Tuesday, July 26, 2022

MIDWEEK REFLECTIONS FROM BRIGG, BARNETBY & BROUGHTON


Some travellers have made very early arrivals in town ahead of Brigg Horse Fair 2022 to be held on Friday, August 5 - giving them first pick of parking sites for their caravans and vehicles near the railway station.
This will be the first fair since North Lincolnshire Council declared its Hewson House site surplus to requirements, closed the office block and relocated staff elsewhere.
As a result, additional free parking is now available to the general public either side of lengthy Station Road, and some Royal Mail postal vans were evident at the weekend.

The new Barnetby Co-op store will mean jobs being created when it opens in a few weeks. But ahead of the first day's trading, it has already provided work for Brigg company EC Surfacing which undertook some 'tarmacing' outside the building off Victoria Road.

Should Brigg householders whose brown bin emptying was cancelled last week be permitted to put a bag or two of garden waste out for collection alongside their bin on Tuesday, August 2 when the crews next do their brown rounds in the town?
Most people in Brigg fully accepted the safety-related reason for cancelling the scheduled collection last Tuesday as the afternoon temperature neared 100F.
However, this is the prime time of year for domestic grass cuttings and hedge clippings.
North Lincolnshire Council's current policy, set out on its website, is: "Please ensure the lid is flat and no excess waste is presented as it will not be collected."
But as the local authority identified the heatwave as a special case for cancelling brown bin emptying in Brigg last Tuesday, could it make a one-off exemption on August 2 and accept suitably bagged side waste?
Many brown bins in Brigg are already full, or nearly full, following the cancellation of the recent collection.
It won't help the local area's carbon footprint if many Brigg residents who have filled their bins before August 2 drive cars or vans to and from the recycling centre near Broughton to get rid of their excess green matter.
The council began offering garden composters some time ago, but what's the ordering time for these?

With cyclists so often opting to ride on footpaths in Brigg and district, it was heartening to see a boy of primary school age not only cycling down a well-used road but then looking over his shoulder and giving a perfect left turn arm signal before entering a cul-de-sac.
This was observed in neighbouring Broughton a few days ago as we awaited a bus back to Brigg.
Those of us who attended local primary schools in the 1960s received mandatory cycling proficiency training from the police - carried out in the playground and resulting in certificates being issued.
Kids were left in no doubt that police street patrols would be looking for incidents of cycling on paths or riding without effective lights after dusk.

A Brigg Arts Festival is to be held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August 11, 12 and 13, at St John's Church in the town centre, from 9.30am to 2pm daily. Refreshments will be available in the adjoining Church Hall. The festival is another in the #LoveBrigg events series.

PICTURED: Tack on show at last year's Brigg Horse Fair, the Co-op store taking shape in Barnetby, and a brown bin nearly full but not earmarked for emptying until August 2.