Waste of taxpayers' money (From Malvern Gazette)

Waste of taxpayers' money

10:26am Friday 3rd August 2007 in Letters

IN 1963 I came to live and work in Malvern and discovered that I had just left the worst education authority, the West Riding of Yorkshire, to take up a teaching post in the then next to worst, according to The Times Education Supplement's Education Authority black list, namely Worcestershire!

However, I was lucky in that my new school, The Chase, was in a league of its own and the best in the county and also that a gentle but persistent breeze of enlightenment was beginning to blow through the county's education department.

Perhaps the greatest achievement was the fantastic opportunities created for our young people by the setting up of the Llanrug and West Malvern Outdoor Education Centres and later that at Upton Warren, where I contributed to the committee for several years.

I had the pleasure of taking the first official school party to Llanrug. I took numerous groups there over the years and every child found the experience exciting and beneficial in many ways.

Courses for teachers to achieve mountain leadership qualifications was another benefit, expanding the experience for many more children. As a result colleagues and I took many such parties walking and camping in the Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia and on long coastal footpaths.

We witnessed some remarkable, positive effects on the participants. Stroppy youths turned into supportive, co-operative, delightful companions, interested in everything around them - the scenery, the wildlife, the geography, the lifestyles of the people in remote areas and not least the weather and how to take care of themselves, camp-craft and cooking etc. Shy pupils gained confidence and discovered ways in which they could excel, even becoming initiators and leaders.

Now 35 years later, when we have witnessed all the benefits of such organised extra-curricular activities and the government and health advisors are urging more and greater participation in activities such as were engendered by centres like Llanrug; when we are seeking an answer to deal with our bored, lethargic and increasingly self-centred teenagers, Worcestershire County Council is retreating into the backward thinking of 40 years ago.

There seems no point in talking money as the councillors who have voted for the closure of Llanrug, obviously don't consider the children's education and welfare important enough to retain the centre for future generations. So why not redecorate the council chamber, our school children will come to appreciate it, I'm sure!

Llanrug offered the county's youth something really special. They don't deserve councillors like these and I resent my taxes being managed by them!

R M BISHOP, Frederick Road, Malvern.