St. Edmundsbury and the Olympics

The saying 'You want to get out more' might have applied to me over the last few weeks.  Normally I'm not a great lover of sport on the TV (or 'live' come to that), but Olympia-mania overcame me for the duration - as it did with so many, and I became something of a couch potato as a result. Any outdoor activities were executed swiftly so that I could return home to witness the latest triumphs. And triumphs they were. I was bowled over, not just by the competitors, but by London, it's happy thronging crowds and the glory of the whole event.  The effects on the population, young and old, were clear, and it is now time for the 'legacy' to be activated.  How best to 'cash in' on the wave of inspiration that flows across the regions will be high on the agenda of many borough authorities.

In this region I think we are very lucky with our local upper schools.  Opportunities not just for sports, but all manner of activities, are endless.  I'm not so sure about sport in our local community though.  We can visit a 'public venue' - The Apex, subsidised by the local tax payer to the tune of £800,000, but if we want to take our children to the local swimming pool during the holidays, we will be lucky if we can actually swim.

I'm not saying that the families using the leisure centre last week when I went, were not enjoying themselves, but the provision for local swimmers was woefully inadequate.  I could have travelled
12-15 miles either north or south for better, but that seemed an unreasonable journey to make given the size of this town.  And the local authority want to make it bigger by building more houses but strangely don't seem to give much thought to the infra-structure. I wonder why? No, I really wonder why.  Local politics leave me confused.  The words 'left hand and right hand' come to mind, and occasionally 'underhand', but hey, none of us are perfect.

Okay, I didn't do more than rush by Debenhams last week during the Olympics, but I don't remember seeing the highly subsidised Apex (and Debenhams come to that?) offering anything in the spirit of the Olympics. No fun activities for kids, no free entertainment, no flags even. Haverhill had the flags and maybe more, but then their Christmas decorations are probably better than ours too.  Yes, I'm going off the point .... but this town bugs me. Style over substance?  Well, maybe style is the wrong word.  I will stand corrected if word comes to me that there were Olympic tributes in Bury, but in my experience it's usually volunteer organisations that do all the good stuff (the 'alternative' olympics would be good but that's a big, big venture). 

I would like to see Bury St Edmunds pull a proverbial 'rabbit out of the hat' while the Paralympics are on (because it's too late for anything but a magic trick), but more importantly I would like to see some real thought given to the future well-being of young people in this town rather than to those 'grown-ups' who could probably afford to go further afield in pursuit of their interests.