New Mayor for Blyth

At last week's meeting of Blyth Town Council Councillor Adrian Cartie was elected Mayor of Blyth

Congratulations Adrian !

Reorganisation of Blyth Town Council Committees

Blyth Town Council have reorganised the committee structure. To quote from the BTC website :-

"Blyth Town Council are introducing new Governance arrangements which will take effect from May 10 2018. In addition to Full Council, there will be three main Committees, these will be the Community Development, Environment Committee and Governance. The responsibilities of these Committees are as follows:

 Community Development: Community Grants and Events

Environment Committee: Allotments, Environmental Services and Planning

Governance: Finance, Policy Working Group, Staffing and Complaints."

I don't know the reasoning behind this reorganisation, but a cynic would point out that fewer meetings means less work for councillors. This should be a good thing, but each meeting is going to be much busier with the mixture of work involved.

However, councillors do the job on a voluntary basis, and so reducing the workload for "backbench" councillors is a good thing. 

I do hope that this isn't another step down the road of introducing the cabinet system that a few of the active Labour councillors favour ...this is a Parish Council after all !! 

Congratulations, Councillor Lovatt

There were no elections in Northumberland yesterday ( well, unless there were by-elections that I'm unaware of )

However, former Blyth Town Councillor Peter Lovatt was elected to Newcastle City Council yesterday.

Congratulations to Councillor Lovatt !!

Bin collection arrangements for May ...

With two Bank Holidays in May bin collections are put back a day those weeks 

So if your usual bin collection day is Tuesday,  it will be collected on Wednesday  9th April which is " Green Bin week" , (non-recyclable general waste ) and Wednesday 30th May which is a "Blue Bin week" (, ie dry recyclables )

Other weeks are normal collection days 

Any questions on bin collections, contact Northumberland County Council

Beers in Malta

I have just returned from my holidays in Malta. We go every year, at about this time, as we feel "at home" there.

One thing that I did note about Malta is the beer industry is expanding rapidly and craft beers are becoming available.

For many years Maltese beer has been dominated by Simonds Farsons Cisk. They produce their own brands of "British Style" beers , as well as representing international brands either brewed under license or imported.

When there I usually stick to their brands, Hop Leaf ( a pale ale) Blue Label ( a darker beer, often misdescibed as an amber ale) and Cisk ( a British style lager) . However they have recently introduced an IPA - 5.7% and available in draught or bottle and Double Red - a 6.8% strong ale that I only saw in bottles. Both are absolutely lovely, tasty and refreshing

To be honest, I cannot see the point in going to Malta to drink John Smiths or even Brown Ale, but each to their own I suppose - I'll stick with local beers.

I didn't get the chance this year to have any of Gozo's Lord Chambray beers. This small craft brewery now produces about a dozen different beers, and only on our return did I find that they are available in a bar just off Bugibba square and a ( very swanky) restaurant about 50 yards from our hotel !!

However there are a couple of newcomers to the market. Phoenix Brewers ( the Raw Beer) produce 4 beers that I saw in a couple of places. I didn't have chance to try all four ( or wasn't allowed to be totally honest)

Rubin double ale is a strong golden ale, at 6.5% it's not a session beer , but Rust at 3.9% certainly could be. Both were tasty, fresh and although kept cold soon became room temperature and very palatable indeed.

And just before we returned home we learned of a brew-pub that has opened in Sliema - called The Brew it produces four craft beers in-house. We didn't get to visit this time, but it's top of the "things to do" list for next year !!

Happy Days !

Blyth Labour Councillor suspended by party

You may have seen in the national press that Councillor David Walls has been suspended by the Labour Party for allegedly racist messages on social media.

I will not comment on the messages themselves, or about whether Councillor Walls' messages were racist in nature.

However I will say that when you hold public office, whether as a minister of the Crown, or as an unpaid town / parish councillor, you have to be VERY careful about what you post.

There is also a world of difference between the spoken word and the written word. Intonation and humour do not translate to the written word, sarcasm and irony also do not translate.

I hope that the matter is sorted by the Labour party quickly. Not so quickly that proceedings and procedures are rushed, but quickly enough to resolve matters.

Councillor Walls still sits as a councillor - despite the messages I have received Blyth Town Council cannot "kick him out" ( please note the inverted commas, it's a phrase that other people have used in contacting me about this matter ) .

Blyth Town Council - May 2018 Meetings

There are only three meetings at Blyth Town County in May ( and technically one isn't a town council meeting anyway)


Thursday 10th May    Annual Meeting of the Council

Thursday 24th May     Town Meeting

Thursday 31st May     Environment Committee Meeting


All meetings are scheduled to be at Arms Evertyne House, and to start at 6:30 pm