Last weekend I read an article in my paper about Sierra Leone which is attempting to recover from 11 years of the most horrible civil war which many of us know featured multiple amputations and recruitment of child soldiers.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5154022.ece

Labour MP  Claire Curtis-Thomas visited and asked the people what they needed most.  Expecting to hear that they wanted hospitals, schools, water pumps and so on, Claire is an Engineer, she was surprised to be told time and time again, BOOKS.

A whole generation of children have missed out on schooling and everyone in the country knows that the only sure way out of poverty is through education.   They know that a child born to a mother who can read has a far higher chance of survival that that born into an illiterate family.  They have a grave shortage of books (one for every 100 children in the country) and are desperate for books.

Claire Curtis-Thomas is conducting an Appeal for children’s books for Sierra Leone callled The Big Read for Sierra Leone, and I think it would be wonderful if we could ask every schoolchild in Dorset if they could donate one or two books they have outgrown to this Appeal for Christmas.  I feel sure that most of our children will be fortunate enough to receive at least one new book for Christmas and giving one they have outgrown would make such a difference to these less fortunate children.

To this end I am trying to galvanise schools and Libraries throughout Dorset.  The Waterloo Schools Project will pick up the books from us if we can accumulate them in one or two main centres and I am sure our schools and the Dorset Library Service should be able to help us there.   I hope you can help me by publicising this Appeal.

If you want more information a link to the Big Read website is on the left hand side of this page.

Public at last !

The Tories have finally admitted publicly what we all knew.  The project is way over budget, an overspend of nearly 5 times that which we had originally.  The £3m extra the County Council were going to add to the £29m provided by the Government has become £19m extra. How can this be ?  It has also been confirmed that this extra money will affect the school Capital programme through the rest of the County.  £19m that could have been spent repairing and extending existing schools all gets poured into one school in one area.

The total now looks like £50.6m and will it stop there ?  I have never known a project of this size not go further over budget as it progresses.  How can this have been so badly mismanaged before it even begun ?

I believe that work has restarted, thank goodness, but the students are unlikely to be able to move in for Sept 2010 as originally planned.

I wrote about Queen Elizabeth School, Wimborne in July, and then in August and promised to keep you up to date.  In July we were expecting news any minute, costs were rising from £30m, to £40m and as a joke I said I hoped we would get some change from £50m.  Will we ?

In August the Chief Executive was still awaiting news, not demanding news but waiting for it to come to him.  Is he still waiting ?   All briefings are still behind closed doors which does not reassure the public, the students who come to school past the building site every day, and the parents anxiously awaiting developments.  Remember they were hoping for a ‘brand new state of the art school’  ready for September 2010.

Rumour has it  that ground works have restarted, excellent !  Does this mean contracts are signed?  Keep an eye out.

Corfe Mullen Nature watch are continuing to be active and arrange events in Corfe Mullen to celebrate  our Wildlife.

Friday October 10th from 6.30pm until 9pm they are listening to bats.

The next morning Saturday October 11th from 9am to 11am they will be opening up the moth traps they had laid overnight.   I can assure you, from personal experience, that this is a facinating experience.  During the night hundreds of moths will have drifted into these traps, and small mammals too, mice and voles.  They will be quite unharmed and will be released slowly after identification and counting.

Do come to the Corfe Mullen nature Reserve, properly clad with warm clothes and wellies, to have a look.  Children must be with an adult please.

More details from the Corfe Mullen Nature Watch website in the left hand panel.

This morning I was at Lockyers Middle School at 8.30am. 

One of the Parents, Lisa, and her daughter Saffron, have collected over 700 signatures in a petition begging for a Puffin Crossing on the Blandford Road outside the school.  We presented the petition to Tim Westwood of the Traffic division at Dorset County Council.

In the picture, taken by Danika Westwood are myself, Lisa, the Head, Saffron, Annette Brooke MP, Deputy Head and Tim Westwood.

The Blandford Road outside the school is busy .  Impressive numbers of children walk or cycle to school which is to be encouraged.  They are helped across the road by a Lollipop Crossing Patrol at school time.

Over the last few years there have been many changes of Patrol person due to illness and retirement, recruiting a replacement each time is never easy.

Residents would like an automatic crossing  as many people cross the road at other times of day, to go the the Nursery School, playgroup on the Rec, and the Post Office.  Middle School age is an age when children are learning independence and many would prefer to be able to cross the road without being ’shown’ across the road.

Traffic surveys have been done and all the criteria suggests that an automatic crossing is appropriate, we simply need to make sure that the crossing is in the County budget for next year.

Thank you so much to Lisa and Saffron for all their hard work !

Next action.  Protest in Westminster, 2 coaches are taking residents up to Westminster on Thursday October 9th.  Please contact the Parish Office (698600) if you would like to reserve a seat, lots of demand so be quick !

£10 includes coach fare,  meeting in the Palace of Westminster short tour of the House of Commons.  Leaves at 8.30am.

I have just returned from a very successful Protest Meeting in the Village Hall.

Over 250 people attended, every seat was filled and another 50 people stood all around the Hall.  It was a well organised and lively meeting, ably Chaired by our Parish Council Chairman Peter Haward.

Our MP Annette Brooke opened the proceedings, pointing out that she had started to object to the idea of an additional 700 houses in Corfe Mullen three years ago, knowing that it was not a good idea, not thought through and would not be popular once we all knew more about it.  She has asked Questions in the House of Commons over a period of two years and is now running an online petition which she will present on the floor of the House in October.

Other speakers were Brian Lane from Keep Corfe Mullen Green, Terry Stewart from CPRE (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England), Spencer Flower the Leader of East Dorset District Council and Nick King, a Bournemouth Councillor who is also involved with protesting about Green Belt development in the Bournemouth area.

Lots of questions were asked.  Everyone wanted to know what they could do, now, and later, if the threat is not raised.

Now, the answer is please write to the Regional Government.  Instructions were placed on every chair, I cannot duplicate one here as I had to give my copy away !  We ran out !  Further copies are available from the Parish Council Office or the Library in Corfe Mullen. Write to arrive before October 24th 2008.

Tomorrow morning, some people will demonstrate outside County Hall in Dorchester at 9.15am before the Cabinet meet to discuss their Response to Hazel Blears adjustments to the Regional Spatial Strategy.

Thursday October 9th a coach leaves at 8.30am to travel to London to arrive at 12.30 to demonstrate outside the Palace of Westminster to the MP’s as they return to Parliament.  Annette Brooke MP has arranged that they have a room inside the House of Commons and meet with appropriate people.

After that, rather wait and see.  If the RSS is accepted our options are limited, the next stage is to demand a Judicial Review of the whole process which has been decidedly undemocratic.

A fighting Fund was opened on the spur of the moment and about £200 was collected in a bucket.

Tuesday September 30th the Parish Council are hosting a meeting in the Village Hall.

Come along to ask questions and find out what you can do

Tuesday September 30th at 7.30pm the Parish Council are hosting a Meeting in the Village Hall to protest about the plan to destroy the Green Belt in Corfe Mullen.

Please come along, give your views, ask your questions and learn what to do from Annette Brooke MP and the committee.

So far Dorset, Poole and Bournemouth Councils have failed to fully object to the building of 700 homes on the Green Belt in Corfe Mullen.  No other area has such a threat to their Green belt standing.

The Councils have objected to the additional 1000 homes planned and also objected to the 2,750 homes planned between Lytchett Minster and Lytchett Matravers in the ‘Western Extension’.  But the 700 homes in Corfe Mullen still stand.

A very successful Rally today in Bournemouth, the opening Speaker was Annette Brooke MP.

The Corfe Mullen gang were there in force.

Lots of people and lots of banners.

Simon Hughes came out of conference to join us but the Tories denied him the chance to speak.  Their loss.