DEEP AND CRISP AND EVEN

It's a long time since we've seen snow like this in Brigg. And no end in sight.
We took some good pix tonight and will post them in the morning, once we've thawed out. Full marks to the dustbin crew from North Lincolnshire Council for emptying the bins today and to all those Brigg shops which kept open and kept serving, even if customers were few and far between.

SPATE OF FLOODS?

My Personal Prediction
By Ken Harrison

The forecast predicts that this severe period of cold weather is likely to last for the next 9/10 days. During the last week, North Lincs has experienced a succession of snow storms and the consequent build up blanketing snow layers. Daytime temperatures have rarely been above 2 degrees C - insufficient to stimulate any significant thawing.
Further snow, possibly in the form of blizzards will worsen the situation.
The deep and enduring snow covering is now likely to freeze the ground surface; its impervious nature exacerbating rapid run-off when the temperatures increase.
By the end of next week, warmer prevailing weather is likely.
Unless precautions have been already taken, the volume of rapid run-off could cause severe flooding. It will take further time before the frozen ground will be able to absorb surplus water. In the meantime, accumulations of deep standing water could severely affect road conditions, while Brigg will need to keep watch on the River Ancholme.

SNOW WATCH KICKS IN

Yesterday and overnight we reached the required couple of inches of snow for the Brigg Blog Emergency Plan to kick into action with photos of wintry scenes. These views were taken between 8am and 8.30am today while trudging (in regulation wellies) to and from Dave Dent's Nisa shop, in Queen Street, for a selection of daily newspapers.
The hardy souls who man Brigg's Ocean Hand Car Wash are used to much worse weather than this and we observed the "Open" sign in place as they brushed off a bit of snow and ice from their premises close to the Monument - once the site of W. A. Sass's petrol pumps.
Plenty of lights on, and staff to be seen, at North Lincolnshire Council's Hewson House, too. You have to feel sympathy for public servants like our refuse collectors in weather like this. I've already put our green bin out and the boxes of paper, cans and bottles. Hopefully, conditions will permit them to get round and collect tomorrow - at some point. Let's all be patient, given the weather.
Years ago at the Scunthorpe Telegraph, during snowy periods, sub-editors like myself, preparing the news pages, used to get instructions from above (no - not God!) to slot in what they call in the trade a filler panel, which just read: Feed the birds.
Clearly conditions aren't too bad for our feathered friends at present. There's a fine selection of succulent berries (of the 'itching powder' variety) on a bush in our back garden, but birds of all types keep ignoring them. Given the temperature, they must now be approaching a sorbet dessert for birds. However, no takers so far. A haw finch (I think) with a beak well adapted for berries perched just a couple of inches from a group of them, only to fly off - totally uninterested.

TIME WE HAD A BRIGG MUSEUM

Doesn't Brigg deserve its own little museum to help entertain and inform tourists and day visitors?
A recent visit to Oban, Scotland (population about 8,000) showed what can be done by a small town. It's got a wonderful museum, staffed by volunteers. No entry charge - visitors make a donation, if they wish.
It offers many interesting photos, newspaper cuttings, old military uniforms, items of memorabilia, etc, showing the history of Oban and district. Plus a TV playing a short DVD about the town, featuring famous folk of the past, characters, local industries (eg whisky, fishing) and places of interest.
Brigg has a very fine Tourist Information Centre provided in the era of Glanford Borough Council, of which we have every reason to feel proud (pictured right).

But surely we ought to have a museum where tourists can go to learn more about our town, if we really want people from afar to come here, stay and spend their money in our own business premises and so boost the local economy.
There are empty town centre shops that could be rented to house Brigg Museum. How about somewhere in the Angel? The Courtyard, perhaps. Or elsewhere in this perfectly situated old building.
Personally, I've never encountered anyone in Brigg who could be described as a tourist (ie coming here from elsewhere and staying in the locality). Have you? But I've been to many places in the UK as a tourist. To add salt into the wounds, the coaches pick up in Brigg to take us off to somewhere else! Isn't it time, as a town, we started to redress the balance?
Brigg has some wonderful old buildings, musical links to Percy Grainger and Delius, the Exchange where Winston Churchill stayed in the run-up to D-Day (pictured below), fine speciality shops, the weekly general markets (dating back to the 13th century), an award-winning monthly farmers' market, a super selection of pubs, Brigg Garden Centre (where coach-loads of trippers from afar spend the day without stopping off in town), ghost walks (by BASH), Ancholme Leisure Centre (just over the border in Scawby Brook), the under-exploited River Ancholme (boat trips round the Island?) and one of the oldest football clubs in the world. Actress Joan (now Lady) Plowright, widow of the great Sir Laurence Olivier, grew up in Brigg - and the family's house is still there in Central Square. Sir Larry gave a famous, highly-acclaimed portrayal of Henry V ("Once more unto the breach...), but let's not forget how, in 1541, King Henry VIII and his Queen paid a visit to Kettleby Manor - just a mile or two away in what's now West Lindsey. Similarly, just out of town there's Wrawby post mill - surely worthy of a visit by coach-tour parties to Brigg.
Add a museum to all the above highlights - featuring pictures like the one above taken the best part of a century ago - and you start to get a place where people would come by car, or on an organised coach trip, and happily spend a few days. Just as we recently did in Oban and district. Coach firms are always looking for somewhere "new" - if we can use that term about Brigg - by way of a destination to put in their brochures and upload on their websites.
Don't expect North Lincolnshire Council to take the lead, the way politics and local interests operate. If our unitary authority did something special like this for Brigg, there could be an outcry about Barton, Kirton, Scunthorpe, Crowle (and other places) deserving exactly the same treatment. (Remember how Winterton got the astroturf hockey pitch in the 1990s because it was that town's turn to get something and Brigg had just had a by-pass?)
But that's not to say North Lincolnshire Council couldn't be persuaded to offer support and maybe chip in, if Brigg, as a town, could get things under way.
The Brigg Community-Led Plan, now in the early stages of being put together by a special committee, might take this topic onboard. Brigg Blog comment poster in chief, Ken Harrison, is a member of that body and we'd very much like to hear his opinion about our idea. If he, or any other members of the Community-Led Plan, think boosting tourism with, or without, a Brigg Museum has any merit, they can raise it with the rest of the team at the next meeting. Fingers crossed!

TALK OF THE TOWN

We've heard plenty of Brigg folk talking in glowing terms about John Holland's new book on Brigg County Primary School. Some of them in their 20s, too - not just those who are middle-aged or older.
My late lamented Telegraph editor, Peter Moore, would send a nice letter of congratulation if you did a special publication or supplement 'off your own bat' which impressed him and put a few thousand on that week's circulation figures.
"It deserves to sell well," Peter would say.
The same applies to John Holland's book.

'WOOD' YOU ADAM AND EVE IT?

We spied John The Joiner's van yesterday parked near Lidl's Brigg store.
Double-click on the image for a closer look at the lettering.
Clearly, he's a fan of hit TV comedy Only Fools and Horses, although this is no yellow three-wheeler as used by Del Boy and Rodney. Trotters' Independent Traders, of course, claimed to have branches in New York, Paris and Peckham, rather than Wrawby. Bob The Builder, the children's TV favourite, also gets a mention on the back of the van. How long it's been around the Brigg area we can't say.
"All right, John, got a new motor?" might be a fair question. How many people remember the Alexi Sayle song?

TAKE EXTRA CARE

The severe overnight frost (by Brigg standards) has made some of the lesser roads in town particularly difficult, and many of our paths. Watch how you go!
Still, no further snow...so far.
One sign of a severe winter is supposed to be the arrival in the UK of highly-coloured waxwing birds from eastern Russia and Scandinavia, where our weather's originating at present. Some years ago a flock was sighted in trees on Albert Street, Brigg, outside Tennyson Close. Many bird-watchers turned out to view them one morning. The first waxwing I ever saw was pointed out to me in the front garden of Glanford School, on Redcombe Lane, Brigg, circa 1970. Just the one on that occasion, as far as I can remember.
Anyone seen waxwings in Brigg this winter?

BEAUTY SALON GETS GO-AHEAD

Planning permission to change the use of a nursery to a health and beauty salon with associated alterations and off-street car parking at Rainbow Kindergarten, Wesley Road, Brigg, has been granted by North Lincolnshire Council.

GOING TO COMMITTEE?

Most planning applications in the district are now delegated to officers to make a decision. However, it now seems likely that the current application relating to Nicol Lodge, 3 Nicolgate Lane, off Wrawby Road, will be decided by North Lincolnshire Council's planning committee, comprising elected councillors.
Permission is being sought to erect an extension to the front and rear of the property, convert the loft with an increased ridge height and dormer, and erect a new double domestic garage.
Concerns have been expressed by some neighbours and town councillors.

EXTENSION PLANNED

Planning permission to erect a rear extension at 16 Woodbine Avenue, Brigg, is being sought by North Lincolnshire Homes. It's now been lodged with North Lincolnshire Council, the planning authority, which will decide whether or not to approval the scheme.

COUNCIL CONSIDERS TESCO AND LIDL PLANS

Brigg Town Council's planning and environment committee and property committee meetings scheduled for Wednesday, December 8 have both been cancelled in favour of a full council meeting (open to all councillors) to consider the Tesco and Lidl planning applications to build new stores in the town.
This meeting will be in the Angel Suite, off Market Place, and is open to the public (7pm start).
Brigg town councillors do not have the power to decide such applications, but they can make their views known to the planning authority, North Lincolnshire Council, which will rule on the applications submitted by both retail giants. Town councillors can also put questions and highlight issues.
The meeting on December 8 will be the first at which councillors have discussed these plans in public. So if are interested in the applications and want to know what your representatives think, here's a golden opportunity. Some people in the town have voiced support for Tesco, especially as the firm is pledging many new jobs; others have signed a petition against the plans, believing a big Extra store could threaten some of Brigg's small shops; others have yet to make their minds up. We haven't heard many grumbles about Lidl's plans to build a new store at the top of Atherton Way, other than the access route for pedestrians across the A18 and the fact it's a bit further from the town centre.
Of course, there won't be a referendum in Brigg - North Lincolnshire planning committee councillors will make their own minds up, having received the usual recommendations on how to proceed from their specialist advisers. As always, they can go along with planning officers' views or take a different course.
As Brigg Blog has said before, we wonder how having a Tesco Extra store with thousands of cars a day entering and leaving along Cary Lane (via the lights), will affect traffic flow along the A18 Barnard Avenue. North Lincolnshire Council also happens to be the highway authority, as well as overseeing planning.
Make a date NOW in your diary/organiser - Brigg Meeting, December 8, 7pm, Angel Suite. This is a very important issue for our town and deserves a good turn-out.

TODAY, STILL NO TESCO AND LIDL APPLICATIONS ON THE NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE COUNCIL PLANNING PORTAL, SO WE CAN STUDY WHAT'S PROPOSED IN DETAIL.

RECORD MONTH FOR BRIGG BLOG

This is already a record month for Brigg Blog, with 5,810 page views so far in November (and three-and-a-half days still to go). Hopefully we will reach the 6,000 milestone by next Tuesday evening. Our previous monthly best was 5,331.

TOP 10 COUNTRIES FOR NOVEMBER VIEWS (SO FAR)
United Kingdom 5,150
United States 299
Netherlands 239
Russia 126
Saudi Arabia 68
Ukraine 56
Australia 34
France 34
Spain 33
Puerto Rico 27

Source of stats: Google (noon, Saturday, November 27)

We'd like to extend a big thanks to your visitors - local and from countries afar.

ANYONE FOR CRICKET?

We didn't make it to Brigg Town Cricket Club's presentation evening last night at The Hawthorns, but are hopeful a list of winners will be coming our way by email, in due course.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS FRIGHTFUL

Cheer yourself up on this very cold day by humming Sammy Cahn's "so delightful" song of the 1940s, Let It Snow. The covering hasn't yet reached the stage where Brigg Blog deems it necessary to grab the camera, tell Mrs F "I am just going out and I may be some time" then record the wintry scenes on Brigg Streets. Such pix in the past have proved popular with Blog visitors now living in countries with hot climates.
Hands up all those in Brigg who'd swap places with them today!

DRAFT BLUEPRINT FOR BRIGG HOUSING

North Lincolnshire Council's long-running process of outlining sites in Brigg for future housing development continues, with further "new" maps now drawn up.
These suggest earmarking land behind Westrum Lane, Northern Avenue and Sunningdale Avenue - as far as the M180 and Grammar School Road - and also land on Wrawby Road, adjacent to the Recreation Ground, opposite the current entrance to Churchill Avenue and going back from the A18 as far as Horstead Avenue. (Our picture shows part of this area).
Both these sites are currently open fields but are included in the latest Local Development Framework (LDF) consultation.
The site behind Western Avenue, as far as the M180, could provided land for more than 200 new homes of various types; the land alongside the A18, off Wrawby Road, could provide 300 to 400, depending of how much agricultural land might be earmarked for building.
The contents of the November Housing and Employment Land Allocations Development Plan Document Submissions Draft will no result in much discussion and public debate when consultations are invited by North Lincolnshire Council, in line with the process carried out initially in 2009.
This will be the final opportunity for members of the public, town and parish councils, elected members and other key stakeholders to have their say on the future planning strategy for the area.
A quick search today of the North Lincolnshire Council website provided the following helpful information from the full council meeting held last month (October), outlining what this all means and how things are progressing. We've highlighted some of the most important parts:

NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK - HOUSING AND EMPLOYMENT LAND ALLOCATIONS DEVELOPMENT PLAN DOCUMENT - PUBLICATION AND SUBMISSION
The Head of Strategic Regeneration, Housing and Development submitted a report informing members about the Housing and Employment Land Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) - Publication Stage and subsequent submissions to the Secretary of State.
The Housing and Employment Land Allocations DPD is one of the key documents which make up the Local Development Framework (LDF) and when finally adopted would address where new housing and employment development would take place over the next 15 years.
It also included settlement development limits and town and district centre boundaries. The Housing and Employment Land Allocations DPD must comply with the LDF core strategy's approach to settlement growth in identifying specific sites where new homes and employment sites should be built. The core strategy DPD was formally submitted to the government on 31 August 2010 with the independent examination expected to commence during January 2011.
Within the core strategy: submission draft it is established that North Lincolnshire will need to provide 12,063 new dwellings up to 2026 with the majority of them focused on the Scunthorpe Urban area, and the market towns of Barton upon Humber, Brigg, Crowle, Kirton in Lindsey and Winterton. Many of these dwellings would be made up from existing planning permissions or sites under construction, whilst around 8,581 would be new dwellings.
Future employment development within the core strategy: submission draft would be located in four key areas - Scunthorpe, the South Humber Bank, Humberside Airport, Sandtoft and the market towns, particularly Barton upon Humber and Brigg.
The Housing and Employment Land Allocations DPD: submission draft therefore allocates sufficient housing and employment land to meet the specific settlement and locational requirements of the core strategy: submission draft as outlined above.
The publication stage represents the final opportunity for members of the public, town and parish councils, elected members and other key stakeholders to have their say on the future planning strategy for the area and it should be noted that this stage differs from previous consultation exercises.
At this stage, those making representations on the DPD need to do so in relation to its "soundness". Soundness is defined as being why the DPD is justified, effective and consistent with national policy. There is a period for representations of a DPD's soundness to be made which will begin in early November 2010. Following the end of the representation period, the DPD together with any supporting information and the representations received during this time period will be submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination.
This examination normally takes place around five or six months after the submission date and will allow an independent planning inspector to discuss key issues arising from the DPD with key parties including the council.
Following the examination, the inspector will prepare a report, the recommendations of which are binding on the council. These must be taken on board before the DPD is adopted.

Going back a little further in the process, and previously reported on Brigg Blog at the time, here's a boiled down version, in the public domain on North Lincolnshire Council's website, following the initial public consultation.
It's a fair bet that in the next few weeks/months similar feedback will be given to the planning authority, as folk are hardly likely to have had a major change of heart. But we shall see...

DOCUMENT CONSULTATION SUMMARIES - BRIGG - HOUSING SITES PRE-SUBMISSION CONSULTATION - SECOND STAGE 18
In Brigg, a total of eight sites were included in the Pre-Submission Consultation - Second Stage document as potential options for future housing development. These were as follows:
Site 10-1: Western Avenue covering 7.11ha on the northern edge of Brigg between the Springbank Estate to the south and the M180 to the north with the Grammar School Road to the west. The estimated capacity of this site is 284 dwellings (based on a density of 40 dwellings per hectare). This site is greenfield and is currently in agricultural use. It is also located within the development limit for Brigg and is allocated for residential use in the adopted North Lincolnshire Local Plan (May 2003) (site ref. H2-29).
Site 10-2: Wrawby Road covering 4.29ha on the eastern edge of Brigg between Wrawby Road to the south and Brigg Recreation Ground to the west, with the Springbank Estate to the north and open countryside to the east. The estimated capacity of this site is 172 dwellings (based on a density of 40 dwellings per hectare). This site is greenfield and is currently in agricultural use. It is located outside the development limit for Brigg as defined in the adopted North Lincolnshire Local Plan (May 2003).

NF adds: There's a difference between the number of houses being suggested for the sites now (November) and the totals suggested initially.

BRIGG BLOG WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON THIS ISSUE AS INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

BANKING ON GOOD SERVICE

It always impresses me when I visit Lloyds TSB, in Wrawby Street, and observe the manager, and other backroom staff, taking their turn serving at the counter, to ensure customers don't have to wait very long, as was the case again this morning when I popped by to pay in a cheque.
This branch is part of a big national company, but that doesn't stop them extending the sort of service we have come to expect from Brigg's small, independent traders.

COLD SHOULDER?

Just been through the town centre on this chilly morning and noticed tables and chairs set up OUTSIDE our friend Wogger's Sandwich Heaven, in the Market Place. Presumably for the benefit of customers wanting a fag with their food or drink.
Strangely, we didn't observe anyone taking up the offer!

BRIGG PRIMARY IN PICTURES

A new book about one of Brigg’s best-known seats of learning is bound to sell very well in the run up to Christmas – and it thoroughly deserves to do so.
Brigg County Primary School 1963-1996, Through the Lens of John Holland is a collection of photographs taken by the author during his lengthy career as a teacher at what many of us always called Glebe Road School (now demolished and replaced by the new facility on Atherton Way).
John went to Brigg County Primary himself, moved on to Brigg Grammar, left to do his college training and returned as a teacher at Glebe Road in 1963.
His keen interest in taking pictures down the years has made possible this delightful book, which reads like a Who’s Who of Brigg people and families. Turn page after page and you see the young faces of today’s adults.
There are pictures of pupils in class, on school trips, taking part in sports and enjoying the swimming pool.
Staff also feature, including Reg Stocks, Brian Wass and Steve Pearce - “the school’s only three head teachers in fifty years,” John reminds us.
Now retired, John taught many Brigg people in the 1960s and 1970s and their offspring a couple of decades later (Fisher family included!).
The book costs £5.99 and is available from Brigg Tourist Information Centre, The Buttercross, Market Place, or from Brigg Deli, in Wrawby Street. If you are a former Brigg County pupil now living away, call John on 01652 653985 or email johneholland@btinternet.com to arrange copies by post.

John Holland seen on the book's back cover.

REAL BARGAINS

When Brigg's Newlands housing estate was built in 1935, you could secure a council house for six shilling a week, including rates. Landlord: Brigg Urban District Council.

WHO'S WHO OF BRIGG GENTRY

Bill Brocklesby, a well-known Brigg man with a keen interest in local history, has produced an interesting booklet The Tyrwhitt Family of Kettleby - Lords of the Manor of Brigg, 1305-1674. He has kindly sent Brigg Blog a copy and it's full of interesting facts, figures and information about this family, which dominated life in our part of Lincolnshire for three centuries. There's a family tree, too, which makes it easy to follow who's who. The Tyrwhitt family history in England dates right back to 1066, when France's William I came, saw and conquered.
If you want a copy of this publication, you can get one at Brigg Tourist Information Centre, The Buttercross, Market Place, for £1.50. Those ex-Brigg folk now living elsewhere in the UK can obtain theirs by post from Bill for £2, inclusive of postage and packing. He's at Willesby House, Pingley Lane, Brigg, DN20 9HA, tel 01652 652000. Brigg Blog followers living abroad can email Bill to discuss overseas postage - eb-brocklesby@tiscali.co.uk
The booklet would make a good "Christmas stocking filler" - for those seeking inspiration. Which will be most of the male population of Brigg, if I'm anything to go by!
Bill has two further local history booklets on the way after this one. Again, we hope to post details on Brigg Blog.

SNOW JOKE

There was a decent snow shower last night as I set off to drive across Brigg. Not very interesting, you may think, but many folk who follow the weather like to note November snow, in this case falling on the 24th. I remember there being heavy snow on Friday and Saturday, November 19 and 20, 1971. We had a school football match at Brigg Grammar on the Friday afternoon and then, the next morning, set off to York to watch Grimsby Town play in an FA Cup first round tie, which they lost. We were open to the elements at Bootham Crescent (not in a covered stand) and it was cold and bleak. Worse than that, the Mariners lost. However, they followed a great football tradition and concentrated on the league, going on to lift the Division Four title.
Expect more snow showers today.

FESTIVE 'SCAM' WARNING

Humberside Police have issued the following warning, which has been passed on to us by Brigg Town Council, as a matter of public information. We present it to you just as the police have written it:

The Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following scam:
A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a Premium rate number).
DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize.
If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £315 for the phone call.
If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 020 7239 6655.

IN NEED OF PUBLICITY

I still keep meeting people who know Brigg quite well but are blissfully unaware we have a railway station and a passenger service on Saturdays. This makes it even more difficult to get more trains introduced. Surely it's time someone, somewhere put pressure on railway bosses to do more, or even something, to publicise the facility. It's clearly no good just leaving it to the rail firms.
Use it or lose it?

COMMENTING ON EXTENSION

No objections have been raised on highway grounds to the proposed extension to a property at the end of Nicolgate Lane, off Wrawby Road, Brigg, on which several posts have already appeared on Brigg Blog and which Brigg Town Council has discussed at length. North Lincolnshire Council planners will make a final decision on whether to give the go-ahead.

KEEP YOUR EYE ON ROADWORKS

Repair work has started, meaning the temporary closure of the Brigg to Cadney road, diversions being via Bigby High Road and Howsham. You may recall that Brigg Blog raised a resident's concerns about this road, close to the River Ancholme, following which action has been taken. Not that we are claiming any credit - probably pure coincidence. These things are often planned far in advance.
All's well that ends well?

VACANCY CONSIDERED

At tonight's monthly meeting of Brigg Town Council, councillors will consider any applications received from interested members of the public for co-option to fill the vacant seat created by the resignation of Coun Mike Galvin.
This meeting is open to the public and starts at 7.45pm, in the Angel Suite, off the Market Place.

TENNYSON NAME CHANGE PROPOSED

The developers of the new retirement homes, now being built off Albert Street, near its junction with Bigby Road, are suggesting a change of name to Tennyson Gardens, from Tennyson Close.
Brigg councillors have yet to make their views known on the proposal.

NF adds: To me, Tennyson Gardens sounds a little more poetic than the current name. Presumably the decision to use "Tennyson" when the original development was undertaken in the late 1970s was in tribute to that Lincolnshire literary giant of the Victorian era, Lord Tennyson, who penned The Charge of the Light Brigade. Some people think he was born at Somerby - not far from Brigg. But actually it was Somersby (with an S), somewhat further south.

Here's a reminder of the old Tennyson Close - prior to demolition. Recently we brought you a progress picture showing the new development taking shape.

NEW FRIENDS REUNITED

Pictures from Brigg Blog's latest "safari" to Bonny Scotland, posted for the benefit of new friends from mid-Lincs made on the trip, booked through Appleby's First Choice in Wrawby Street, Brigg, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. That's Mrs F. on the right, if you didn't know, enjoying her dinner at the Royal Hotel, Oban. We are now guaranteed two fresh followers from Billinghay, near Sleaford. We were picked up, with other passengers, in Cary Lane on Monday morning and dropped back into Brigg soon after 6pm on Friday. Very enjoyable it proved, too.
Hope Brigg didn't miss us too much!

Aboard the ferry on the way to Mull.

My sort of art, this is! Only in place for a few months, this 33ft high mermaid, named Arria, overlooks the A80 northbound in Cumbernauld, Scotland, and created plenty of interest on our bus. The £250,000 publicly funded work by Andy Scott is the latest in a long line of sculptures springing up around the country in the name of public art. MAYBE WE COULD HAVE SOMETHING SIMILAR IN BRIGG, OR CLOSE BY. Ken Harrison will come up with some ideas, we are sure, so we'll leave the matter in his capable hands. Something for his Community-Led Plan committee to Mull over? Pardon the wee attempt at a Scottish pun!

SIGNATURES AGAINST TESCO

A petition objecting to Tesco's expansion plans in our town can be found near the counter of a well-known Brigg shop. Several pages of signatures have been collected so far. If this is your view of this large-scale project (previously outlined at length by Brigg Blog) you can find the petition at Nisa Local (Dent's of Brigg), on Queen Street, and add your name. Everyone has a democratic right to petition local government, or the national version, for that matter. However, my long experience over more than 30 years covering countless council meetings, brings the oft-quoted phrase "on planning grounds" to mind. Councillors considering a planning application should only refuse it for valid and relevant reasons. Otherwise, expect an appeal direct to the government.
The current petition against Tesco's plans is certainly useful in demonstrating the views of the many adding their signatures, but I didn't see any reasons stated for objecting, other than reference to the firm's expansion in Brigg.
As long as Tesco's and Lidl's new supermarket plans have been lodged with North Lincolnshire Council, Brigg Town Council may well decide to hold a "full council meeting" on Wednesday, December 8, in the Angel Suite, to consider its views. Town councillors do not have the power to rule on planning applications but can make their collective view known to the North Lincolnshire authority, which has.
The suggestion of holding this special session on December 8 is to be considered tomorrow (Monday 22nd) by Brigg Town Council at its November meeting, again in the Angel Suite (7.45pm). There will be a 15-minute period set aside for Public Question Time, prior to the formal part of the meeting.
Those Brigg Blog followers wanting to remind themselves of Tesco's plans can use the search facility at the top of this page.

LINK TO THE FUTURE

JUST IN CASE YOU WONDERED...WE'VE BEEN AWAY ON HOLIDAY IN SCOTLAND SINCE MONDAY MORNING - NORMAL BRIGG BLOG SERVICE IS NOW RESUMED.


Thanks to the worthy efforts of Coun Alec Depledge, we can now bring you a link to the newly-created website for Brigg’s Community-Led Plan, which is being overseen by the town council…
Briggconsults
Coun Alec and Couns Jane Kitching are overseeing the website and comments received from interested members of the public.
For the benefit of those Brigg Blog followers who haven’t followed the Community-Led Plan since its first mention, here’s a brief outline to bring you up to speed.
Such plans set out things members of the community would like to see developed and provided. The Brigg plan is being funded by a grant (provided through North Lincolnshire Council) and when it’s all been agreed – perhaps a year from now – a final written report will be produced (contents of which will doubtless be available online, too).
At their latest meeting in the Angel Suite Lounge, members of Brigg Town Council’s Community-Led Plan Committee were taken into the town clerk’s office, where Angel Suite manager Karen Deeley, seated at one of the PCs, gave a sneak preview of the new website.
Everyone then returned to the Lounge to continue the meeting.
Co-opted members of the public serving on the committee are Ken Harrison and Barbara Morris.
Chairman Coun Tom Glossop said committee members had undertaken three sessions in the town centre, talking to members of the public about the plan.
“The feedback was very good, in terms of volume,” he commented.
People who visited a special display in the Angel Suite one Saturday morning were invited to jot down thoughts on what they wished to see included in the plan (eg better use of the recreation ground, making greater use of the River Ancholme, encouraging tourism).
This was broadly along the lines of…What I love about Brigg; What I hate about Brigg.
The initial “findings” have now been posted onto the Community-Led Plan’s website (link above). However, there’s still time to make your views known.
The Community-Led Plan Committee is likely to have groups working under it to look into particular issues and report back.
The committee seems particularly keen to gauge the views of young people and youth groups, as obviously today’s teenagers are the citizens of the future.
In the hit song Going Underground, the Jam famously suggested: “And the public wants what the public gets. But I don't get what this society wants.”
Well, Brigg’s “society” now has a golden opportunity to say exactly what it wants.

THIS AFTERNOON'S ENTERTAINMENT

Many thanks to "Zendonian" for these pictures taken early today at the special 1940s-style lunch at the Angel Suite, Brigg.

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

Brigg paid its annual tribute to "the fallen" with a church service and wreath-laying at the newly-refurbished Monument today, Remembrance Sunday. There was a good turn-out for the parade and many Brigg people lined the streets to watch proceedings at the war memorial. Arrangements were again overseen by Brigg Town Council, with police halting traffic during the actual ceremony.

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Town Mayor Coun Ben Nobbs approaching the Monument and then laying a wreath.



Dave Riggall, of Brigg fire station, laying his wreath.

Councillors and Town Clerk Jeanette Woollard (nearest camera) in the parade along Bigby Street en route to the Monument.
















The refurbished Monument looking splendid after the service, with the wreaths in place.

SERVING UP TASTE OF WAR-TIME

Brigg Town Council today organised and hosted a special nostalgic lunch at the Angel Suite to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in 1945. About 70 people attended and enjoyed typical war-time fare, including stew and potatoes. Entertainment was also provided.

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Has the Angel Suite ever looked better? All the staff's hard work certainly paid off when it came to getting guests In the Mood, to quote the popular war-time tune.







The concert party tucking in to their helpings of stew.


Mr and Mrs Llew Gudgeon enjoying the tasty fare. He is treasurer of the Brigg and District Branch of the Royal British Legion.


Brigg Town Mayor Coun Ben Nobbs with Mayoress Barbara Morris.

Mike Galvin with a fine set of medals.

Angel Suite manager Karen Deeley flying the flag.




Captain Rachel Webster, currently serving with 1 Rifles, alongside Coun Tom Glossop...with war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill getting in the picture.

Raising glasses to those who "did their bit" for King, Queen and Country! Those in the room who had done so were asked by the Town Mayor to remain seated.