's a good promotional video on the University of Bedfordshire. See here
• A two minute show entitled "Beautiful Bedfordshire" can be seen here.
• Some lovely atmospheric pictures taken near the Marina here.
  
• Last of all, and totally unconnected with Bedford, but guaranteed to bring a smile. This clip shows a baby whose laugh is highly infectious! A must when one is feeling gloomy!

And finally...

Where did winter go, I wonder? No traces of snow this time. Perhaps I should add "yet" because I recall a snap in May one year. The daffs. are all over the place - an early spring bonanza. I must confess that I do not relish the early evenings just before Christmas, when the sun has set before 4pm. It is now setting at about a quarter to six - lovely! This shot was taken at the Odell Country park, one of my favourite places. There's a cafe there, serving excellent food, and on a good day one can sit outside to eat.

More soon!

Kind regards

Robert