"Save The Becconsall" Visit

I strongly commend the visit to the community effort at Heskett Newmarket [See Events 13th March 2010]. The pub, beers and food are all well worth a visit.

One word of warning: that is a genuine village, with a physical centre and a real sense of community, not the smeared out collection of commuter housing that Hesketh Bank has been for at least the past two decades. We're mostly now a suburb to a collection of different 'urbs.'

Ian Wells, 1st March 2010

SAVE THE BECC MICRO BREWERY TRIP

Dear Village Friends,

As promised at our last Public Meeting, Mrs Mc’s Action Group have organised a CHARABANC! A Community Spirited, Research Day Out to visit an existing successful community enterprise Micro Brewery and Pub. The Old Crown at Heskett Newmarket, Cumbria, was bought by the community and has been established as a successful community venture for several years.

We invite you all to join us, for a fun trip to find out how they did it and consider if this model may be something that could be realistic for The Bec too. The owners have kindly agreed to open especially for us on Sat 13th March, to give us a tour of the Micro Brewery and Pub, a talk to explain all they have created, 2 course lunch (at a reduced rate), and answer our questions to support us in our research to Save The Bec for the community. Mike Perkins and Doug, of CAMRA, have kindly sourced all this and a coach is booked. The details are as follows:

Date: Saturday 13th March
Pick up: 10.45am outside The Bec
Time for chats, ideas, fun on the journey
Meet The Old Crown Community, Lunch (menu choice available), Full Tour, Talk, Questions, Farewell
Time for chats, reflections, ideas, fun on the journey
Return: 7pm Drop off outside The Bec
Total Cost: £25.50 per head (£10 non refundable deposit on booking)
Limited Places, Early Booking Recommended

For more details and to book please contact 07968 737278
We wish you well and look forward to speaking with you soon!

With warmth & respect,
Mrs Mc’s Action Group Team, 28th Feb 2010

Low Water Pressure

It really must be summer – the water pressure is absolutely appalling, reduced to a trickle from the shower some mornings.  Anyone else having this experience?

Lesley Standish-Gore, 1st July 2009

Council Grounds Keeping

As a local resident I am appalled at the state of the gardens at the old folks place on Gorse lane, Oak Gate Close, and Latham Crescent , the grass is over grown and the hedges on Gorse Lane are over grown onto the footpaths. I am sure that as the weather is so nice at the moment the residents would like to be able to sit outside for a while, but if this was my garden I would be put off by the state of the garden.

I have spoken to someone at West Lancs district council and the person who I spoke to said he did not feel the gardens would be over grown by much as they are cut about once every three weeks, as I explained to the person this was not the case he did say that the teams are on their way round at the moment starting in Burscough then Rufford, so how much longer will the grass be before they get to Tarleton?

Ann Stringfellow, 1st June 2009

Hesketh Bank Village Show

Congratulations to Barry Dawson and Mark Walsh for reintroducing the Hesketh Bank Village Show to the annual events calendar.

What a fantastic day it was, and for once the weather played it's part. I was there manning the Community Facilities Action Group stand and it was wonderful to see so many residents pouring in through the gates. The atmosphere was happy and friendly with groups of people sitting on the lawn enjoying afternoon tea or sampling the many activities on offer.

One small plug - come on all you photographers who were out in force with your cameras - why not enter one or two of your pictures in the Hesketh Bank Photograph competition and perhaps see your picture in print on the annual full color Hesketh Bank events calendar. CLOSING DATE IS TUESDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER - just drop your entry off at either of the Post Offices or Top Shop before 5.00pm. Once again congatulations and thank you to Barry and Mark and their team of helpers for a wonderful Village event.

Maureen Baldwin, Parish Councillor. 29th September 2008

PACT MEETING REPORTS
Dear Sir,

The latest Minutes from the Pact Meetings appearing on the Web site are February 2008.

I understand that Meetings are held monthly so when may we expect to see the minutes between March and July?

J Johnston, 8th July 2008

The real reason that the Post Offices are in difficulty is the same reason that Sainsbury's/Tesco etc are as successful as they are, simply the fact that we operate in a free market economy and people spend their money in these outlets rather than others. Anyone who has used the internet to renew their Road Tax, renew their Passport or any other service which is also provided in our Post Office will quickly realise the difficulties facing the traditional format of the Post Office where you have to traipse in with all your documentation (which HAS to be in order) and queue to have it processed. Online it can be done in less time than it will take you to read this bulletin!

Of course not every one currently has access to the internet but you can clearly see which direction the trend is going in. Once upon a time only one or two people 'in our villages' had a motor car as opposed to horse drawn transport and no doubt that there was resistance to the introduction of them at the time. But they came all the same.

So Mrs. Fulbrooke, in her latest opportunistic way, attempts to jump on the Post Office bandwagon in order to raise her profile in time for the next Election, but what is she suggesting? endless subsidisation of a loss making service? How does that fit in with her philosophy of survival of the fittest?

Yours Sincerely,
John Hodson, 1st February 2008

Proposed Closures of Post Offices
With 'Lord' Sainsbury and his Supermarket buddies pumping ever-increasing sums of money into the Labour party it is only a matter of time before all the Post Offices, Chemists, Petrol Pumps, GP's, Opticians, Newsagents and all other facilities that we took for granted as part of our village life are in their deep pockets. How long before all pensioners are wheeled in, given a few food vouchers and a few quid for the bingo, I wonder J.Johnston ?

We should all be fighting for our village services.

Richard Hodson, 1st February 2008

No Ifs.... No Buts...
The lion that is the Standards Committee has purred into life and decided that the debt to society for an [Derek Conway] MP "diverting" over £50,000 of public funds should be 10 days off work and a repayment of 30% of the money. Presumably this means that the guilty party is allowed to keep the remaining 70% of his ill-gotten gains.

If this is the verdict of the body that is responsible for promoting high ethical standards then may God help us all.

Despite all the measures that have supposedly been put in place to safeguard our interests it seems that the continuous stream of cross party "administration oversights" only ever come to light when the papers get involved. It seems safe to assume that our political leaders have no respect for the law or their electorate and their internal policemen are as ineffectual as the plastic plods they deploy on our streets.

Tough on crime? No Sleaze? Transparency? No ifs... No buts... Don't make me laugh! - there is not even the faintest hint of embarrassment about such discoveries. Our politicians are above the law and rotten to the core.

J. B. , 30th January 2008

Proposed Closures of Post Offices
With reference to the proposed Post Office closures I can fully sympathise with those who oppose this. We have been used to local Post Offices providing a range of services for members of local communities for many years. Unfortunately that service has to be profitable as after all it is a business.

Most businesses run to make a profit for their owners. When circumstances alter and the profit turns into a loss then the business would cease to trade. Why should this be any different for Post Offices?

Times have changed and we can no longer accept that all conveniences such as GP, Dentist etc remain within walking distance of our homes.

Many years ago few people had cars, direct debits were not readily available but life has moved on. Whilst I accept that the older members of our society may no longer drive and may prefer to pay bills locally I cannot see the justification on continuing to run Post Offices at a great loss. It was reported on television recently that some have no more that 1 customer each day and at what cost to all of us?

The issue of the " Stand Alone Post Office " remaining a viable service can be overcome by incorporating it into a larger store such as occurred in Tarleton a few years ago.

Unfortunately nothing can stay the same forever and we must be prepared to adapt to changing circumstances.

J Johnston, 28th January 2008

I was disappointed to see some of the comments from Chris Stringfellow about the 'lack of local news' organisations covering Tarleton and Hesketh Bank.

The Southport Visiter is very keen to cover any news in this area, whether it is celebrating people's good news, raising local issues or highlighting local events.

In the Southport Visiter currently on sale for example we feature a story and photos about the sewage problems suffered by residents in Hesketh Bank, and will keep on top of this issue in the hope of securing a resolution. News about progress on the new Booth's supermarket will also feature soon, hopefully this Friday.

Yes, we could publish more stories from Tarleton and Hesketh Bank - and we would be delighted to do so! If anybody would like any issues raising in the Southport Visiter or Midweek Visiter, please let me know!!

My direct phone number is 01704 398271, e-mail me at: visiternews@southportvisiter.co.uk or call into the Visiter office on Tulketh Street, Southport (just off Chapel Street) and say hello. At weekends, we always have a Visiter reporter available on 07919 112582.

We are far from ignorant of this area here at the Visiter - my fiancee hails from Hesketh Bank and is a former pupil of Tarleton High and Tarleton primary, and I recently enjoyed the Christmas period in Hesketh Bank with my prospective in-laws. I am a regular visitor - it's a lovely part of the world. One of my colleagues lives in Rufford, which is not a million miles away (she is a big fan of the shops in Tarleton!)

Thank you for raising the issue of the recent spate of crimes at the weekend, it's been a rough few weeks for people at the hands of burglars, and we will be delighted to once again raise the issue of whether there should be a police station in Tarleton? Please let us know your thoughts!

Finally, I would like to congratulate the adminstrators and users of this excellent website. Sharing information is the most important way of maintaining any thriving community.

Kind regards,

Andrew Brown, Deputy editor Southport Visiter, 15th January 2008

Well as I mentioned in my last letter, in November [see Letters - Tarleton Parish Council] , I am starting on local policing again. I don't know how many of you are aware of the spate of burglaries which took place at local business premises in Tarleton over the weekend. From the rumours circulating (it can only be rumours round here now, as we have no local newspaper anymore, unless you consider the Ormksirk/Skem or Southport biased rubbish that claims to be local) a large number of premises were broken into in the early morning. By lunchtime, I had actually seen two police vehicles in the village, that's more than I saw for the whole of last year.

If we had a police presence, we wouldn't be getting these continual criminal excursion trips into our village, however the people who managed to drive the proposed police station out of the village must be really happy, it's obvious the thieves are. Has anyone noticed that since the police station was driven out, Lancashire Constabulary never come near Tarleton.

It's time our local politicians demanded some answers from the police to questions such as "Where the hell are you" and "What are you doing about crime in Tarleton".
Chris Stringfellow, 14th January 2008

Speed Measurement on Moss Lane
Speeding on Moss Lane measured twice, and quite recently, by Hesketh-with-Becconsall Parish Council, produced the following results :

6% of vehicles doing over 30 mph
1% ....................... over 40mph

The "Confidential"' figures from a SPIRD Speed Recorder undergoing trials - released presumably by the Clerk - now show entirely different results:

27% of vehicles doing over 35 mph
12%......................... over 40 mph

The presentation and validity of this data is unacceptable. At the very time of a controversial planning application requiring traffic calming on Moss Lane to obtain permission a SPIRD visual recorder is placed in Moss Lane immediately adjacent to the site in question.

What could possibly have produced such a major statistical shift? Is there a means by which results can be distorted? Or are we seriously to believe that driving behaviour went daft over that 4-day test period?

It would be disgraceful if highways and planning decisions were prejudiced by misinformation.

Trevor Roberts, 25th October 2007

PUMPKINS EVERYWHERE
Well done to all the entrants and winners of the Competition.
I notice that Mr O'Hanlon Snr is trying to outdo his son James who together with Liam Cupit won the Competition 2 years ago. Perhaps you need to ask James and Liam their secrets if you want to have any hope of winning next year.
What becomes of the Pumpkins after the event? Are the whole population of Tarleton and surrounding areas tucking into Pumpkin Soup. Will we have any female contestants next year?
It is always good to see local happenings on this Website
Joyce Rydings, 21st October 2007

PACT BOXES
How good it was to see the recent photographs of Tarleton High Students in the local news carrying out various tasks for Quest Week.

It was stated that the PACT BOXES would be placed in prominent areas on the Community for people to leave comment slips for the Police and Community Together Team. I would be interested to know where the "prominent areas" are. Can someone enlighten me please?

J Johnston, 7th August 2007

Hesketh Bank Scarecrow Festival
It’s that time of year again and Hesketh Banks’s SCARECROW FESTIVAL is just around the corner.

The dates are JULY 2th – 7th and I’m told that this year’s quote is, “IT’S GOING TO BE AN EYE OPENER!”

There’s something for everyone and its fun. So come on, get those dapper togs out of the wardrobe, dust them down, get frocked up, strut your stuff and show off.

You all know what it’s about, you don’t need me to tell you. But…… if you have had a new neighbour next door then you will need to spread the news. Who knows if you’ve not spoken to them yet, it could be a good way of breaking the ice. Let’s face it, this is all about COMMUNITY SPIRIT.

Now if you’re struggling with a lack of imagination DO NOT FRET. I’m told that that the competition will have two categories, “Traditional” and “Anything Goes”.. So, if you favour my traditional “WORZEL GUMMIDGE” look then this is for you. The more “Scarecrow like” you look, the better. But let’s remember the competition is secondary, the main objective is that as many of us as possible are out there putting on a show.

THE PUBLIC WANTS TO SEE US.

Let’s face it, they will come from miles just for that privilege so don’t let us disappoint them.

The entry form will be available to all households both within and outside the village (even parts of Tarleton). The entry form can be downloaded here or collected from Top Shop or Spar. So have a read, follow the instructions and get those forms back PROMPT. In the meantime come on visitors get your thinking caps on!

PUT THE DATES IN YOUR DIARY JULY 2nd – 7th. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL SOON.

Best regards to all,
W.G.

W. Gummage III, 24th June 2007

Download Scarecrow Entry Form - Download "How To Make A Scarecrow"

This project has been promised to the electorate by the Local Conservatives at each election without any hope of it getting off the ground, sinking without trace (excuse the pun) immediately after said Counciilors are (safely) elected for another 4 years before it is dusted off ready just in time for the next round. Just how gullible do these people think the electorate are?

The report Cllr Baron refers to was published in 1999 and was kept very quiet at the time by our County Councillor, presumably because it did not fit in with election promises at the time. The report offererd three different alternatives in terms of construction design and did state that a minumum cost of £1M would at that time be an estimated starting point- notwithstanding the need for land aquisition and only allowed for excavation of up to 1 metre! A Civil Engineering Estimating Manager colleague told me at the time that a realistic starting price would be in the order of £5M: the proposed length of road was only a quarter of a mile long but passes over peat moss soil which can be as deep as 30feet in places.

For the project to proceed, external funding is required - the big question is where will this funding come from? A few points readers may wish to know are :

1. This proposal has been talked about since 1995 where the very reasons why it has not been built were explained by Lancs County Council at the time.

2. What contribution is to be made by the large Supermarket chains who would be the main beneficiaries of greater access to the Moss?

3. If funding were to be found for the 'Green Lane Link', ( 1/4 mile long) who would fund the rest of the Moss Road network i.e. miles and miles of substandard road ?

4. Precisely where does this proposal sit in terms of priority within LCC's road building program?

All I ask is a degree of political honesty on the subject, whilst our elected members dine out on this promise every four years, the cost of any scheme spirals even further out of reach and the rest of our road network is forgotten about.

Yours Sincerely,
Cllr. J.E.Hodson. 27th February 2007

[It would have made traffic congestion in Preston & Penwortham much less and made Fleetwood "Freeport" more accessible.]

Instead Southport's "Centre of Gravity" [If it has one] is focussed South into Sefton, especially Bootle with which it has little in common.

The present coast road was laid on rubbish / hardcore tipped by residents in the sixties, if this had then been branched to continue towards Lytham "Tantalising Close" in plain view across the Ribble Estuary, but many miles away by road via Penwortham & Preston, All these northwest Coastal towns would benefit, including from traffic congestion.

The more direct Railway links have gone, so let's have the imagination for such a road link, this also offers an opportunity to usefully dispose of hardcore rubble instead of landfill and could make recently expanded places like Banks & Tarleton more accessible.

Congestion on the road links between the Southport / Ormskirk Hospitals accident & emergency departments might improve.

Both Blackpool lights and Southport Flower Show would greatly benefit from larger ACCESSIBLE Catchments.

If Pleasureland has gone, has the monies spent/being spent on the nearby Southport swimming baths called into question?

Kind Regards,
Arthur Wright, 6th September 2006

I am delighted that at last, the truth has emerged about the proposals to merge Lancashire and Cumbria Police Forces, and that the idea has now been abandoned.

As residents of South Ribble will be aware, I have spent the last six months challenging the Police Authority chairman to accept that the merger was a mistake for local people and their policing needs, serving police officers, police civilian workers and council-tax payers in Lancashire.

I consistently put the case that this ill-conceived merger would result in:

- the £23million start-up costs being diverted from the existing budget to pay for it – which incidentally rose from £16m to £20m to £23m within weeks
- a 13% increase in the police precept part of the council tax for Lancastrians (but not for Cumbrians, please note), just for the privilege of having a merged force.
- no guarantee that Hutton would remain the headquarters of the merged force and would result in a massive building plot for developers.
- a damaging reduction in performance, a collapse in neighbourhood policing, and a significant loss of accountability.
- redundancies of serving police officers and civilians. This was stated to me publicly by a Police Authority representative, saying, “inevitably there will be redundancies”

Whilst the u-turn is great news, I am amazed the Police Authority are claiming they are surprised and feel “let down” by the Government’s decision not to offer extra funds to pay for the massive costs a merger would have entailed.

As a result of the Police Authority’s naive approach, vast sums of our taxpayer’s money have already been wasted preparing for a merger that should never have been volunteered for, and many valuable hours of police time that could have been spent tackling crime have now been thrown away.

The local officers carrying out local people’s policing needs do a superb job in Lancashire, but I believe that they have been very badly let down by politicians and bureaucrats.

The former Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, attempted to railroad the merging of Britain’s forty three police forces into just twelve regional forces for reasons that had little to do with operational effectiveness and everything to do with John Prescott’s’ plans to break up our country into regions of Europe.

This is another glaring example of “Regionalisation by Stealth”.

As the Conservative Party Spokesman for the South Ribble Constituency, I think that most people know that I have been fighting this merger from the start. I viewed this proposal for our police in the same way I view the rationalisations of our Fire Service, our Ambulance Service and increasingly our Hospitals. It is being done for totally the wrong reasons.

I am delighted that this battle has been won, I am just sad that so much time, money and effort has been wasted, when every penny is desperately needed in the ongoing fight against crime.

Lorraine Fullbrook
Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for South Ribble
17th July, 2006

Dear Sir,

Any dictionary will tell you that the word 'reform' means 'to improve', 'to save from evil'. But when Tony Blair says he wants to 'reform' the public services, he means 'sell-out'. He inherited one of the greatest creations of the post-war Labour government : the National Health Service. But he is determined to undermine it by encouraging profit-obsessed health corporations to take over the structure of the NHS.

The Department of Health has asked multi-national companies to manage health services worth up to £64 billion by purchasing healthcare for millions of NHS patients. Of course Mr Blair and his obedient ministers pretend that the service will not change; it will continue to be free at the point of use. But these corporations have only one motivation : money; and the money which they syphon out of the health service will go into the pockets of international investors, not into improved healthcare. This is what privatisation means. Even Margaret Thatcher didn't dare to touch the NHS. We are talking about the obscene sight of a Labour government – a LABOUR government – handing the NHS over to the parasites of the finance world.

The Green Party has expressed shock at the latest step towards NHS Incorporated. A spokesman said, "Labour picked up where the Tories left off and are now ploughing billions of pounds into private companies to provide health-care and hospitals under the NHS brand. This money is taken from NHS health-care provision, reducing the number of NHS nurses and doctors available, while boosting private companies' profits. The NHS is no longer about providing health care for those in need, it is concerned with providing rich pickings for large multinational companies. We should be under no illusion: patients are suffering and dying because of these 'reforms', NHS debt is spiraling and local hospitals are closing.”

Of course the Conservatives will be secretly delighted to see Labour doing the dirty work of privatisation. Labour M.P.s will follow their leader without a murmur; and the few remaining members of the Labour Party sold their souls years ago by swallowing the Blair agenda without question.

So what can the ordinary citizen do to oppose this sell-out ? You could write to your local Labour M.P. You could join a party which is vehemently against privatisation (guess which !). And you could make a donation to the 'Keep Our NHS Public' group at 113 Queens Road, Brighton BN1 3XG. If you don't do it now, it may be too late.

Yours faithfully,

Maurice George
David Sheekey
John Watt
West Lancs Green Party, 4th July 2006

I was disgusted at the placing of the polling station for the local elections on Thursday. Why was a porta cabin in Carr Lane chosen? It is very inconvenient as it is on no bus route, not central to the village and at the end of a cul-de-sac.
As a portable option was available why not a position on Mark Square or at the school.
Comments please?
Mr. M Bodill, 8th May 2006

Dear Editor,

As many of those who visit your site already know, I am totally opposed to the proposal to merge Lancashire Police with Cumbria Police.

I am appalled that both the Lancashire Police Authority and Lancashire Constabulary are going along with the Home Secretary’s railroading of local forces into a merger, when they are unable to show any meaningful benefits that would be gained for the local people of Lancashire.

Indeed, the facts demonstrate entirely the opposite.

Last week (24 Feb 2006), the Lancashire Constabulary was the only police force in the country to agree to the merger, while many other police forces throughout the country have opposed the Government’s proposals and are fighting to stop it, as they believe it is not in the best interests of
local people and their local policing needs.

I have written to the Chairman of the Lancashire Police Authority to challenge them to re-run their survey and ask local people the simple question, “Given the choice, do you favour leaving Lancashire Police as a stand alone force, or do you favour a merger with Cumbria?”

They have refused.

Instead, the Lancashire Police Authority continue to peddle that 86% of local people want a merger with Cumbria, without ever telling them that the merger will increase the police portion of their local council tax by 13%, for which they will receive nothing.

Add to this the £20 million start-up costs out of the existing police budget (which has gone up by £4 million in the last four weeks), no guarantee that Hutton will remain the Headquarters of any merged force and redundancies throughout Lancashire Police; this is a disaster for local people.

A representative of the Police Authority publicly admitted to me at a recent public meeting that, “inevitably, there will be redundancies”. A great number of serving police officers and civilian workers live locally. Together with local people, they are being badly let down by politicians and bureaucrats.

I have therefore launched my own survey on this issue.

It can be found on the internet at www.TellLorraine.com. It asks the straight question that the Lancashire Police Authority refused to, “What is the best way forward for local policing,

a) For Lancashire Police to remain a stand-alone force?
OR
b) For Lancashire Police to merge with Cumbria Police?

I urge everyone who shares my view to complete this question, so we can try and fight this together.

I will make sure the results are passed to Charles Clark, the Home Secretary, the Lancashire Police Authority, the Lancashire Constabulary and the Labour MP for South Ribble.

Lorraine Fullbrook
Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for South Ribble
5th March, 2006

P.S. Anyone without access to the internet can let me know which option they favour by writing to me at PO Box 266, Leyland, Lancs, PR26 7WB

Lorraine Fullbrook
Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for South Ribble
29th January, 2006

Dear Sir,

As the recently re-adopted Conservative Parliamentary Spokesmen for South Ribble and Southport, we are writing to endorse the campaign currently being run against the possible merger of Southport and Ormskirk Hospital Trust with Liverpool Trusts. We are delighted to see that the campaign is being supported by both Rosie Cooper MP and John Pugh MP.

We are sad that a giant Trust based in Liverpool, could ever be considered a possibility for the local Hospital Trust. The Government have thrown huge sums of money at the Health Service, and yet they have done such a bad job that the Trust is around £15 million in debt. We urge everyone to sign the petition against the possibility of a merger, and we pledge ourselves to work with anyone regardless of their political affiliation in the battle to keep our Health Trust local. The Government seem hell bent on merging everything from our Police Force to our Councils and now our Hospital Trusts. Together we can send a clear signal that local people have had enough.

Lorraine Fullbrook -Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for South Ribble
Mark Bigley - Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Southport
15th December 2005

The racist graffiti was done by a few mindless people who believe that what they write is the opinion of the majority. To tolerate this is to agree with their naive, bigoted view. I call on the community of Tarleton and Hesketh Bank to stamp this out. If you see anyone doing this vandalism report it to the police. This action would show the perpatrator and the victims what the majority of the community really believe (don't let this racist cancer grow in our community).
Andrew Gautrey, 18th July 2005

Best Kept Village? They must be joking !!
Have these people had a look at some of the villages that enter this competition ? A few hanging baskets...is that it ? Just look around the village, the bridge....over grown weeds , a old run down shed, a empty house/shop with tons of rubbish at the side and back. That's only with in a few yards of the village centre never mind the rest of the village.

If the Hesketh Bank village group want to enter this...should they first get the village tidy and litter free ??
Paul Morgan, 7th July 2005

Dear friends,
I see from the Hesketh Bank Parish Council Newsletter that the village has entered the “best kept Village” competition. Picture the scene as the judges drive in from Tarleton:
One of the trees that until recently framed the entrance to the village has been simply sawn off just above pavement level – this is the one at the corner of Mill Lane, presumably on the bank’s land. I’m sure that if the tree had been in Ormskirk, it would have had a Tree Protection Order on it.
Next, on the left, the accountant’s building site.
Then, on the right, the chain link fence protecting what will be the Booth’s supermarket building site, with an abandoned building and some hard core behind it.
Back on the left, a bit of derelict land by Top Shop, left empty by its owners who went elsewhere, but not made available for use by Top Shop or anyone else.
Back on the right, heaps and piles of building materials in Alty’s.
The view then cheers up quite a lot past the pub and church in spite of the rather tired look of the village meeting room and former library, but then you get to the entrance to the football club. This is festooned with notices of various degrees of age and untidiness, some relating to the club itself and some to the next field, which intermittently hosts both adults playing cowboys and a low key car boot sale. ‘Well kept’ is not the phrase that comes to mind: unkempt or tatty are nearer, cluttered is perhaps the politest phrase, though ‘visually illiterate’ might be most accurate.
Of course, the judges may not even get into the village to enjoy these visual treats: twice recently I have unable to get out of Hesketh Lane onto Station Road because of the arrival of a lorry to the accountants’ building site. In both cases, it was quickly taken inside the site, but the tail-back went well beyond the computer shop (former post office to genuine locals.)
For most purposes neither Hesketh Bank nor Tarleton are now real villages. They are suburbs that don’t have an urb to be wrapped round – or rather the ‘urb’ of which we are suburbs is every major Lancashire urban area from Preston to Manchester.
But then genuinely rural communities don’t win ‘best kept village’ contests. These are only won by those calendar image villages full of early-retired comers-in who have priced out the locals, and are left with nothing to do but hassle people to be suburbanly tidy and hide all the authentic rural mud, slime, and rusting old farm appliances.
Ian Wells, 14th June 2005

Dear Sir,
With regards the mystery of the NatWest parking area (see news 20/03/05). If the disabled logo is not painted onto the area, the bank cannot claim it to be a disabled parking space. If as rumour suggests the painter cited the Disability Discrimination Act, he knows more than the Disability Rights Commission, who were involved in the creation of that legislation. I would suggest that the responses to date are nothing but flannel, the bank staf probably have no idea why the yellow lines have been painted.
On another note, has anyone noticed the school sign upto the NatWest bank, it now has a new section, the Get Corrigan Out campaign, anyone got any thoughts on that subject?
Chris Stringfellow, 21st March 2005

The award to Tarleton's DIY shop is rightly deserved [see news 21/11/04]. I will always try there first for hardware and associated items and usually they have it in stock. Prices also are on a par with the big stores - if not then you save on petrol and time. The staff are always friendly and guess what? - parking is never a problem - most times you can even park right outside and delivery vehicles always park at the rear. The car park next door also means that if the item you are purchasing is bulky you don't have to carry it very far. We should all support this very valuable resource in our village.
Yours faithfully,
Dave Rydings, 23rd November, 2004