Calendar of Poulton’s Past

Poulton Neighbourhood Management is once again producing a calendar with photographs of Poulton’s past.
The 2008 calendar contains some familiar scenes of our neighbourhood and some sights that have long gone.
The calendar will be available in the Neighbourhood Management office from early December, and makes an ideal Christmas present.
The calendars cost £4.00 and all proceeds go to Morecambe Library’s public art project.

Local Pupils take over the Council

Children from the local primary schools came together during Democracy Week to learn all about how local decisions are made.

In total 30 children from Morecambe Bay Community Primary School and Poulton le Sands Primary School spent the day at Morecambe Town Hall to learn how the democratic process works. 
The pupils were joined by the Mayor and 12 City Councillors who all took part in the day and helped the children with the activities.
The first activity was a mock election where five councillors stood for election.  Each councillor had to plea for votes on; Christmas, Silly Ties, Chocolate, Education, and Sport.  The children voted for the best candidate.  Surprisingly, the candidate for education won the vote by a landslide – however, with hindsight, the candidate felt that maybe her offer of a free games console to all school children may have swung the vote in her favour!
The election, despite its light-hearted nature, followed normal rules.  Each child had a voting slip, which they used in a normal voting booth before posting the paper in a ballot box.  At the end of the election the result was formally announced and the winning candidate received robes of office from the mayor and gave a speech of thanks.
Having finished the election, the children then played a game called “Pupil Power” which involves spending a budget of £12m.  They had to decide which of the council’s services they want to pay for.  However, total council services cost £15m, so they have to get rid of some.
Finally, to finish the day, there was a mock council meeting in which the pupils and councillors took part in 2 debates.  The topics discussed included; stopping recycling and spending the savings on sweets for children, and closing play areas to build more care homes for the elderly.  Some very healthy arguments took place, and the children’s suggestions and comments were well made and well received.
Feedback from all children and teachers who came to the day was unanimously positive, with comments like “A brilliant day”, “The mayor is cool” and “I’ve had a fantastic time”.
The day was facilitated by Poulton Neighbourhood Management and Lancaster City Council’s Democratic Services department. It is hoped that the event will be repeated with schools in other parts of the district.