Well from what I hear the Victoria Institute will be demolished and a residential building going up in it's place. Based on what the refurbishment costs were, produced by the trustees, which to me seemed a load of rubbish for the size of the building, this would be the best way forward. I do hope we don't get some whingers wanting it to look like VI Mark II because that would be a complete disaster. Well they could always pinch a brick as a souvenir to four years of total stupidity and money down the drain.
Anyway good luck to the purchaser in the project. With a fair wind we should get a good looking corner at last instead of an absolute eyesore. I suspect we shall all watch progress with interest.
August should see even more demolition with our railway bridges being replaced at a cost of umpteen millions. I wonder if Stobarts will fit them into place? Especially given that the drivers know them well, too well, since they keep coming back and having to turn round when they can't get under, communication skills obviously not in their job description or they just don't talk to each other.
Nothing yet on that parish council meeting. I suppose I shall have to wait like everyone else until we get the parish mag to see if there was any blood on the carpet.
Excellent news, if true. It's got me thinking about my first experience of Misterton, when I arrived for my interview for the Clerk to the Council job in 1999. It was a filthy, January night and, to me, the looming, Victorian Village Hall gave High Street a wild-west feeling.
ReplyDeleteWhen I entered the Village Hall, my heart sank. It was a terrible, moulding place. Norman White was on the interview panel, and he definitely didn't want 'a stranger ridin' into town'. I got the job, but he gave me a tough time for the next 11 years. Others also became a thorn in my side, including Irene Charman, Agnes Potter, Raymond Simpson, Alan Stead, Yvonne White and Annette Wilkinson. One of the main battlegrounds concerned the future of the Village Hall and Victoria Institute. The former administration wanted to see rationalisation, but the people mentioned above wished to preserve the two buildings at all costs. How the County Council came to assist them by throwing away £10k on a ridiculous Victoria Institute feasibility study, I'll never know. Everyone knew it could only legally be used as a village hall unless sold. Money down the drain.
After accepting the job, I first encountered the Victoria Institute. At that time it wasn't the wreck it is now, but it was a place I didn't like to visit. Internally it was in poor condition and stank of gas. A very depressing place.
Anyway, how the village centre has changed. The Village Hall has gone, replaced by a pleasant garden. The former Co-op has become The Misterton Centre, which is an asset unique to Misterton. There's a modern Co-op and now thankfully, the dreadful Victoria Institute is to go.
David Wright