8,000 miles and more – a talk by Satish Kumar

 CORRECTION: Please note that tickets for this talk are available from Royal & Derngate Box Office and not Northampton Museum and Art Gallery as mentioned in the original release.

Former monk and peace and environment activist Satish Kumar will be visiting Northampton to talk about his 8,000 walk around the world urging peace to world leaders. For over 50 years Satish has been quietly campaigning for peace.  Aged nine he left his family to join the wandering Jains and at 18 he decided he could achieve more back in the world and campaigned to turn Gandhi’s vision of a renewed India and a peaceful world into reality.

Inspired in his early 20s by British peace activist Bertrand Russell, Satish set of on an 8,000-mile peace pilgrimage.  Carrying no money and depending on the kindness of strangers, he walked from India to America, via Moscow, London and Paris to deliver a humble packet of ‘peace tea’ to the then leaders of the world’s four nuclear powers. In 1973 Satish settled in the UK and took up the post of editor of Resurgence, a position he has held ever since.  Over the years he has won many accolades and awards, including Honorary Doctorates from the universities of Plymouth and Lancaster and the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Abroad.  In 2005 he was a castaway on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs and is also a regular on a range of other programmes including Thought for the Day.

The talk is at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery on Friday 30 March at 8pm and is being staged as part of a series of events linked to the ‘Step into my Shoes’ exhibition, which is showing at the museum until 15 April.  Tickets priced £5 are available from the Royal & Derngate Box Office by calling 01604 624811 or visiting http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/

St. James Residents Association - News

On behalf of the SJRA we hope you might give some sponsorship to SJRA Committee member Gloria Richardson, who on Saturday 10^th March at 11.00 am will be abseiling down the Northampton Lift Tower in aid of the “Beating Bowel Cancer” charity.

Great grandmother and Saints supporter, Gloria is hoping to smash her target amount and we can help her do it!

Please take a few minutes to find out more by clicking the links below;

http://www.sjra.info/gloriasabseilfor%20charity.html

http://www.justgiving.com/Gloria-Ann-Richardson

Council issues warning in wake of advice from Fire Service

Advice on what to do to prevent fires in the communal areas of flats is being issued to Northampton Borough Council tenants in the wake of fire safety advice from Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Letters warning tenants of the risks of leaving items in the communal areas of flats, which includes all shared areas such as hallways, stairs, entrance areas and areas under the stairs, will be delivered to all council tenants living in flats this week. 

News Release From St. James Residents’ Association

Residents’ Association Meeting – Parking Permit Consultation Thursday 16^th February 2012

The February meeting of the St. James Residents’ Association will take place on Thursday 16^th at 7.pm in the Doddridge Centre on St. James Road.

As well as the normal updates from Councillors and Police, the meeting is expected to be well attended; because also on the agenda is the issue of whether a parish council would be suitable for St. James.

Important Information For St. James Residents

Important Information For St. James Residents – Please Inform Friends And Neighbours

Please visit the pages below on the SJRA website for more information;

County Council Launches Consultation On Permit Parking Review – Extended Until 2^nd March

Residents Meeting Thursday 16^th February at 7.pm, Doddridge Centre

Agenda items include, Parish Council proposal for St. James and the main item; Permit parking consultation with guest speakers from the County Council: Jim Whiting and Andrew Leighton, who will be asking you what you want from the parking scheme. See attached agenda.

Please note other agenda items will be kept to a minimum to allow enough time for the main item of permit parking to be discussed.

Get ready to Love Northampton

Get ready to feel the love. A brand new website is launching tomorrow (Tuesday 14 February) to showcase all the great things Northampton has to offer, all in one place.

 

This is an exciting time for Northampton, with some amazing regeneration projects coming forward and the bonus of the Northampton Waterside enterprise zone.

 

In the tough economic climate that is affecting the whole country, we need people to know about what Northampton has to offer so that businesses looking to invest see the town as an attractive prospect.

Comments For St. James Local Development Order

To Whom it may concern,

The committee of the St. James Residents’ Association has resolved to comment on these proposals as follows;

Whilst we can see in principle the reason for this order, and in the main agree, we are very concerned that residential properties that border industrial sites may be disadvantaged by the relaxation of planning laws.

SJRA Viewpoint



“When on November 15^th 2011, the localism bill gained royal assent, the planning committee gave permission for the Old Church School in St. James to be demolished and replaced with 14 houses, ignoring the view of local people and consigning over 140 years of St. James history to the wreckers ball.

The SJRA was clear on this issue, a conversion either into residential or business use, thus preserving an elegant, historically important and integral building of St. James for future generations.

Despite the Residents’ Association protestations the community was ignored, the developer had their way and another piece of Northampton’s history was lost with nothing given back to the community in return.

So it will continue, across the town more power is being given to the developer. With this scenario in mind, the residents of St. James heard at the last Residents Meeting of the campaign to preserve Northampton last remaining Gasometers. Over 90% of residents present were in favour of preserving and converting these important remnants of our industrial past and commended it as a great idea.

For a stunning glimpse of what is achievable look at the Alliance building in Dublin. The Gasometer has been converted to accommodate a modern block within its structure, a fine example of preserving the past for the future.

Perhaps then, a fitting and “innovative” use for the Gasometers, should have been WNDC’s Innovation Centre? This would truly be a unique icon that would impress visitors to the town.

Northampton has lost too much heritage to the march of progress and the wallet of the developer, when all can be satisfied with meaningful consultation and a “can do” attitude from the town planners.

Evidence already suggests the Borough and WNDC are of a “won’t do” attitude with regard to the Gasometers.”

John Connolly, Chair

Graham Croucher, Secretary

On behalf of St. James Residents’ Association

Doddridge Centre

St. James.