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Next stories: 16 - 30 June 2006

CYCLISTS WIN PROM RIGHTS
SKATEBOARDERS LOSE DALTON SQUARE
15/06/06: A cycle parade to the Town hall by enthusiastic cycling supporters was rewarded when the vote at Wednesday's full meeting of the City Council went in favour of cycling on Morecambe Promenade. Previously it was against the local by-laws, although these were no longer enforced.
Sadly after a fairly rough discussion the vote went against permitting skateboarding in Lancaster's Dalton Square, so, when the by-laws are ratified by central Government this will become an offence.

HURRAH FOR HORNBY-WOOD!
14/6/06: London-based World's End Television are to shoot a short film in Hornby next week. The cast list for the film, Last Night, is under wraps.
A major indie producer for the BBC, World’s End maintains an eclectic mix of programming, including radio, drama, factual and comedy entertainment; From the MTV/Channel Five ‘dope opera’, Top Buzzer to BBC Radio Five Live’s points for punditry sporting debate show, Fighting Talk.

YOUNG ARTIST COMPETITION
13/06/06: If you are aged between 17 and 30 you are invited to enter a painting competition being held by the Lancaster & District Art Society in collaboration with Studio Arts of Lancaster. It is free to enter and prizes totalling £300 in art materials are to be won. The winning entries will be framed and hung in the Art Society Exhibition in the City Museum in November / December. Entry forms and competition details from Studio Arts, North Rd, Lancaster. The closing date for entries is 8 September 2006.

FROM LITTER TO LITERATURE
12/06/06: Local artist and bookmaker, Catriona Stamp, is about to start work on a one-off artists’ book, ‘Beach Findings’, based on the efforts of local people to clean up Morecambe Bay. Catriona will be visiting four Beach Care events over the summer in order to talk to as many of the volunteers as possible, as the written part of the book will be developed from these dialogues.
“I am really interested in the volunteers’ descriptions of their experiences, and to find out what keeps them going, as I know that the litter is an ever-present problem,” said Catriona.
Beach Care is a programme organised by Morecambe Bay Partnership for volunteers to pick up the litter which spoils the beaches around Morecambe Bay.
Catriona will start the project by joining the Beach Care litter picks on Saturday 17th at Hest Bank from 10 am – 12, and on Sunday 18th at Middleton Sands from noon. She will also be taking photographs of the beach litter, to develop into illustrations for the book.
The project has just received confirmation of funding from Arts Council England Grants for the Arts programme, along with match-funding from Urban Splash, and in-kind support from Morecambe Bay Partnership.
Catriona, who is also a local Green Party Councillor, added, “The beauty of Morecambe Bay is one of our best local resources, and the volunteers’ contribution to keeping this environment clean is one of our uncelebrated stories.”
When the book is completed in January 2007 it will be available for display in local venues, and on Morecambe Bay Partnership’s website, www.morecambebay.org.uk
To find out more about the Beach Care programme, where to meet, and how you can help, contact Beach Care Officer, Helen Annan on 01539 740430.

CALLING ALL SINGERS!!!!
12/06/06: Lancaster & District Choral Society is looking for extra singers to swell the choir to around 130 for a performance of ‘Verdi’s Requiem’ on 19 May 2007. This is a golden opportunity to participate in an exciting and dramatic work rarely staged in our area. You will have the opportunity to sing in the Ashton Hall, Lancaster. There will be an orchestra of over fifty musicians.
Can you help? For further information, please contact 01524 791634 as soon as possible.

FRIDGE FLYTIPPER LEAVES CARD CLUE - CAN YOU HELP?

08/06/06: An uscrupulous flytipper has dumped over a dozen old refrigerators at a popular beauty spot at Aldcliffe, where the road meets the Lune Estuary footpath. 'Probably this is the work of a dealer or someone they have employed to dispose of unwanted fridges' said a Council spokesperson. 'People buying new or second-hand fridges usually include in the deal removal of their old fridge. Refrigerators contain environmentally harmful CFCs which must by law be disposed of responsibly at an accredited disposal facility, such as Salt Ayre, but this flytipper has not wanted to pay the charges.'
However this flytipper has made a mistake - stuck to the back of one of the fridges was a Father's Day card (see picture below) signed "lots of love Gill, Peter, Nicolas & Paul". The Council would very much like to talk to this family as clearly the people who took away their old fridge when they bought their new one in good faith will be able to assist the police greatly with their enquiries.

CIVILLY YOURS!

07/06/06: The advent of Civil Partnerships has led to furore on the one side, jubilation on the other, and, in private, to thousands of gay couples nationwide looking at each other askance and wondering whether to take the plunge. However one Lancaster couple has had no hesitation whatsoever in tying the knot - and to celebrate the legal formalising of their union Michael Nunn and John Burkinshaw actually commissioned the world premiere of an opretta to be specially performed after the ceremony in Lancaster's Ashton Memorial. Read more...

COUNCIL TO DEBATE PROMENADE CYCLING
06/06/06: The issue of whether or not cycling should be permitted on Morecambe prom will be discussed at the next full Lancaster City Council meeting on 14 June. Some urge that as a Cycling Demonstration Town, cycling on the prom should be supported, not banned as now by the currently unenforced bylaws. Others point out that it is Lancaster, not Morecambe, that is the Cycling Demonstration Town, and express concerns about toddlers, elderly people, and those with limited mobility sharing the popular seafront walkway with cyclists of mixed abilities and temperaments.
Dynamo, the Lancaster and District Cycle Campaign is organising a ride to the meeting leaving from Dalton Square, outside Lancaster Town Hall at 12.45pm and from the Stone Jetty, Morecambe at 1.15pm, going along the promenade to arrive at Morecambe Town Hall by 1.45pm.
Dynamo website

CLIMATE CHANGE CAMP COMES TO THE NORTH
06/06/06: A Camp for Climate Action is being planned for the 26 August to 4 September 2006 in the North of England. (The location is still to be confirmed.) Organisers have come to the conclusion that governments and businesses haven't so far been able to tackle the growing ugency of the problem and are hoping for grassroots solutions to climate change through action, education, networking and skill-sharing.
"It will be a place for all kinds of people, ideas and levels of experience. It will be a hub for everything from wind-power workshops and campaign updates to direct action against the worst offenders of the fossil fuel economy. Powered by alternative energy, it will be a living demonstration of practical solutions.
" Thousands of people will come together and say ENOUGH! We will not leave our future in the hands of our so-called leaders. It is up to us to build solutions to climate change, now and together, through our diversity, our resistance and our creativity. "
Read more at www.climatecamp.org.uk.
NB: Yesterday saw the North West Development Agency launch its consultation on the Northwest Climate Change Action Plan. This journalist is betting £50 that the 'consultation' (ask me, ask me!) results in a call for more nuclear power. Anything else would require all these funding limpets to actually start doing a bit of original work. S.

BUS SERVICES FACE AXE
06/06/06: Off-message as ever, Lancashire County Council plans to develop local public transport by considering cutting further Lancaster bus services - including the 25/25A which runs around Primrose and Bowerham. Local City Councillors believe this is a vital service for the area and in particularly for older people who find it a lifeline for getting around. "We are fighting against these proposals and will keep you updated on progress." they say in Labour's latest John O'Gaunt Newsletter.

DEVELOPMENT THREATENS LOCAL BUSINESS
06/06/06: An increase in Lancaster town centre’s retail space of 60% will destroy existing businesses, says Green Party councillor John Whitelegg. That is the size of the increase proposed in the Centros Miller canal corridor development plan – an extra 30,000 square metres of retail space. This compares to the 50,000 square metres of retail space that already exists in the city. Cllr Whitelegg said:
“There is just too much retail development proposed in this scheme. It is common sense that other businesses will suffer if such a large increase is made. My fear is that businesses on the other side of town in Church Street and Market Street will go to the wall and the market will also suffer.”
“I also feel that this development will be the final nail in the coffin of Morecambe as a shopping centre – because all business will be sucked into Lancaster. I have similar fears about Carnforth to the north.”
The information about the increase in retail space was provided by Centros Miller at their recent round of public presentations. Cllr Whitelegg added:
“I have other concerns about this scheme. In particular, the fact that access to the area will be controlled by the developers; that there are no small business units proposed; that there will be an increase in rat-running through Freehold; and that there will be a general increase in car traffic.”
The City Council's Cabinet will discuss the "Canal Corridor" development on 20 June. Read more.

DO YOU KNOW JOOMLA?
www.joomla.com
If you are a local web designer who can offer us your services on a voluntary basis, Virtual-Lancaster needs your help!
For some time now we have been developing a linux Content Managed System-based version of our site based on Joomla (previously known as Mambo), which will enable more people to contribute material and further develop the services we already offer.
This is a request for volunteers to help complete this vital work. Please contact ed@virtual-lancaster.net with "Joomla Designer" in the subject header.
It should be possible to break the outstanding work needed (it is about 60% finished) into bite-sized pieces, so volunteers can share out the workload. These include assembling templates (the graphics are all done) and setting up form pages linked to databases. And of course there are more elements we'd like to customise. It all needs to be worked within the Joomla framework.
With some 25,000 visitors a month, we'd like to think that such a project would look great in anyone's design portfolio.

SUBMITTING INFORMATION TO VIRTUAL-LANCASTER
Because of this unexpected halt to a new CMS and the temporary departure from the team of John Freeman, (after months of heroic single-handed editorship), due to other work commitments, material may take longer than usual to post.
Your news contributions and listings are very, very welcome. Please bear with us as other members of our volunteer team gets up to speed with the software used to maintain this current site. Thank you.
If you submit your events and news in the format we use it will be posted more quickly.
• Please click here to find out how to submit information to Virtual-Lancaster

Previous stories: 12 - 31 May 2006