There is always something going on, but first I’ll welcome you to your March Eden Local!

So, what has been going on? Well, sometimes you can’t see it! Sometimes to get local news you have buy it, even if you go online. Then in between reading things, you get prompts asking you to agree or disagree to certain ‘cookies’, and we are not talking butter or chocolate cookies! I know I have probably just lost hundreds of readers on that line, but some have lost a lot more.

When you log in, even whilst you are thinking about what you’re doing in making that connection, have you really prevented the host of that website from selling your phone number or your IP address to an agency? Then before you know it, you’re getting more advertising sent to your email or social media account. After looking at holidays, suddenly your emails and social media are full of holiday offers.

As a magazine in the hand, you shouldn’t be under any threat, unless as we have discovered someone has grabbed your copy and completed the word search before you! Technically if you’re not online, I’m sure someone could actually screenshot a copy direct from any issue of the Eden Local through our website, where all 190 copies are. It could be a story, a puzzle or anything that you’d like to share. You should in theory have this Eden Local by 5th March or before, as we move forward two weeks in our production, to return back to the regular 12 Eden Local magazines, one every month. To make it happen, next January’s edition (2024) will print December 6th this year! I have covered this in more detail on page 10, along with dates and timescales, not just for the Eden Local but also for the other publications we are working on.

Always in search of good news, it’s true to say that newspapers, once relying on bad news to sell papers, generally have made the transition to have as much bad news as they can possibly get online, so they can sell as much advertising as they can around the article and in between it.

As for selling more newspapers, I was sad to hear that the traditional paper boys and girls operating in Kirkby Stephen will no longer be delivering papers as it is no longer economically viable. I never thought I would live to see the day when paper boys and girls were made redundant. On pages 14 and 16, I have been doing research on the decline in volunteers. It’s our second article under the heading, ‘connecting with the community’ and it covers in detail what our volunteers around us are doing, and what they do unnoticed. It’s possibly a reality check when you consider that so many of our volunteers are getting older, and there is quite a gap appearing in the resources they cover.

With almost one million in the system in the UK, that is about two-thirds the size of the NHS workforce. Many of their responsibilities and functions mean that too much of the public domain in surviving, hinged on what they do, and sadly there needs to be more people coming forward, especially from the younger generations, to sustain these needs.

One thing you can’t always see on the internet is honest feedback. Being the small magazine with the largest circulation in Penrith that continues to expand across Eden, we can honestly say it’s not just about selling adverts.

Across the years, I have had the occasional call asking me sometimes about advertisers, their products and their services, and so my answers are based on customer feedback I get on my customers who advertise.

I actually managed to source an update on the changes to the county, as by the time you read this you could be just three or four weeks away from the unitary changes to the County and District Councils on 1st April. As I see it, there is a lot that needs to be done, but due to process, it cannot be done until 1st April in a number of areas. I suppose as a business person, I could view this like a takeover of a company or another, amalgamating with another.

Putting my hat on as a former town and county councillor, however, I have deep concerns. The process of devolution started in 1997. Our local District Council fought against this change, like they fought against Penrith having a town council. They attempted to stop the changes, they delayed it, then they lost control. Like businesses merging, all staff from county and district will go into one organisation. Could this mean a doubling up of skills?

The next two years will tell, if we see council taxes rising, budgets being cut, increases in redundancies or salary costs not sustainable, people in the community will need to ask why. Personally in the past actually getting real answers has sometimes been an issue. If the District and the County has mismanaged this process for political gain and the community suffers as result we really do have a problem to resolve.

A key measure will be in how the unitary council interacts with the community it serves, and how it helps a new county and all of its businesses, organisations and of course, you and me to adapt to any changes. Let’s hope it’s a smooth transition. At present, it is no longer in our hands. Whilst much of our lives, meanwhile, revolves around the boundaries we are in, including the walls of our homes, boundaries and borders can be fences, rivers, trees, walls, a post, a building, a lake or even the sea. For Eden FM Community radio, it celebrated an increase in its FM transmission recently, by Ofcom doubling its output on 107.5 FM and has none of the boundaries listed above. Before I go, I would like to say a big thank to all those who have contributed to this Eden Local. As we head into May, it’s a busy week. 1st May as we have the Lions’ 40th Carnival in Penrith. I am working on the May Day programme in between what I do, and we also have the local Parish elections on Thursday 4th May. This is followed by King Charles III’s Coronation on Saturday 6th May; the 40th Coronation to take place at Westminster Abbey, I’m told. That’s three events needing hundreds of voluntary hours locally.

Meanwhile, my desk is full, my head is also full, but I’ll be back as early as 8th March for when your April Eden Local starts delivery.

Take care out there.

Lee Phone: 01768 862394

Email: lee@cumbrianlocal.co.uk www.cumbrianlocal.co.uk