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LETTERS
Our letters page is finally up - so if you've incisive comment, steam to let off, news to share or just want to prattle on, address your emails to The editor reserves all the usual rights with respect to publication. The page will be updated weekly - usually on Mondays. Deadline for Monday is 12 noon Sunday.
• Check out the letters page

OPERATIONS CANCELLED
24/1/04: A bed shortage at Lancaster Royal Infirmary has led to the cancellation of non-urgent operations for in-patients.
The hospitals says it has been caused by a higher number of elderly patients taking up beds.
A similar restriction was brought in earlier this month.

MORECAMBE SKATE PARK AT LAST?
23/1/04: City council plans for a skate park to be built in the centre of Morecambe have been submitted to council planners for examination. Part of the bus station car park on Morecambe's Cenrral Drive may be used for the new park.
• Read Matt Canty's "Out to Skate" feature

SUCCESS FOR BBC7 HIRD DRAMA
23/1/04: Digital radio station BBC7 has been swamped with praise for Thora Hird's final performance, The Last of the Sun, written by Alan Bennett. One listener commented on the BBC7 message board that the play was "a wonderful combination of a great writer and a wonderful performer combining to create unique radio". "It had me in tears of both sadness and laughter" wrote another listener.
For those of you who missed this marvellous production, it is now available on Audio on Demand (at the bottom of the homepage under the "premieres" box, requires RealPlayer) until Sunday 25 January. Because it is a new production for BBC 7, the station has been able to acquire the audio rights to provide listeners with this much-requested service.

TAGGING THE BRIDGE
23/1/04: Vandals have had a field night (Thursday) spraying tags on Lancaster's Millennium Bridge. The Council has been urged to clean up the tags.
It's yet another indignity for the bridge which has become something of a hotspot for vandalism, litter and late night attacks on revelers. Broken lights at the City end of the bridge have been reported by several people for months to both City and County Councils and nothing has been done. CCTV was supposed to have been installed nearly 18 months ago -- but there's no sign of it. Local councillor Ron Sands has called the fencing off of seating at the City end a "victory" only for the people who used the spot as a drinking venue, abusing people as they walked past.
• What do you think of the state of the bridge?

NO SEX PLEASE, WE'RE CIVIL SERVANTS
23/1/04: City Council bosses are planning a lovers' charter for staff, the Lancaster Guardian has reported. An official register of workplace relationships is under consideration, in which colleagues who became an "item" would be required to declare the fact to management.
"We had to look to see if this document was dated April 1 when it first came round," one union representative told the Guardian. "We didn't know whether to laugh or play bloody hell. It is hugely offensive and intrusive into people's private lives."
The charter plan is in a draft report for the council's personnel committee, bearing the name of chief executive Mark Cullinan, which aims to formalise a scheme for managing personal -- as in family and friend -- relationships at work and those of a more intimate nature.
When two way love enters the door, bosses must be informed, says the new report.
A council spokesman said the document had been leaked therefore the authority would not comment.
• Read the full story on the Guardian web site: Go


LAUNCH OF NEW FURNESS LINE LEAFLET
23/1/04: A re-designed Furness Line Leaflet was launched with help of four local mayors -- none of whom came to the launch by train -- at Carnforth Railway Station at 2pm on Platform One .
The original line guide was produced in 2000 and proved to be very popular and this new leaflet builds on that success.
The Furness Line Guide aims to promote travel by rail to visitors travelling around the Morecambe Bay area. This is an outstandingly beautiful journey hugging the coast for most of the route and a superb way to appreciate the qualities of the area.
The new guide has been jointly produced with Lancaster City Council's Economic Development & Tourism Department and the Lake District Peninsulas Tourism Partnership with funding from Ulverston 2000, Barrow Borough Council, Business Link and First North Western.
"The Furness line guide is designed for both visitors and local residents of the Bay area," expalined Jim Trotman, Principal Tourism Officer for Lancaster City Council. "It has been designed to tempt people to travel around the bay by rail and to leave their cars at home or at their hotel or campsite. It is amazing how much can be seen and visited from the line and use of the trains will help to reduce road congestion."
The leaflets will be available through local Tourist Information Centres and railway stations as far away as Manchester.

CLAIMING BACK THE CANTON
23/1/04: Council officials were due to reclaim disputed land in Greaves Park from Swiss businessman Bernard Konemann today.
Konemann claimed he'd erected a fence around the public land to stop vandals -- but the land wasn't his to claim, according to the city council and the county court.
After Konemann refused to discuss the situation the council had no choice but to reclaim the land. (After all, if they let him get away with it, what's to stop anyone putting a wall around the pavement outside their house?)
Mr Konemann has previously threatened to close his business and move away from Lancaster if the land was reclaimed.

DAWSON BACKS GOVERNMENT ON TOP UP FEES
23/1/04: Hilton Dawson will be meeting students at Lancaster University next Friday (30 January) to explain why he will be backing the Government over top up fees for students.
Earlier this month the government set out plans to allow universities in England to vary their annual tuition fees, from nothing up to £3,000.
The proposals have met with widesperead condemnation and hostility, supported in the main bu univeristy administrations and big business, but opposed by students and representatives of lecturers and teachers have all come out against variable fees.
• BBC News story 8/1/04: Deep divisions on top-up fees
• BBC News story 13/1/04: Business backs tuition fees rise

THERE'S A GHOST IN MY HOUSE!
23/1/04: A family living in Edenvale Road, Skerton, thinks it's being terrorised by a ghost.
The family has been plagued by doors opening mysteriously, taps switching themselves on and other unexplained incidents -- culminating in a fire in the kitchen last week.
Although Linda Fox thinks she may have switched the oven on herself while sleepwalking the family called in a priest and a psychic to investigate the strange goings on.
Lancaster has its fair share of ghosts, as anyone who has been on one of the local ghost walks can tell you.
• Is your house or place or work haunted? Tell us your ghost stories!

TRANSPORT MINISTER VISITS CARNFORTH
21/1/04: Transport Minister Kim Howells visited Carnforth this afternoon to view progress on the town's initiatives to improve public transport in the region. He dropped in at the Carnforth Connect Travel office at Carnforth railway station, which operates a scheduled and 'on demand' bus service in the area and then visited the renovated railway station at Carnforth including the Brief Encounter tearoom and station visitor centre named after the famous classic romantic movie, filmed at the station.

HOME OFFICE VISIT
21/1/04: Home Office Minister Hazel Blears is in Lancaster and Morecambe on Monday 26 January as part of a visit being hosted by Lancashire Police Authority.
As part of the visit the Minister will attend Lancaster Town Hall where she will launch the Community Safety Partnership's Anti-social Behaviour Strategy.

CULTURING TALENT!
21/1/04: A new initiative to strengthen leadership across the cultural sector is inviting applications for its first group of fellowships from 12 January 2004.
"We're looking for people who will become part of the next generation of leaders in the cultural sector," explained the Rt. Hon Chris Smith, Director of The Clore Leadership Programme, "meaning the performing and visual arts, heritage, museums, libraries and archives, and cultural policy and administration. We don't mind where they come from, provided they have passion, motivation, self-awareness and proven achievement. We will be looking out for that imaginative spark that marks out a potential leader, someone who can innovate, energise and inspire, as well as deliver."
The Clore Leadership Programme was established in 2003 by the Clore Duffield Foundation and has been strongly supported in the Northwest by The Cultural Consortium England's Northwest and the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA). In addition to fellowships that are open to all applicants there will be one fellowship specifically targeted and designed for someone from the Northwest.
"England's Northwest has an outstanding reputation in the cultural and creative industries, which contribute in excess of £1.7 billion to the regional economy," explained Steve Broomhead, Chief Executive NWDA. "The Agency is extremely pleased to support this important programme which will not only provide much-needed support to talented individuals, but also highlights the Agency's firm commitment to training and skills development. I am confident that this initiative will further enhance the region's creative sector and ensure that it continues to thrive."
Twenty fellowships will be available, with training beginning at the end of September 2004. Applications are open to any EU resident who has had at least five years' work experience, in the cultural sector or beyond.
The flexibly designed fellowship will normally last for one year, during which Clore Fellows will attend two intensive residential leadership courses, receive individual tuition and mentoring, extend their management experience through a high profile secondment and have an opportunity to engage in reflection and research.
Fellows will have the option of remaining with their present employers, and following the course in stages, or of receiving a full-time bursary of £20,000. Direct associated costs, including tuition fees, will be met by the programme. A number of Fellowships, co-funded with other organisations, will be focused on specific areas.
The closing date for applications is 20 February 2004, and interviews will be held between 19 April and 5 May 2004.

FREE TRAINING FOR VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY GROUPS
21/1/04: Have you ever been invited to join a charity committee and not known what to do? Or perhaps been handed a set of account books and told "it's easy being a treasurer -- you'll get the hang of it"?
If you are involved in a voluntary or community group and feel you need a bit of expert help, then you may be interested in free training being offered by Lancaster District CVS over the next few weeks.
The two hour "taster" sessions cover various aspects of voluntary committee work. Free and friendly, they offer an insight into what you should be doing if you are involved with a charity or community group. You can come to the one which is most relevant to you -- or come to them all.
The sessions all take place at the Community Links Building on Stanley Road in Morecambe from 6.00 to 8.00 pm. A free buffet beforehand means you can come straight from work. So you can satisfy your hunger for food as well as for information!
The sessions are as follows
Wednesday 28 January: The Treasured Treasurer -- keeping track of your group's money.
Thursday 4 March: The Successful Secretary -- paperwork, planning and people.
Thursday 11 March: The Committed Committee Member -- How you can contribute to your committee and keep things moving.
Tuesday 16 March: The Trembling Trustee -- Worried about your group's legal and financial responsibilities? Come and find out more about your obligations ­ and how to make sure you don't run into problems.
All are welcome, but places must be booked in advance. For more information or to reserve your place, ring Lancaster District CVS on 01524 63760 or e-mail
These courses are funded by the Learning and Skills Council's Bite-Size Learning campaign.

GRANTS ON OFFER
21/1/04: The Local Network for Children and Young People (Lancashire) have grants of up to £7,000 to make to small local organisations to groups that work with disadvantaged children and young people, aged 0 to 19 years old, but their next deadline is Tuesday 17 February. Contact 0845-113-0161 for an application pack.
• Contact CVS for more information and help - if needed - with completing application forms: CVS, Trinity Community Centre, Middle Street, Lancaster LA1 1JZ, tel 01524-63760,

THAT'S WHAT I CALL THE WORLDWIDE WEB
21/1/04: Virtual-Lancaster has really been amassing some global pulling power this week. The Shakespeare Hotel has been in touch to thank us for a booking via our site from New Zealand, and the Council press office has let us know that our listing for one of the Council pre-school services attracted its first enquiry, by e-mail -- from Tokyo!
It's great when all the hard work we put into the site pays off!

CVS SPRING TRAINING PROGRAMME LAUNCHED
21/1/04: Lancaster's specialist support body for voluntary and community groups has launched its Spring training programme.
The district's Council for Voluntary Service offers a range of courses for volunteers, paid workers, and committee members of groups looking to sharpen their skills and clarify their knowledge.
If you want to know more about the practicalities of employing and supporting staff you may be interested in "Staff Contracts" (4th February) or "Introduction to Supervision" (13th February). If you want to be sure you're getting what happened at meetings down on paper properly then "Minute Taking Skills" (12th February) is for you.
For staff working with children or young people there is a practical focussed session on Child Protection Awareness on 25th February. Advice and surgery sessions on Pensions and Insurance for voluntary and community groups take place on 26th February.
The courses are all run by experienced trainers with specialist expertise and are centrally located at Trinity Community Centre on Middle Street in Lancaster. Fees payable depend on the size of your organisation, starting at from £5 - £10 for short courses and surgeries.
For more information contact Lancaster District CVS on 01524 63760.

KAFKA AT THE DUKES
21/1/04: The Dukes is preparing for its first new show of the season. Kafka's Dick, which begins on Friday 6 February, is a quintessentially English and eccentric tale of a reluctant literary icon who inadvertently metamorphoses from a tortoise to reappear in a 1980s Leeds suburban household!
Directed by Ian Hastings, cast members Andonis Anthony (Brod), Sherry Bains (Linda), John Biggins (Sydney), Tony Broughton (Father), Gerry Hinks (Hermann K) and Justin Shevlin (Kafka) hope to create a world of perfect normality in this average Leeds household which is paralleled with another completely absurd world that makes everyone question their sanity ­ not just Sydney's father!
The play has been described as a blatant hit-out at the scores of literary voyeurs who masquerade in the name of Literary Critics, readers and connoisseurs of classic writers. Alan Bennett could not have taken a more appropriate figure than Franz Kafka, the famous Czech writer who wanted just one thing in life -- anonymity. Kafka, known for his masterpieces such as Metamorphosis, The Castle and The Trial, asked for all his works to be burned on his death. It is on this request -- which was ignored by his agent -- that Bennett's play revolves.
Designer Terry Brown has designed a 1920s sanatorium, a run of the mill sitting room and a Leeds housing estate -- all this and heaven too, on the Dukes stage!

TORIES CALL BY-ELECTION IN HEYSHAM SOUTH
21/1/04: Local Conservatives have this morning submitted the paperwork required to call a by-election in the Heysham South Ward, where a vacancy has arisen following the resignation of Councillor Shirley Reid.
Councillor James Airey, Conservative Group Leader and Prospective Parliamentary Candidate commented "For the last seven months, the electorate of Heysham South have effectively been unrepresented. Local Conservatives have called for the by-election to be held because we believe the vacancy should now be filled -- and the sooner the better. The people of Heysham South have already been left without full representation on Lancaster City Council for long enough."
Kenneth Brown has been selected as the Conservative candidate. "I'm delighted to have been selected to fight this by-election for the Conservatives," says Kenneth. "During the campaign, I shall set out to meet as many of the electorate as I can to discuss the issues that matter to them. If elected, I promise I will regularly attend meetings to represent them, their views and their concerns."

CITY COUNCIL RECEIVES VISUAL IMPAIRMENT AWARENESS TRAINING
20/1/04: How many of us know what it feels like to be visually impaired and to use a guide dog?
Lancaster City Council's staff got an idea of what it's like last week when they attended a Visual Impairment course. They were even blindfolded and made to walk with the aide of a guide dog.
Run by the Galloway Society's Tony Kimpton, with help from guide dog Ivan, the course aimed to increase council staff awareness about the physical and psychological issues surrounding members of the public with poor, and in some cases, no vision.
The 16 members of staff who took part in this course were introduced to basic guiding skills and simple methods of communication.
Lancaster City Council's Training and Development Officer, Sue McGraw, who organised the course, said: "Staff learnt how problems with sight loss can affect the daily life and emotional well being of local people. They were also given tips on ways how you can support people with visual impairment."

ROAD ACCIDENT INJURES MAN
20/1/04: Yet another road accident in the local area has resulted in a man ending up in Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
The accident happened just before 5.00pm on the A6, near to Junction 33 of the M6.

SCHOOLBOY FOUND DEAD
19/1/04: A 15-year-old boy found dead at his Lancashire home has been named. Ryan Ireland, a pupil at Skerton Community High School, was found dead in Sycamore Grove, Lancaster, in the early hours of Monday.
BBC News reports that a post-mortem examination proved inconclusive and police are waiting for the results of a toxicology test to find out if his death was drug-related.
Detectives have questioned members of Ryan's family to try to find out more about his last movements.
A spokesman for Skerton High School said they were very shocked at his death and the school would be doing all it could to support Ryan's family.

FIRE AT STOREYS
19/1/04: Fire crews from both Morecambe Community Fire station and Lancaster fought a major fire early this morning at the Imperial Home Decor factory, on White Lund Industrial estate.
On arrival the crews disocvered a large fire involving a production area, known as an "Oxidising Plant". Huge flames were issuing from within the plant -- around two thirds of the entire structure.
Initially, two Breathing Apparatus crews began to attack and control fire spread using two separate jets, whilst further Fire Service personnel located factory water supplies and set up a constant supply.
Due to the severity of the fire a cordoned off secure area was set up and the officer in charge sent an assistance message for a further two appliances, both from Lancaster, one pumping appliance and the Incident Support Unit.
During firefighting operations 12 Breathing Apparatus personnel were used along with three firefighting jets to control and finally extinguish the fire. During the whole time The Incident Support Unit proved to be invaluable in order to maintain overall control of personnel and provide Fireground and external communications.
The Fire Service has congratulated all personnel involved for their swift and professional actions which resulted with minimum fire damage to both the process plant and surrounding factory area.

WORK FINALLY BEGINS ON CYCLE ROUTES
19/1/04: Work has begun on two additions to the cycle route network in the Lancaster area. Work has begun on the Marsh cycle route with more work to follow alongside the Girl's Grammar School in 2005.
"I am delighted that half of the project has finally begun," Coun Jon Barry commented. "The route over Giant Axe Field will provide an excellent link to the railway station and the millennium bridge for people on the Marsh."
"However, I am extremely disappointed that the route alongside the girl's grammar school field is not going to happen until next year at the earliest. The Council has had 18 months to negotiate a deal with the Girl's Grammar School and they haven't managed it. New cycling routes should be a priority for the Council and we need to do better than this."
Last week, cycle group Dynamo urged both city and county councils to speed up work on cycle routes around the area, after a cyclist took just 17 minutes to travel between Morecambe sea front and lancaster Town Hall as part of the launch of a countywide Integrated Transport campaign. A car driver took 43 minutes to reach Lancaster from the same starting point.

CRINKLEY BOTTOM: DRAWING THE LINE
19/1/04: Councillor Ian Barker, Leader of the Labour Group of Lancaster City Council has urged that publication of the second District Auditor's report on Crinkley Bottom should help to "draw a line" under "this disastrous and costly episode" which cost local taxpayers £2 millon.
"It is a thorough and objective report and I accept its findings," says Ian. "The failure the Crinkley Bottom project, at a cost to the taxpayer of £2 million, damaged the area and the reputation of the Council.
"It is important that the lessons are learned; to a large extent, I believe they have been. The City Council should never again engage in commercial projects that expose the council taxpayer to such costs if they fail. Such risks should always be taken by the private sector, not by the council. Councillors should recognise that they should exercise a proper scrutiny of reports put before them and should insist on getting adequate and comprehensible information before making crucial decisions.
"Crinkley Bottom was supported enthusiastically by all four parties on the Council. On behalf of the Labour Group, the former leader, Stanley Henig, apologised in 1998 for our part, as the largest group, in the project. I repeated that apology last year when the first District Auditor's report was published. It has been echoed in the past by two of the three other groups - the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.
"The damage and costs have been compounded by what happened during the five-year investigation. This cost £600,000 during which unfounded allegations of conspiracies were made and during which the District Auditor found that the former leader of the MBI Group, Patricia Heath, had given evidence that was 'collusive, [had] been brought into existence to support the objection and [was] false'. These allegations in themselves led, in part, to both the distrust between members and the blame culture identified in the first IDeA report on the Council. They must have contributed considerably to both the extended time and the cost of the investigation.
"I am pleased to say that I believe that the blame culture has now disappeared and that relationships between councillors of all groups have improved considerably. We must learn the lessons of Crinkley Bottom, but we must also move forward and continue to work to improve the City Council so that it can give excellent service to the people of Lancaster, Morecambe and the rural areas.
• Download the Auditor's Report (Word format): Click Here

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