RIP Michael foot MP, who died on this day 3rd March 2010 from everyone at NPA Plymouth office.

MICHAEL FOOT, who died yesterday at the age of 96, was the father of modern Plymouth.

As MP for Devonport from 1945 to 1955, he fought at Westminster for materials to rebuild the blitzed centre of Plymouth, where his father was Lord Mayor after the Second World War.

Mr Foot died shortly before 7am yesterday at his home in Hampstead, north London. He had been ill for some time and had been receiving 24-hour care.

MICHAEL FOOT was so passionate about Plymouth Argyle that he persuaded residents near his home in Hampstead, north London, to change the name of the street in which they lived to “Pilgrims’ Lane”.

The former Labour Party leader was born at 1 Lipson Terrace in Plymouth on July 23, 1913. He was educated at Plymouth College Preparatory School before being moved to Leighton Park School in Reading and then Wadham College, Oxford.

Mr Foot fought the Devonport constituency in the 1945 General Election and won the seat for Labour for the first time.

The above text scraped verbatum from the Plymouth Evening Herald.

www.thisisplymouth.co.uk

<<<<A house in Plymouth, Devon, UK>>>>

Whilst a lot of people choose to give us brief instructions as to what they want doing to their house, from time to time we enjoy a nice chat with someone who has experienced getting quotes from other companies to have their house painted and here is one of them!

A site user writes………

Hello, hows it going? I saw you on the internet after seeing one of your teams working on a house here in Plymouth and I see you have an office here, so can you contact me for one of your free quotes please if you dont mind as i want what they had on my house please!

I’ll tell you a bit about it. it is prob late Victorian, has damp, mainly at the rear and lots of cracks that someone at some stage has put a load of gunk in it to seal the crack but its obvious looking at it, it needs far more repairs done and some more cracks have appeared to the front and the side after the winter we had, which was very cold.

I have had 3 quotes so far but i am to be honest not interested in any as the salesman from these companies ( guess you wont be able to print who they are yes?!?),

anyway, the 1st fella was about 18 years old (!), was selling some sort of coating that that trowel on and roll into a pattern and looked awful but he tried, badly, to convince us it would look grate on our Victorian house! By that time we knew he was a fool and showed him the door. Grate indeed, it is a bit like suggesting buying a vintage 1920s rolls Royce and shoving alloy wheels and a sports exhaust on it as some fool says it would look “nice”, where do some of these wallcoating firm,s get their staff from!? (sorry guys, i dont mean you!)

…..and anyway he read a script and we couldn’t wait for him to leave, and then the other 2 turned up in flash cars, the 1st one seemed in a hurry to leave, even before he gave us the stupid price he did, and the last one we had around was a fairly nice chap dont get me wrong, but the price he quoted was absolutely astronomical and he didnt have any houses already painted in Plymouth o show us which put us off a bit!

I have heard grate things about NPA, especially as I know my mate had you guys do his house in Glenholt and he was well chuffed with it, plus he said you have display houses we can see in Plymouth so i would like to see  a few also.

Now I am sure you know, being from Plymouth yourself (!), that people generally dont have a lot of dough down here and as we only bought the house last year, it skinted us, so I would be very keen to get a quote s can you send someone around to see my house as i am very keen to get the cheapest price you can to have my house painted, thanks in Anticipation from John, Plymouth.

THANKS JOHN AND THANKS FOR GIVING US PERMISSION TO POST YOUR EMAIL, I HOPE IT HELPS OTHERS WHO ARE LOOKING FOR A PRICE FOR WORK TO THEIR HOUSE.

EDITORS NOTE: We never print peoples details unless they give us permission. We will update this post at a later stage if “john” decides to go ahead with us………….

As some of you may know, i reside in Devon. No, not the green fields, quaint villages, coves, beaches and rolling hills you see on TV, but the violent chav-town and dump that is Plymouth. A shadow of its former self, a once prosperous navy and garrison town, now we have bedsits, “everything’s a pound” shops, rough pubs and packs of semi wild chav youths terrorising neighbourhoods………………………..However whilst browsing the BBC website i came across this very inspiring article. Have a read of it and tell us what you think…………and if youre actually from plymouth, even better.

The Wolseley Road estate before (left) and after its transformation

Graffiti. Muggings. Fly tipping. Drug taking. Vandalism. What to do when a housing estate is this blighted? Knock it down and start again is one solution, but it’s extreme.

A year ago, young mother Nicola wanted out of Plymouth’s notorious Wolseley Road Flats. By day she looked out on a rubbish-strewn courtyard, scorched crack spoons discarded in the grass near the swings her children played on.

FIND OUT MORE…   The Estate We’re In is on BBC One at 0915 each morning from Mon 31 March to Fri 4 April Catch up on previous episodes at BBC iPlayer

By night she was too afraid to leave her ground floor flat, under siege as hooded youths from nearby estates kicked in the security doors to party in the stairwell.

Her neighbours felt the same. When trouble kicked off, as it so frequently did, they just shut their doors and hoped it went away. But then Silla Carron, who transformed her own grim estate in north London and won a Pride of Britain award for her efforts, started knocking on doors with a plan of action…

1. UNITE – AND GALVANISE – RESIDENTS

It is a symptom of modern life that few people know their neighbours. And with doors locked to keep out a threatening outside world, there are precious few chances to get to know one another.

Support galvanised: Residents of the Wolseley Road estate muster

But collective action is vital. Start by saying hello, says Ms Carron. And organise a residents’ meeting to raise concerns. Find somewhere to meet – even if it’s someone’s flat, in the first instance – badger people into coming and ask what they want done to improve matters.

Some may well say demolish the lot – the course of action taken recently in Manchester’s New Islington, where a council estate was flattened and smart low-rise houses built in its place. But a few changes can make enough of a difference to both the look of a place and to residents’ attitudes to act as an incentive to do more.

“People need to come out from behind their doors and take responsibility,” says Ms Carron. “If it’s outside your door, it’s to do with you.”

2. IMPROVE SECURITY

With all but two of the estate’s 17 security doors broken, people could just walk in off the street. And they did.

Steel casing around pipes prevents climbing, while old doors make way for new

Break-ins were a constant fear. And the communal stairwells were magnets for those from neighbouring streets to drink, take drugs, play loud music and hang out – none of which they would do on their own doorsteps. With scant exterior lighting, walking around the estate’s dark nooks and crannies felt decidedly threatening.

But with new lights fitted and security doors that open outwards – making them impossible to kick in – residents began to feel safer, and vandalism and anti-social behaviour in the stairwells ceased.

3. RECRUIT HELP

From local police, anti-social behaviour units and from councillors and housing officials at the local authority. These people are paid to look after residents’ interests.

People get so used to locking their doors… While the building is changing and the atmosphere is changing it’s a good time to let people know they can come out Silla Carron

Make sure they know what the problems are. Provide examples – detailed descriptions or photos of troublemakers, for instance, or photos of broken security doors – and “don’t take no for an answer,” says Ms Carron.

“If you don’t like something, don’t just sit there moaning. Moan to the council; it’s their job to work for you. Then something might get done.”

4. MONEY MONEY MONEY

Security comes at a cost, as does building work. But funding is available for all manner of projects. Find out what’s on offer and start applying. On Ms Carron’s own estate, she raised some £6m for building improvements, a mini golf ground and a five-a-side pitch with tennis court markings for those two weeks every year when the nation gets their racquets out.

At Wolseley Road, the tenants talked hundreds of thousands of pounds out of the council for a paint job, a new roof, lighting and new security doors. Today it looks like a new estate.

5. BE VIGILANT

Vandalism and anti-social behaviour can be tackled, in number

One person alone will be reluctant to confront trouble. But there is strength in numbers if residents as a whole make it clear that vandalism, drunken or drug-fuelled rowdiness, bullying and littering will not be tolerated on their patch.

As well as a Tenants Association, the residents of Wolseley Road began a neighbourhood watch group. By taking charge of their own security, by reporting suspicious behaviour and providing descriptions, they not only felt safer but actually became safer as trouble evaporated from the estate.

6. MAKE OWN CHOICES

The Clarence Way estate where Silla (inset) lives, and helped transform

As if piling insult on top of injury, the vandalised communal stairwells at Wolseley Road were painted an unpleasantly institutional gold. Rather than await a vat o’ institutionally hued paint from the council, the residents asked for colour charts to choose their own scheme when the estate was given its facelift.

“It used to be tatty here and now it’s not. It feels like our estate,” says one boy. “We chose the colours and it doesn’t feel like someone else’s property now.”

7. ENGENDER RESPECT

Residents take more care of their surroundings when they feel a place is their own – and that includes children. Those at Wolseley Road formed children’s gardening club to clean up the neglected flower beds and plant colourful primula and hardy vegetables.

And when a boy from a neighbouring street pulled up all the plants, the kids were incensed. They quickly put the vandalised plants back in the soil – the flowers are flourishing once again, and the vandal hasn’t been back.

8. MEETING SPACE

Whether its a tidied up playground or a communal flat for meetings, parent-and-baby groups and coffee mornings, somewhere people can come to find a friendly face and to air ideas is important.

This also provides a central information point for council and community notices.

9. THROW A PARTY

Residents of Wolseley Road celebrate the transformation

“People get so used to locking their doors, and it stays that way,” says Ms Carron. “While the building is changing and the atmosphere is changing, it’s a good time to let people know they can trust themselves to come out and bring their community back together.”

Having organised several successful festivals on her own estate, Clarence Way in Camden, she encourages those at Wolseley Road to do the same. A bouncy castle, a barbeque and a DJ tempt residents out of their flats – even if for some it’s to hang over the balcony – and actually speak to each other.

10. KEEP AT IT

Tenants associations and neighbourhood watch groups across the nation know that momentum ebbs and flows, and that often it comes down to a handful of can-do types to keep things going. “Without support, nothing will change,” says Ms Carron.

A year on, the estate is clean and safe with a growing sense of community. What does young mum Nicola now think? “It’s looking great with the kids playing outside, it feels a lot safer. It’s brilliant.”