THE BLOXIDGE TALLYGRAPH

I SEE that NATIONAL EXPRESS WEST MIDLANDS has lashed out £3 MILLION on a NEW FLEET OF BUSES which includes the 301 ROUTE between Walsall and MOSSLEY Estate via BLOXWICH. GOOD NEWS for residents of North WALSALL, central Bloxwich and MOSSLEY then!

 

NOT SO GOOD news for the poor folk of LOWER FARM ESTATE who sometimes STRUGGLE to get a bus in any reasonable time OUTSIDE PEAK TIMES, though. Their "SERVICE" has been GOING DOWNHILL since the TROLLEY BUSES stopped running in 1971!  NO NEW BUSES for LOWER FARM and an OFF-PEAK TIMETABLE that can easily be described as FANTASY at best?

 

ALL the more PEEVING FOR 'FARM FOLK who sometimes have to WAIT outside the old Music Hall in HIGH STREET for up to HALF AN HOUR at a time to get a 302 BUS back home while watching SEVEN OR EIGHT 301s ROLLING PAST down Wolverhampton Rd, MANY no more than 10% FULL.

 

NOT MUCH CONSOLATION either for WORKERS trying to get on a 302 from WALSALL which is usually CRAMMED FULL of denizens of NORTH WALSALL at peak times! NOR for those who have to CHANGE BUSES in Bloxwich of an EVENING or SUNDAY if they want to travel FROM LOWER FARM via the High Street, LEAMORE or North Walsall. But AT LEAST they will get the chance to RIDE ON A LUXURY 301...  HOW KIND!

 

Isn't it WELL PAST TIME that the PUBLIC TRANSPORT-MINDED folk of LOWER FARM had a decent and REGULAR OFF-PEAK bus service with a SENSIBLE evening and Sunday ROUTE?  THE FORRENER says YES!

 

Remember - I am watching...     The Forrener

MUCH FUSS has been made lately of WALSALL'S CONCRETE HIPPO which has been hanging out on THE BRIDGE for DECADES, it seems.  Truly, its origins seem SHROUDED IN MYSTERY...

 

SO WHAT?  says THE FORRENER!  Is the eponymous AGGREGATE WATER HORSE symbolic of some other ASPECT OF THE BOROUGH  than the famous BEAR AND RAGGED STAFF?  Or is it just a convenient place to STUB OUT FAGS and DROP CHIP PAPERS?  Enlighten the poor folk of THE FOREIGN, please!

 

HERE IN BLOXWICH we have no need for SIX FOOT RECONSTITUTED DOOR-STOPS.  But we could SURELY find a place for a SCULPTURE more SYMBOLIC of the REBELLIOUS TENACITY of BLOXIDGE FOLK - perhaps a TWENTY-FOOT STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER in bronze?  I think so, MY FRIENDS!

 

BRUMMAGEM'S BRONZE BULL has pride of place in their CITY CENTRE.

 

WALSALL sets great store by a CONCRETE HIPPO, name of GEORGE.

 

Surely BLOXWICH must have a bloody great BRONZE STAFFIE on Bloxidge Green!

 

YOU KNOW it makes SENSE.  SO sayeth THE FORRENER.

 

Remember - I am watching...   The Forrener

NEWS has reached the ears of THE FORRENER of the demise of the traditional PARADE of our much-loved BLOXWICH CARNIVAL.  Why should our great annual FESTIVAL have to lose this essential part of what is always a GRAND DAY OUT for Bloxwich?

LAST YEAR the 1st BLOXWICH SCOUTS were let down by their transport provider and had to walk.  THIS YEAR  there will be NO FLOATS AT ALL and although the TABLEAUX in King George's will no doubt be SPLENDID TO BEHOLD it just  isn't the same.

Is this down to HEALTH AND SAFETY GONE MAD or the ANTICS of faceless, mean-spirited JOBSWORTHS who care little for the fun that one day of JOLLITY each year gives  HARD- WORKING FOLK and their kids?  Where is the PUBLIC SPIRIT of this ONCE GREAT NATION that volunteer events like BLOXWICH CARNIVAL are put under FINANCIAL AND LEGAL PRESSURE in this way?

IF ONLY we could TURN BACK THE CLOCK to an age of COMMON SENSE and CUT BACK BUREAUCRACY instead of the BUDGETS of hard-pressed non-profit COMMUNITY organisations.  FAT CHANCE in the era of THE NANNY STATE I fear...

PERHAPS our much-vaunted PARLIAMENT will put its collective HANDS in ITS CASH-FILLED POCKETS and give a little BACK TO OUR COMMUNITIES who are crying out for something to CHEER THEM UP in these DARK DAYS of FINANCIAL AND POLITICAL GLOOM?  Would that be TOO MUCH TO ASK?

THE FORRENER thinks not...

Remember - I am watching...   The Forrener