We've won the Award

I am back blipping this image which I didn't take till about 10pm last night. My day had started in Stroud, but I wasn't tempted to go and watch the parade of the Olympic Torch through the town late in the afternoon, although apparently many thousands of others did.

The Town Council decided a while ago not to get involved in the the official hoopla, which I agreed with and voted for. I love sport, but I don't like the commercialisation which accompanies any mention of the event. This should be a celebration of the sports and be for the people of this country, not the usual suspects, the big businesses who shove their money in and disallow any activity that doesn't absolutely support the narrow sponsored vision. You will all know very soon who these culprits are. I worked on the production of the official promotional video for the Seoul Olympics in 1988, and I learnt a lesson then, which sadly seems to be absolutely true today.

The town was gridlocked for a long time after the procession had passed which delayed my departure by car to Birmingham. I had been asked to represent Stroud Town Council at the National Waterways Trust's Renaissance Awards 2012 ceremony. I was joining a group of nine others representing the various bodies who had been contributors to the Wallbridge Partnership. This partnership's achievement culminated in the recent opening of the new Brewery Bridge over the Thames and Severn Canal, as well as the re-building of Wallbridge Lock, and the opening of the Cotswold Canal Trust's Visitor Centre and the neighbouring cafe. I have blipped before about several of these individual events (see links below).

We have been through a process of adjudication by several experts who visited us on several occasions for their vetting process. I was wheeled out as the Town Council's representative, which I am very happy to do, as I love canals and this one in particular. The Wallbridge part of the £14 million regeneration of the canal is probably the key sector of its public face, and it has been hugely popular locally.

The project has been managed by Stroud District Council who provided financial guarantees when British Waterways had to pull out of the long standing proposal to re-open the canal. Lottery Funding then followed and we are all hoping for more funding to come to enable the eventual re-opening of the whole canal, linking the River Thames and thriver Severn.

Representatives of the designers, the contractors, Gloucestershire County Council Highways, the Cotswold Canal Trust and the District Council all assembled at a big conference centre in Birmingham for a meal and the presentation of the Awards. As usual I had my camera with me, but there were tricky conditions when stuck out in the audience with large projections onto screens, dimmed lights and the rather garish stage and house lighting.

When the various categories were announced, I tried to see if I could get a good picture of the stage presentations, but not very successfully. When it came to our category, Partnership, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that we were neither Commended, nor Runners Up, but were the Winners! Yay. The next surprise was the announcement that Keith Pearson, Mark Seward and yours truly should proceed to the stage to receive the Award, which wasn't actually what I'd wanted. So no picture of the presentation itself, which would usually be the obvious image to blip.

Instead here are Keith on the left and Clive Field, the manager of the Cotswold Visitor Centre, who is very involved, committed and a generally good egg. Keith gave the acceptance speech very well and rather poignantly. He has been involved as the leader of the project for the District Council since it was first envisaged, and this was the last day when he was officially the Deputy Leader of Stroud District Council. At the recent local elections the Conservatives lost their overall majority, and from Thursday (today) a Rainbow Coalition has been formed between Labour, Lib-Dems and Greens to run the Council. This alliance is something that I am in favour of, but I do believe Keith has always done a good job of representing the people and I know he will find life very different without the power that he has had for so many years. He says he is going to get involved with the Canal Trust, which will definitely be to their benefit.

The other key person involved in the partnership is Wendy T, the owner of the Lock Keeper's Cafe, who I featured when the judges came to vet us a couple of months ago. She told me that yesterday, because of the crowds at the Olympic Torch procession, the cafe took as much money in a day as they normally do in two weeks, and they were cleaned out of everything! I think they are going to do really well. This is a real example of how this partnership is benefitting the town, its residents, its businesses and the canal itself.


Wendy in her cafe

Clive

Official opening of Wallbridge Lock and Brewery Bridge