Leek roundabout update

Like thieves in the night steeling lead of a church roof, Staffordshire County Council waited till nightfall before sending in workmen to start the removal of the lamp post in the middle of Leeks iconic roundabout. Their plan was to remove the post so that they could speed up the process of demolishing the roundabout and by speed up I mean it would stop protesters chaining themselves to the lamp post as some have said they would do.

But people power foiled the dastardly scheme and even with all the cunning of the council the work was halted before it could be completed by a wall of bodies getting in the way of the work force and its digger, picture Tienanmen square only round and without the tanks. So round one to the people of Leek but the fight is not yet over with the date set for work to start on the 14th.

My personal feeling is that the roundabout should stay, with more generic shops coming to the town, Costa, Sainsburys and the like, Leek will soon look like 100's of other towns with only its name showing you where you are. We need to keep Leek's individuality, because once it's gone you will never get it back. But also the people voted to keep the roundabout and if the council can ride roughshod over our opinion on this what will stop them in future, do our votes count for nothing, who do they really work for.

The picture shows the improved roundabout as it stands today, with the old top shown as it was just a few short weeks ago in the snow, I known what I prefer.

The Roundabout Leek

Just to say thank you to the ones that were there. Also a reminder that Dusk till Dawn Crafted by professional photographer Brett Trafford and wonderfully displayed in the Foxlowe, The Market Place, Leek from the 1st of May to the 31st May 2012. The free exhibition, “Dusk till Dawn” is exploration of photography when the sun has gone down. When the sun goes down and the light fades this is the time of day that most photographers put down their cameras and head home. During the winter long nights put quite a restriction on your photography and it was this challenge of working out side the normal conditions that lead to the project. Photography is the manipulation of light and the night time is the absence of light, so the two seem incompatible, but with a bit of hard work and dedication the rewards can be spectacular. Taken over a number of years and in a number of locations, the images show the wonderful colors and shades that can appear when the

Dusk till Dawn

Crafted by professional photographer Brett Trafford and wonderfully displayed in the Foxlowe, The Market Place, Leek from the 1st of May to the 31st May 2012. The free exhibition, “Dusk till Dawn” is exploration of photography when the sun has gone down. When the sun goes down and the light fades this is the time of day that most photographers put down their cameras and head home. During the winter long nights put quite a restriction on your photography and it was this challenge of working out side the normal conditions that lead to the project. Photography is the manipulation of light and the night time is the absence of light, so the two seem incompatible, but with a bit of hard work and dedication the rewards can be spectacular. Taken over a number of years and in a number of locations, the images show the wonderful colors and shades that can appear when the sun goes down.