"Blue Plaques" for Blyth

At my suggestion Blyth Town Council have agreed to fund commemorative plaques ( often called Blue Plaques, but they don't have to be blue) in Blyth.

There will be a consultation on where these plaques should be placed, either to commemorate a famous building or resident. The consultation will be formally announced soon, in the likes of the News Post Leader or NE24 magazine, but as people outside Blyth may not receive either publication, nominations may be made direct to BTC.

Letters should be addressed to Blyth Town Council, Arms Evertyne House, Quay Road , Blyth, NE24 2AS, or EMail   info@blythtowncouncil.org.uk

Obviously we cannot guarantee that every nomination will be accepted, but I would hope that every nomination will be considered.

Cllr Alisdair Gibbs-Barton

Blyth Town Council, October meetings

Blyth Town Council has the following meetings scheduled for October 2016:-

Tuesday 4th October       Allotments Committee

Tuesday 11th October     Environment Services Committee

Thursday 13th October    Community Grants Committee

Thursday 20th October    Planning & Development Committee

Tuesday 25th October      Events Committee

Thursday 27th October    Staff Committee ( This meeting is largely held in Part II , closed session)


All meetings are held at Arms Evertyne House, starting at 6:30 pm

As ever, please contact the town council beforehand to confirm if you intend to go to any of the meetings

Boundary Commission proposals for Northumberland

Well, bugger me!

The proposals are out, and although backed up by population figures, they really have made a dog's breakfast of the Northumberland proposals.

Most notable is to proposed abolition of the Wansbeck constituency.  Morpeth and Rothbury go to the extended Hexham constituency, Ashington and Newbiggin to Berwick constituency (!) and Bedlington to Blyth constituency.

So that means that the constituency that is to include Ashington is about 50 miles north to south and borders Scotland

Being parochial, the existing Blyth constituency remains, but with the addition of ( I think ) five divisions from Wansbeck ( Bedlington Central, East, West, Stakeford and Sleekburn )   The new constituency will have 76000 + constituents.

Further afield, Ponteland East and Stannington , firmly in Northumberland, become part of a Newcastle constituency.

These are my initial views, and as I said the constituencies have roughly equal populations, but I remain to be convinced.

Ironically I think that the reduction in the number of constituencies ( and therefore MPs ) is a good thing, but it appears that the exercise started with the number and divided up. They could ( should ?) have divided up, reviewed boundaries and then added up the number of necessary constituencies.

Now, is it time to review local government boundaries in the area. How about a Northumberland Coastal Authority .... most of SE Northumberland, Tynemouth and Whitley Bay?

Barclays Bank, Blyth

From October the Barclays branch in Blyth will have restricted opening as follows:-

Monday, Tuesday  9:30 to 4:30

Wednesday CLOSED all day

Thursday,  Friday 9:30 to 4:30

Posters in branch encourage use of Internet and 'Phone banking, but that's all well and good for some services.

But how do you pay in cash or cheques. I was in earlier today, and half a dozen businesses were paying into business accounts .  Also there were a couple of "elderly" customers, who with every respect are unlikely to have internet access

Is this reduction in hours an excuse for cutting staff?

Is this reduction in hours a precursor to closing the branch?

Royal Northumberland Yacht Club - Heritage Open Days 2016

I have mixed views on the sport, or pastime, of yachting, but I think that the work that the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club is doing to preserve their club house, formerly the Light Vessel LV50 is laudable !

The vessel will be open to the public on 8th, 9th and 10th September, details are on the attached flyer.

Tall Ships Regatta 2016

This weekend saw one of the largest events in Blyth's history

The Tall Ships Regatta was here over the weekend, with (about ) 30 ships, all sailing vessels from all over the world.

The crews were excellent, and we owe a huge thank you to them, the organisers and workers, the volunteers, bands who entertained the crowds, the exhibitors - from Blyth Spartans FC to RNLI and many more , but mostly the hundreds of thousands of people who came to support the event.

Thank you one and all !

I had a couple of grumbles passed to me, but in the scheme of things they weren't that serious. I rained heavily on Saturday night, so on Sunday the south park & ride car parking ( on grass) had to be closed. Tickets for the south park and ride were valid for the north ( hard standing) and so there shouldn't have been major inconvenience to most people

Secondly, public drunkenness. I don't know if arrests were made, but the reports of rowdy youths drinking all day were not unusual for an event this size. The bar "on site" were refusing to serve people who had too many, but one or two less responsible public houses didn't have the same worries.

Despite these grumbles ( from people who would moan about anything and everything) the event went extremely well and knowing a little of what went on in the background it was very well organised. It'll never be repeated, but will remain a memory for many people.

Bank Holiday Bin Collections in Blyth

Monday 29th August is a Bank Holiday, and so bin collections will be delayed by a day that week.

If, for example,  your normal collection day is a Tuesday, that week it will be Wednesday ( 31st August )

That week is a general non-recycled week, ie green bins.,