View From The Chair
(occasional writings from our Chair)
Whenever anyone asks, “Are you from Morecambe”? I have to admit I’m not, but I can’t help adding “I came here as a kid”. One of my most vivid childhood memories was getting home from school one Friday and being told to get ready for a weekend in Morecambe. My dad acquired a Ford Transit van and converted it into a motorised caravan. So off we set from Stafford, trundling up the M6 to Morecambe, pitching on one of the sites on Westgate. We then had all Saturday and most of Sunday to enjoy the beach and the arcades.
My childhood memories of Morecambe itself are fairly vague. I remember a pier, the Midland Hotel and trampolines on the Prom. Above all I remember having a wonderful time — not a bad memory to have. In 1996, as an adult, I experienced the Polo Tower and other rides at Frontierland and a land train that went up and down the Prom (not the one running now). Then just before I moved to Lancaster in 2004 I experienced a deserted Morecambe car park, greasy chips and a very run down sea front. As an outsider I saw Morecambe at its best and worst.
Between my visit in 1996 and coming to live in the West End in 2010, Morecambe saw a great deal of investment including the work in Poulton and the renovation of the Midland Hotel — and the shop fronts improved. Even the West End had its “Winning Back Morecambe’s West End” but unfortunately that came to an abrupt end when the funding stopped. This appears to fit a pattern which feels like we often have to settle for crumbs or are left waiting for years for an eyesore to be fixed.
It’s right to acknowledge perceptions of being left behind and actual injustices while at the same time not allowing ourselves be defined by them. We can be excused for declaring that its our turn though that’s not generally how it works. The National Lottery picked out Morecambe’s West End as being ripe for a Big Local project with its accompanying million pounds. Yet when you do the sums and appreciate that this adds up to just £100,000 per year for the whole of the West End when the Winter Gardens has just won £2.7million — for one building (well deserved and welcomed by the way).
In truth money doesn’t make the world go round it just greases the wheels. Real change comes from a spark that keeps the cylinders firing and the engine turning over. Its the sparks of imagination, of personal initiative, of self belief. The Eden project has got everyone excited but it could equally be wonderful or devastating for the West End. What control we have over our destiny has yet to be seen but what can be guaranteed is that prosperity finds its own level and you should be careful what you wish for.
The bottom line is: opportunities are neutral, its what you do with them that counts. Whether its Frontierland or the Eden Project, they are not magic wands nor are they done deals. What Morecambe looks like at the end of this decade will depend on how the people of Morecambe engage with the opportunities and challenges. That goes for the West End too. What can we imagine for the West End, how hard are we prepared to make that a reality and how much are we prepared to defer to the interests of the community?
Chris Price,
Chair WEM
