2nd March 2020
I realise I’ve lived in my house in Eling now for 26 years and was thinking how much has changed in that time. I’ve actually been coming to this house for far longer, my whole 52 years, as my Grandparents lived here before us. My Mum grew up here, meeting my Dad when he tried to catch butterflies on the buddleia bush outside at the tender age of 8! Totton and Eling were very different then – less manicured and much smaller by about 20,000 people!
I thought it might be interesting to explore how differently my Grandma lived to the way we live here now, bringing up her daughter in the house where my son is growing up and taking my mum to Eling school each day, where I took my son as a young child.
So now and again I’m going to write about what I remember of the way she lived and the way we live in comparison, the changes over the four generations of our family who’ve lived here and loved it!
First up will be communication and how that’s changed for us over the generations from a time before TV to the image inundation we have today! – coming soon!
6th April 17
I was really pleased to go to the consultation about the potential dog park at the King George V recreation ground. This is a great plan and really good to see so many dog walkers out and about who were really positive and had lots of ideas for improvements to the plans.
27th March 17
I just wanted to say well done to those involved in Totton Festival of Drama for such a great week of drama.
It was a great event to be involved in and so much better than just another night in front of the tele! It’s incredible that Totton has such amazing venue as Hangar Farm – a really lovely space to host an event like this. Well done to all involved.
28th February 17
I’ve been out and about putting up some tubes to measure air pollution around Eling. There is so much of an issue around air pollution in the area around the docks so I’m trying to at least measure it in the area.
30th January
I’ve been out and about delivering my local residents survey recently and one thing which really bothers people are the cuts to the library services. We are so lucky in Totton to have a library that I really feel for other communities who are no longer so lucky.
The mobile library has brought books to vulnerable people and isolated communities in Hampshire for more than half a century and yet under the Tories the mobile library service has been axed completely. They have also cut the books fund and all the remaining libraries are constantly threatened.
This is so frustrating. Again and again austerity measures seem to be ones which most affect people who are either vulnerable or struggling but don’t have much impact on those who are already well off.
23rd Jan 2017
Potholes and maintenance are becoming a major problem to cyclists and pedestrians now. I’ve seen so many potholes at the edges of roads and I’ve heard so many people say that they have been thrown off their push bikes – these are a real danger for cyclists and not just a little bump in the road. I’ve just learned that there is so little budget for pavements that they are due to be maintained on average less than once in a CENTURY!!! This is ludicrous and has no respect for the people who either choose not to or are unable to drive.
17th Jan 2017
It’s hard to be believe some of the appalling decisions which are being made by the Conservative controlled County Council. As well as closing Children’s Centres around the county there have been some appalling changes to Social Care which has put incredible pressure on the NHS with care packages being difficult to organise and people needing to stay in hospital for longer. Some of the older people I’ve spoken to have seen wardens taken away from assisted living apartment blocks which means that the time they can live in their own home is much shorter and they are needing to move on to care homes before it’s really necessary.
I’m tired of hearing about budgets being taken from these services which are so vital to people who are already having a hard time. I want to live somewhere where our society is focussed on making lives better for people, not ways that we can take their services away with the least comment. This isn’t just austerity – it’s moved into inflicting a form of social hardship which is a disgrace.
12th Jan 2017
I was excited to be asked to go in to Totton College recently to meet some of the students and was really pleased to meet them and to hear their views on some of the issues and concerns facing them – both now and for their futures.
We discussed lots of topics including how we all see politics differently and about how the young people feel towards their local area.
It seems that the young people I spoke to feel disconnected from politics although they have plenty of really thoughtful opinions they would like to express. They feel that there are few topics which are relevant to them and that understanding other issues is difficult from the information they receive. We talked about how their access to news is mostly online and doesn’t necessarily have much depth so issues aren’t really explained. In fact communication seems to be an issue since the different age ranges have completely different ways of getting information about current topics – the young people I spoke to rarely read newspapers or even watch news on TV. I wonder if this has contributed to what seems to be a lack of feeling connected to their community since it’s difficult to get messages and explanations across in the short headlines that the young people have access to.
There is also a worry about the lack of police in the area which came across very clearly and this was mentioned independently by several of the group. We talked about how the idea that there used to be a policeman in every village was quite shocking – although that was the case only a few decades ago. In less than 30 years access to police has become much more limited from not only villages but from a growing town like Totton.
I was very pleased to have the opportunity to find out what the young people thought about their community and their world. I hope we can all do something to help young people like those I spoke to feel part of a wider community – we all have a vested interest in building a linked community together and young people are a massive part of that formula.
Many thanks to the group for inviting me to come in for a really great discussion.
4th Jan 2017
Happy New Year!
I’m sure like many people I’m quite glad to see the back of 2016 in lots of ways so having a clear out seemed like a great thing to do over the Christmas break. But I’m sure like lots of people I was horrified to find out how much the charges are for taking different types of rubbish to the recycling centre. I tried to take some bags of accumulated garden rubbish including some old broken bricks, flagstones and half rotted brambles and convolvulus. I was going to be charged £2.50 per bag – somewhere around £25 for the 10 bags I had inn my small boot! I’m always keen on recycling and try to put anything to good use but this really was rubbish I can’t find a use for.
I think we all know that people simply won’t pay this kind of money and there will be an increase in flytipping. It’s already happened in other areas who have tried this idea. We need to reverse this ridiculous decision.
6th December 2016
A big thank you needs to go out to everyone involved in the lantern procession and the Christmas Lights for such a great evening. It’s fabulous that so many people came along on such a cold evening and was really good fun – even a few delays with the tree lights! Special thanks to the FA Cup choir who came back again from all across the country just for us. We had a lovely market, loads going on the community centre and a fair on the precinct car park.
We had a fantastic set of photos on the Echo website which is definitely worth a look!
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/14947726.PHOTOS__Former_Saints_star_switches_on_Christmas_lights/
2nd December 2016
The lantern procession will be here in just a couple of days and all the lanterns are made – what a wonderful display by people all across Totton.
If you would like to join in the fun then come down and watch – any time from 2pm when the market starts and 5pm when the procession sets off. The FA Cup choir will be joining us to sing carols and the lights will be on at around 5.30pm.
See you there!
14th November 2016
Lighting Up Totton
I’m really looking forward to the next few weeks when I’ll be helping nearly 500 of you to make lanterns for the Lantern Procession on the 4th December. The whole event is something I’m so proud of being involved in – what a lovely way to share some of the darker winter nights!
Thank you to all those who have saved your bottles – come along and watch the lantern procession where people have used them to make some wonderful lanterns! There will be a market and a sing along to Christmas songs and carols with some of the FA Cup Choir. And of course Santa will be visiting!!
A big thank you needs to be said to lots of people for their contributions to the procession – our committee of four – Jenni, Sue, Julie and myself are really grateful to so many people including Neville Penman and his team for organising the Christmas Lights and of course to all the participants in the procession. Come and sing along!
A massive thank you to everyone for donating plastic bottles for the lantern procession – with such a great response we should be able to make lanterns with all those who want to for the 4th December.
11th November
Trees against Pollution
It probably comes as no surprise that more trees are good for our health but it looks like planting trees are a way to lessen the impact of local pollution and I’m working with the Town council to find a way of planting more trees in the area.
Pollution from the docks has become so bad that Southampton has been pointed out as a problem area by the World Health Organisation. It is one of Europe’s most polluted cities for air quality and monitoring has shown that much of that is dock related.
The problems are both the activities happening on the dock side and also from the freight ships and lorries driving the freight away. Much of this pollution is on our doorstep, only a very short distance across the water, and is in the form of tiny particulates which can cause and exacerbate respiratory problems and have even been linked to cancers.
I’ve been working with a docks action group based in Freemantle to try and keep a check on pollution but I’m keen to do something more active over this side of the water so I’m looking into planting trees at Goattee, to absorb some of the pollution over this side. Slow growing trees are good at absorbing and keeping the pollution locked away so I’ve been persuading Totton and Eling Town council to support the planting of trees in areas which will help with at least some of the pollution.
If you are interested in helping with planting trees or if you have any small weed trees you can donate then please contact me asap on 07969 561 342 or by email on Cllr.carolinerackham@gmail.com
7th November 2016
It’s Rubbish About Rubbish
I find it really hard to believe the cuts to some of our major services and among them of course are the recycling centres. Of course the centres are still there but there are options to cut back on opening hours and charges for certain types of rubbish have been introduced. I don’t quite understand what people are expected to do with their rubbish and I suspect that fly-tipping will become a major issue over the coming months.
Of course fly-tipping becomes the responsibility of District councils so it’s possible that the Tory County Councillors don’t feel a need to be concerned on that particular issue.
Caroline Rackham 