DIY FASHION SHOW
10/6/04 Independent community arts groups Plastic Rose and ReCreations are joining forces to put on a spectacular event with a carnival spirit at the Gregson Centre, Lancaster on Saturday 12th July at 8pm. There will be a chance for everyone to show off their D.I.Y. creations on the catwalk, followed by dance beats from DJs Softboy
and Jah Vis, prize giving and a raffle. All proceeds will go to the Denis St. Studio-Workshop 'repair fund'. All are welcome to this event which promises to be bizarre, creative, fascinating and bags of fun - especially for those who choose to come in their own unique creations. Entrance £3. Info tel: 07977 803906. (Watch out for a review in V-L next week, with pics.)

HAVING YOUR SAY IN LOCAL PLANNING
10/6/04 Lancaster City Council have plans for developing a couple of local areas, Luneside East (the quayside west of Carlisle Bridge) and Poulton. They want your opinions before they go ahead regardless (how did I get so cynical?).
In Luneside East, they're planning an "urban village", with 350 homes, plus workplaces, cafes, restaurants and other leisure facilities, "as sustainable as possible", with excellent pedestrian and cycle links, they say.
For Poulton, meanwhile, they've apparently developed a "spacial strategy" (I can see the headlines now -- Morecambe District Lands on Mars). It's hard to understand the planning department's jargon, but seems to involve changes to traffic and pedestrian circulation.
Comments on both these proposals should reach them by 5th July, and details of their proposals are available at www.lancaster.gov.uk

LOCAL VOTING UP
9/6/04 Postal voting for the European Elections has already increased the number of voters in the area. As of Monday 7th June, local voting was running at 27%, and voting in the North West region as a whole at 22%. The North West turnout for the 1999 elections was 19.4%. So, we're a little less apathetic than we were, but still pretty slack. Come on you guys, if you haven't posted your ballot papers yet, get on with it!

SAINSBURY'S CHEESECAKES RECALLED
9/6/04 Egg allergy sufferers are warned that some of Sainsbury's own brand cheesecakes contain egg protein which isn't mentioned in the ingredients. The cheesecakes in question are Sainsbury's Chilled 3 Blackcurrant Cheesecakes (3x100g) and Sainsbuy's Chilled 3 Strawberry Cheesecakes (3x100g). Egg allergy sufferers (or anyone else who doesn't eat eggs) should take them back to the shop for a refund. Everyone else can just sit down and tuck in.

HOUSE PRICE ACTION
7/6/04 As in the rest of Britain, house prices in Lancaster have gone through the roof, making it difficult for first time buyers get out of the insecurity of rented accommodation. Paul Speight has decided to do something about it. He says "I would like to look into establishing a community investment model that will deliver tangible benefits in Lancaster... Collective action is a realistic and viable way forward. It would perhaps take the form of a credit union or resemble the early mutual loans model (i.e. building societies before they went ‘High St’)" You can contact him on 01524 65173 or via email at .

MIGHTY TREES FALL
4/6/04 The elegant avenue of chestnut trees bordering the playing field between Sibsey St and Carr House Lane in Lancaster is being felled. Although these mature trees appear gloriously strong and healthy they have fallen victim to disease known as 'bleeding canker', which takes hold of the tree over two or three growing seasons and then kills it. There is concern that this will spread if 23 trees are not felled. An original City Council report stated that 7 trees were high risk and needed to be felled. The local farmer and the Green Party commissioned an expert from Myerscough College to check if this was necessary. Sadly this report was far more damning than the first and said that 23 of the trees were in a dangerous condition and should be felled.
As the trees border a children's playing field and shelter a well-used pathway there are grave concerns that as the trees fail they may present a serious risk of injury.
It is very rare to find such a beautiful avenue of mature, well-formed horse-chestnuts. They have been there longer than we can remember and children have been conkering there just as long.
The Girls Grammar School, which owns the land, is very keen that the remaining trees be saved and that those lost be replaced. This will take another generation. Certainly the railway embankment will look very bleak indeed without them. Felling will continue over the coming week and the path may be closed at times to accomodate this.

COMMUNITY RADIO PROJECT LAUNCHED
3/6/04 Several local community broadcasting projects are bundling together in the hope of bringing Community Radio to the Bay Area. Audio studios are being set up at the Osiris Internet & Music Cafe in Morecambe and at the Lancaster YMCA and initially a web-radio station is being planned to generate programme-making experience. An initial Steering Group signed the constitution for the Osiris Project on Wednesday 2 June. Read More

COWS ON CABLE STREET
3/6/04 Shoppers faced a scene of cattle versus corporate confusion at a demonstration outside Sainsbury’s supermarket on Cable Street yesterday (Wednesday). A small herd of cattle were warning customers and passers-by that Sainsbury’s dairy products come from cows fed with genetically modified animal feed, despite a promise from the giant retailer in 2001 that Sainsbury’s ‘would phase out the use of GM feed to the animals which produce their meat and dairy products’.
Virtual-Lancaster spoke to one of the demonstrators:

VL: As an independent cow, how do you feel about cattle feed containing GM?
Cow: We’re all opposed to GM in ours or anybody’s feed! Feeding cows this GM feed is wrong for cows and wrong for humans. GM is sneaked into the human food chain via animal feed.
VL: Tell me more.
Cow: Tons of animal feed is still being shipped into the UK to feed animals that supply the dairy products in this supermarket.
VL: What brings you here today?
Cow: I fancied a day off the farm! No, seriously…

At this point VL was alerted to a minor scuffle in Sainsbury’s car park. Two demonstrators were standing on the wall holding an anti-GM banner up, and VL arrived just as 2 male Sainsbury’s employees arrived to rip the banner off the demonstrators and disappear with it, amidst threats from both sides to call the police. Eventually the banner was returned.

Unfortunately, the manager of Sainsbury’s was unavailable for comment, and other staff at the store ‘did not dare’ add comments of their own on this area of confusion.
We would certainly like to know what lurks within what we’re buying!
For further info, go to
www.geneticsaction.org.uk
www.sainsbury.co.uk/
www.farm.org.uk
www.i-sis.org.uk

HELP WITH FILLING IN THE VOTING FORM
3/6/04 Election officials will be available at Lancaster Town Hall (main entrance) Mon - Wed 1-9 June from 8.45am - 5.15pm, and Thurs 10 June, 7am ­ 10pm to help voters who aren't sure to complete their European Parliament Election ballot form correctly. The deadline for forms to get to the Town Hall is 10pm on Thurs 10 June.
There's also a helpline tel: 01524 582905.

BREWERY ARTS CENTRE KEEPS RESTORATION PROJECT ARTWORK LOCAL
03/06/04 The Friends of the Kendal Brewery Arts Centre have been awarded £30,000 from the Local Heritage Initiative.
The funding is to restore the Georgian steps in the gardens of the Brewery Arts Centre and re-open the access way through to Garth Heads. The Civic Society has remained at the forefront of public desire to restore this important heritage site, which dear to the community's heart, and have also offered additional financial support.
The artists and contractors working on the project are all local; workshops will be given to describe and share their skills to the community. There will be an education pack published towards the end of the project to put the works in context and explain the heritage of this site to the local community and schools.

THE STOREY SO FAR....
2/6/04 Recently Virtual-Lancaster was invited by Arts Development Officer Peter Courtie to a press briefing today "for the (Morecambe) Visitor alongside Andy Darby from (Lancaster) Litfest and John Angus from The Storey Gallery".
Some time ago, following complaints from local artists, Virtual-Lancaster wrote and emailed the Storey Gallery in the name of one of them, asking for his work to be considered for a show and offering to bring in a small photo-portfolio. Several letters (with SAEs), emails and messages left in person at the gallery over several months got no reply at all. We put a note to that effect by the Storey gallery's entry on our exhibitions page, and immediately got a mail from John Angus, Co-ordinator of the Storey Gallery. Read more

HOSPICE VOLUNTEERS OFF TO THE PALACE!
St John’s Hospice has been chosen for the 2004 Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. This prestigious national award is real recognition of the commitment and importance of support so freely given by volunteers to charities. Along with just over 100 charities, St John’s Hospice was chosen after representatives from the Lord Lieutenant of Lancaster and the Home Office had visited and vetted the nomination. This involved them spending time with volunteers and management and seeing at first hand the invaluable contributions that volunteers make to the running and funding of the Hospice. St John’s has over 150 volunteers freely giving their time providing a whole range of services at the Hospice, with a further 80 helping out in the shared charity shops in Lancaster and Morecambe. The hospice is also indebted to a whole host of individuals and groups in the community who support it through voluntary fundraising efforts.
Dr Mike Warren, Chairman of Trustees, says that ‘volunteers are central to the whole ethos of hospice care and I am delighted that the efforts of those who so selflesslessly give their time to St John’s have been rewarded in such a way. It is real recognition for our more un-sung heroes’. Volunteer Co-ordinator at St John’s, Lorraine Swanson, is ‘over the moon’ for the volunteers, three of whom will be invited to a Queen’s Award reception at St James’ Palace on July 19th. Should you be interested in volunteering for St John’s, their fundraising initiatives or their shops, please tel: 01524 382538.
See St John's Hospice website
This week is volunteers week: Read more

M62E OVERNIGHT CLOSURE J32 - 33 THIS SATURDAY
2/6/04 The eastbound M62 will be closed between junction 32 (Castleford/Pontefract) and junction 33 (Ferrybridge) from 9pm on Saturday 5th June to 8am on Sunday 6th June, the Highways Agency announced today. During the closure, bridge-supporting beams will be lifted into position on site at Longbull Hill, Ferrybridge. The bridge will carry the M62 over the new A1M motorway.
Further Saturday night closures of the M62 in both directions between junctions 32 and 33 will be necessary every Saturday night between 17th July and 21 August. There will be a fully signposted diversion route.

COME ON IN?
2/6/04 The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has published its Good Beach Guide 2004. Sadly none of Lancashire's beaches made the standard for a recommendation. Morecambe's beaches only achieved an EC mandatory pass - i.e. they pass the minimum legal requirements for water quality. 'There are sewage derived bacteria present in quantities known to cause illness.' Heysham was the one Lancashire beach to fail altogether - having passed in previous years. MCS advises against swimming and other immersion water sports there (In case anyone hadn’t noticed the nuclear power station there). Thomas Bell of the MCS told BBC Radio Lancashire: "Looking at somewhere like Morecambe, the sewage treatment facilities there are very good. So it's my guess it will have been some other outside factor. This would be something like pollution running off agricultural land or from storm drains discharge."
See The Good Beach Guide 2004