It is always
a strange feeling when you see your own town featured on television, especially
when in the last 12 months, the reasons for that national attention, has not
been in the least bit edifying.
On Friday, I
witnessed a feature on Sky news about the growing concern about the amount of
small venues being lost across the county, and there on my screen, was the nationally
acclaimed Harlow Square being featured predominately, as they interviewed one
of the Square One partnership about the size and implication of the loss of
this facility to Harlow and beyond. This publicity, about its imminent closure,
was on the back of it also being discussed on BBC 6 Music, BBC Essex and Music
Week and expressions of the importance
of the club by members of some of the now famous bands (Like Blur, Coldplay etc.)
who played there in their early days, dismayed at its loss.
It then
occurred to me that the last time I remember Harlow being on the national news,
was when a Polish man was attacked and killed by a gang of feral youth. It made
me wonder how people outside our town must see us, as it seems everything that
is reported about Harlow is negative.
Both of these storied ended up on the front page of the Star with a rosette displayed about them asking us to rejoice at Harlow Town being 70 this year! How wonderful!
Both of these storied ended up on the front page of the Star with a rosette displayed about them asking us to rejoice at Harlow Town being 70 this year! How wonderful!
My 14 year
old daughter loves the Square; she recently took up playing the guitar, and
with the ‘Livewire’ initiative, working with young people within the venue, got
to play in a band for the first time. She is also interested in the workings of
Local Government and how they can make a positive difference in the town. She
was particularly pleased one night, when she witnessed every political party in
the Council Chamber, vote a pledge to help save the venue, but this rare
solidarity of stated intent, later came
to nothing when the Secretary of State overturned the council’s decision
to block the land it stands on ,from being swallowed up by developers. This
Whitehall official, thought Circle housing was helping to relocate The Square
and therefore this community resource would not be lost. This was incorrect,
they no longer were, they had previously offered financial help for the venue
to relocate, but then withdrew it. However,
they were happy to let the Secretary of State believe that their offer still
stood, because they then got what they wanted. The council decided not to
appeal his decision. It is true that Harlow Council had been trying to help
with finding alternative premises for the venue, but without the financial
assistance needed to relocate and repurpose an existing building, nothing can
come of it. Not a great day for Local decision making, not a great example to
my daughter.
Young people
are being consistently frozen out of the very society they are expected to
contribute to, and as I was enjoying a drink in Weatherspoon’s before
performing at the venues final gig, I witnessed ten to twenty teenage youths on
foot and bikes, chasing somebody. They briefly invaded the pub and then started
fighting outside; this is all they had to occupy their time apparently.
What is this town coming to, to lose an asset like the Square? It’s all well and good gaining a new cinema but that only helps consumers, where is the home for creators such as my daughter , or other young musicians living in a town, originally created with the pride of supporting the Arts and music, as a corner stone of its community? Or the band The Orphans who opened Saturday’s final show, 14 years of age and playing only their second ever gig, never to be able to return to improve their craft. What about my daughter who, when challenging the Councillors lack of success, by simply saying “Where the hell am I going to go to be able continue to develop my musical career now”, threw Councillor John Clempner into an embarrassed mumble of seemingly empty promises and misinformed bluster.
Yet the question is still valid, and still needs to be addressed.
What is this town coming to, to lose an asset like the Square? It’s all well and good gaining a new cinema but that only helps consumers, where is the home for creators such as my daughter , or other young musicians living in a town, originally created with the pride of supporting the Arts and music, as a corner stone of its community? Or the band The Orphans who opened Saturday’s final show, 14 years of age and playing only their second ever gig, never to be able to return to improve their craft. What about my daughter who, when challenging the Councillors lack of success, by simply saying “Where the hell am I going to go to be able continue to develop my musical career now”, threw Councillor John Clempner into an embarrassed mumble of seemingly empty promises and misinformed bluster.
Yet the question is still valid, and still needs to be addressed.
Steve Drewett - Newtown Neurotics
Harlow
http://steve-drewett.com/
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