Too Many Cooks, Bowthorpe Reunion Party & Morning Has Broken

05/05/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Too Many Cooks
The Prime Minister has had one of those weekends. You know the ones; everything goes about as wrong as it can go and all your friends try to stick daggers in you every time you turn your back on them. Or maybe you don’t ‘know the ones’. It’s actually quite difficult to become so universally disliked that everything you do turns to dust. Let’s face it, Gordon Brown is stewing in his own cooking pot. He lit the gas, chose the pan, selected the spices and vaulted into the bubbling mixture. The fact that he is now simmering close to boil is a problem entirely of his own making. He has surrounded himself by weak and ineffectual ministers who, faced with such a terrible mess and with the imminent demise of many of their careers, do what weak ineffectual people always do. Blame somebody else. It doesn’t matter that he’s the man who chose them for their positions or that he’s the one they are always saying is: “the right man for the job.” All that seems to be on their minds is how to keep their personal gravy trains rolling into the station a little longer. One minister (or ex-minister) after another has been lining up to smirkingly suggest they would be ‘happy’ to save the day. As if. They can no more ride to the rescue than a drowning man can prevent an air crash. There are too many (bad) cooks in Gordon Brown’s kitchen. The food is poisonous and the whole place reeks of rot. It’s time to look at a new establishment entirely… and a brand new Conservative menu.

Bowthorpe Reunion Party
The Bowthorpe Association is a charity which helps and supports people who suffer from mental illness in and around Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. The trustees (of which I am one) are putting on a Reunion Party for old and new service-users tomorrow (Wednesday) night. The purpose of the party is threefold; to give service-users a chance to meet and chat with old friends and new, to ask everybody what sort of services they would like Bowthorpe to try and provide in future and to build a strong bond of trust and friendship between the Association, Service Users and other interested parties. We’re laying on refreshments including snacks, hot drinks and soft drinks and the Association very much hopes people come along and take part.
Bowthorpe ReUnion Party
Wednesday 6th May 2009
7PM - 9PM
The Elgood Hall, William Road, Wisbech.

Morning Has Broken
Very early Sunday morning the Friends Of The Park’s ‘Dawn Chorus’ took place.  The plan was to bring together people from all walks of life, of mixed ages, in mutual appreciation of the wonder and power of nature in Wisbech Town Park.  “Don’t be silly,” some people probably told John Smith, whose brainchild this event was.  “Nobody will get up at that time to stand quietly in the middle of the park.” 
“Who is going to want to listen to bird’s singing?  They’ll all still be in bed after their Saturday evening festivities.”

Wrong!

Something in the region of one hundred and fifty people turned out to listen and to watch and to marvel, slack-jawed in wonder, at the beauty of the dawn as it unfolded over the discrete but magnificent gardens of our wonderful Town Park.  The birds, perhaps enthused by their new audience, sang their hearts out as a fresh new morning broke over the assembled crowd.

I was proud to be part of John’s team, offering what little I could in support.  I made the webpages and handled the online bookings.  Upon arrival I was on the registation desk checking people in.  Later, I was dressed as a parrot for quite some time to amuse the children and make a spectacle of myself for newspaper photographers (Why a parrot?  No idea.  I just did as I was asked.)  Then I was drafted into the kitchen and given to cooking bacon for the free breakfast rolls.  I cooked a lot of bacon.  Maybe it sounds like I did a lot.  Not a bit of it.  I did the same as everybody else, because the whole team (no more so than John Smith himself) threw themselves enthusiastically into the event. 

The Dawn Chorus was an absolute triumph.  Cynics were converted to enthusiasts.  The community in all its diverse shapes and sizes came together.  Wisbech Town Park provided the incredible backdrop for a memorable morning.  I was, quite simply, blown away by it.  On behalf of myself and everybody who enjoyed the Dawn Chorus so much:
Thank you John Smith and the Friends Of The Park.

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