A victory parade in Kirkham demonstrated how local people have pulled together to ensure that an important leisure facility wasn’t lost because of Fylde Borough Council’s financial problems. The parade was well supported by local residents including Prof Bill Winlow, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Fylde. At the moment these are the only Public Swimming baths on the Fylde.

Let’s hope that Lytham St Anne’s residents and leisure facility providers will now get together to rescue St Anne’s Pool before it deteriorates beyond repair. Gazette story

The first edition of Fylde Matters has just been released. This is a new publication in which Fylde Borough Council tells residents about all the good news and explains the background to some of the bad. It promises not to ‘sugar coat’ things – only time will tell.

The paper is free and can be downloaded  from the council’s website; with only a small number of copies being made available in printed format. It contains news, helpful information for residents and visitors as well as auseful What’s On Guide.

Fylde Matters is an electronic newspaper and will be published quarterly. Email alerts will automatically be sent out to those who choose to subscribe. Click here to download the first edition.

Ashton Ward residents will be pleased to know that :

• work is finally due to get underway on Ashton Gardens
• work has started on improvements to pavements in Garden Street

I attended a presentation lunch on this week to hear about plans for a free course in the New Year aimed at Fylde residents with financial problems. The presentation was by the Community Hope Team in St Anne’s.  They are working with the charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP) to offer debt counselling and practical support in partnership with local churches.

It was encouraging to realise that in this difficult financial climate there are people with knowledge, determination and commitment who are prepared to give of their time freely to help others. Anyone struggling with money problems, whether large or small can get in touch with the group who can give them hope for a brighter New Year.

The first of these FREE courses begins on 20^th Jan. (7.15) at the YMCA in St. Anne’s and runs over for 3 evenings. To ensure a place contact  Pastor Steve Moss 712589  or George Oxley 722698

Fylde Borough Council, as part of its drive to improve and support the local economy is reminding business owners of a free promotional opportunity they can tap in to.The www.visitlythamstannes.co.uk website, run by the council’s tourism department, receives around 220,000 hits per month from people thinking of coming to the area. As part of the site there is a section for residents and visitors to check out what shops and restaurants are in the area. This is one of the most popular sections of the web site and many of the businesses already on the pages have experienced an increase in custom thanks to people finding them through the site.The site is top of the Google searches for Lytham and if people search for shops or restaurants in Lytham or St Annes they are directed to the tourism site.The council has recently received a letter from a visitor thanking them for the site as they were able to find contact details for a recently opened restaurant that they could not find anywhere else.With Christmas coming up and people looking for that something a bit different for their shopping or dining out it makes sense for businesses to promote themselves in as many ways as possible.It is easy to get placed on the web site. Simply email the Council’s Tourism Officer Viv Wood with details of the business and what you offer and an image you wish to be used at vivw@fylde.gov.uk.

The Mayfield school choir will be singing at the switch-on of the Christmas Lights in St. Annes Square tomorrow, 29th, at 2.30 pm.  Please go along and support the children!

I supported the ‘Party in The Garden’  organised by the Friends of St Anne’s Library and was delighted to learn that they have raised in excess of £500.   The ‘Party’  has also helped to raise awareness of the Reading Garden which I hope to be able to support in  more practical way as the project progresses.  I am really pleased that the views of the library’s youngest users are being sought. I am sure when completed we will have a Garden to be proud of.  

From all the available evidence it appears that the Concessionary Travel arrangements introduced by the Government are forcing  massive costs on Fylde Borough Council. The Government has refused to properly fund the scheme and the council is having to pick up the cost of the  fare for everyone who travels out of the borough no matter where their journey started.

Whilst the idea of Concessionary Travel is to be applauded  it has to be fully funded as it is in Wales. In England, councils are having to bear the cost and as a result are having to cut local services for their residents to pay for it.   We’ve lost one Swimming Pool already - lots hope we don’t lose another one. Or will it be Lowther Pavillion or Fairhaven Lake for the chop next time ? They were both on the ruling Conservative Group’s list of cuts and closures earlier this year.  Its time the Government woke  up and faced the reality of the situation.