BRIGG COUNCILLORS ALL SET FOR IMPORTANT DISCUSSIONS

Brigg Town Council's annual meeting made a range of locally important decisions, some of which we have already reported while others will feature in posts over the coming days.
As this picture shows, there was a happy air to this session in the Angel Suite function venue (converted in the 1990s from the former Angel Hotel Ballroom).
The Town Council no longer uses the Suite as the venue for its ordinary monthly meetings, instead using a room adjacent to the authority's new office on the top floor of the town centre building.
However, it was decided to revert to the much larger Suite for the annual meeting held on Tuesday, May 24, with many chairs set out at the rear of the room for members of the public.
The once familiar U-shaped seating plan for councillors and staff prompted Brigg Blog to take this view. Ken Harrison did likewise for Brigg Matters magazine, of which he is chairman. The next issue is due out shortly.
On the left are Coun Jane Kitching (nearest the camera), Coun Carl Sherwood, Coun Jane Gibbons and Coun Sharon Riggall.
Seated on the top table are Town Mayor Coun Brian Parker (chairing the meeting) and Town Clerk Kerry McGrath.
Seen on the right are Coun Penny Smith, Coun Ann Eardley, Coun Rob Waltham and Coun Nigel Sherwood.
The meeting room now used on the top floor of the Angel can accommodate all nine councillors and the Town Clerk, with seats also available for any members of the public who decide to attend.
Immediately prior to the council's annual meeting there was another involving the Planning & Environment Committee, held in the Angel Suite Lounge within the building's basement.
The Lounge hosted meetings of this committee over many years. Latterly, they have been held in the top floor venue.
No longer rented to the Town Council, the Lounge has received some new furniture since we last attended in an official capacity.
A comfortable sofa in the corner made a very acceptable temporary press bench instead of the long-familiar table and chair in the corner.
It's a legal requirement for local authorities to provide the press with facilities while they are covering meetings.
But this was the most plush seating we can recall in more than 40 years reporting from council venues as far afield as Cleethorpes (Humberside County Council) and Goole (Boothferry Borough Council, covering the Isle of Axholme) plus closer to home in Barton, Scunthorpe, Bottesford, Broughton... and Brigg.
Legislation passed by Parliament decades ago also required councils to make a phone available to reporters, upon request, so they could dictate articles to copy/typist in their offices.
Brigg-based Glanford Borough Council assigned a phone box near the entrance to what later became Hewson House, off Station Road, for this purpose.
We used this facility, near the housing office, on a number of occasions when deadlines drew near.
All press reporters these days have mobile phones with email so we don't think any requests are made to councils for 'landline' access.
Journalists today have the technology to write and then post reports (with pictures) from council meetings while they are still on-going.