Another form of voting

I had a four hour council meeting this morning partly to finalise the works which are due to start in Lansdown Hall next month, but also to discuss issues the council must deal with imminently. I will be back round the committee table at a Full Council meeting tonight which could go on for a long time.

I'm chair of our finance committee and recently I spotted this sign on the wall of a local supermarket, which is in fact our nearest shop of any type. This Stroud branch of the company awards £1000 per month to be split between three local community groups. Customers are asked to drop a green button into the bin of their favoured charity or group, as you can see here. On the wall there is a sign telling how much was donated to each of last month's groups. I had noticed that the winner last month was the Citizens Advice Bureau, gathering about 50% of all the buttons.

The Town Council, via its finance committee, has already been giving the Bureau long term annual funding and from everything I have heard they are busier than ever, unsurprisingly given the current economic situation. A former blipper friend of mine, who I've known for more than thirty years, was employed as a manager of a big CAB in the Midlands, and was also appointed to the national association of CABs. I learnt a lot about the work they deliver from him and was always impressed by the really good and accurate advice and representation that they offered to me personally once.

I thought I would circulate a picture, to my fellow councillors, of this non-representative, but quite informative decision by a community showing that they wanted the CAB to receive lots of support, so they can continue to provide invaluable help to those in need in the community.

I asked for permission at the customer desk, and the new manager appeared very promptly to answer my queries and grant me permission. He was very supportive and encouraging too, when he heard what I intended to do with the photo. He is going to let us have information about all their monthly awards as an indication of how consumers choose to support local groups, which will add to our knowledge base for decision making.