Principal Navigation Page
This website should display correctly in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 which is the browser used by the site Author in its construction. The Author is aware that all pages do not display correctly in a number of other common browsers, and hopes to tackle this issue in due course. In the meanwhile, please make the best of viewing the content.
The more significant parts of the Club’s history is shown in chronological order. The intention is to amplify this as time permits. Hyperlinks to other pages are given where further details are available.
Sequence of Events
A vision for the future of Summerway Tennis was set out in the text of a letter, with suggested site plan, which was sent to the appropriate officer of Devon County Council in May 1999.
The Vision
The partnership between Local Government and the Voluntary Sector.
The main terms of the 1978-
The Partnership -
Credit where it’s due
Local Government’s intention is to transfer the site from the DCC to the ECC.
These are the Draft Heads of Terms under which the ECC is willing to accept the transfer.
The Proposed New Lease -
The Draft Heads of Terms proposed by the ECC would impose a huge financial burden on the Club.
In addition, there are other impositions the Club is asked to bear. The issues are here presented.
The Burden
The views of ECC’s Head of Leisure & Museums are obviously very important in determining any future the Club may have. Especially significant is the insistence on a CASC equating to a private club.
Views of ECC Head
Leisure Officer
This displays the text of the email sent to all DCC and ECC Councillors requesting action regarding lease renewal or the granting of a new lease.
Also, no action before meaningful consultations.
The Committee’s
“Desperate” Email
This is the text of the email sent by Jim to all DCC and ECC Councillors following their failure to note the origin of the Summerway Committee’s email.
That this email was needed is frightening.
“Why Pick on Me?”
Following the Local Elections in May 2006, Jim sent this email to all DCC and ECC Councillors.
Useful for some of its content, but needed because of the response it prompted from an ECC Officer.
Message after Local
Elections 2006
This Open Letter was sent in January 2007 to all DCC and ECC Councillors and other interested persons. It raises a fair number of concerns that Jim has been experiencing regarding Local Government.
Open Letter to DCC
and ECC Councillors
A number of acknowledgements and responses to the Open Letter were received. This email states the views of ECC’s Leisure Manager, who seems not to agree with the substance of the Open Letter.
ECC Leisure Manager
Views of Open Letter
The email from the ECC’s Leisure Manager, being widely distributed and disapproving of the Open Letter, required a response. Several questions are asked of this Officer regarding his email.
Response to ECC
Leisure Manager
All DCC & ECC Councillors were sent this email in early February 2007 to call their attention to Jim’s response to the ECC Leisure Manager’s email.
A request for a moratorium was clearly stated.
Pointer to Response,
Moratorium Request
The ECC Leisure Manager sent an email to the site Author indicating his unwillingness to deal with him or answer his questions. An unfortunate reference to a crusade made a response necessary.
Leisure Manager not
Dealing with Author
The Club Constitution has seen infrequent minor amendments over the years, and remains essentially the same as it has always been.
Clause 3 shows clearly that the Club is not private.
The Constitution
A Special General Meeting (SGM) to determine the future of the Club was held on 20 Jan 2007. Ten Resolutions were considered, nine were passed and one defeated. The SGM Minutes are also posted.
SGM Resolutions and
Minutes
In the case of youngsters who have trouble getting to sleep, it is sometimes helpful to read them a fairy story to make the eyelids feel a little heavier. The site Author offers this, his first attempt at the genre.
A Fairy Story
If you have been examining this website and wish to show support for the children and Club, this is how you can do it. Health Warning: If you ask awkward questions, ECC may refuse to deal with you!
How to Show Your Support for the Club
This page provides a facility for sending an email to the author of this website.
Please observe the notes carefully to give the best chance of your email being received and read.
Email the Author
“Summerway Watchers” is our large and rapidly expanding support group. Strict confidentiality overcomes fear of ECC, and people who care for children and democracy sign up to receive emails.
Support Summerway -
Communication has become something of an issue for the Club now that our traditional premises are no longer available to us. We still have the web, email, etc. Watchers and Email Groups explained.
Communication, Email
Groups & Watchers
There is something everyone hoping for the Club’s survival can do to help, viz. Encourage others to visit this site. Download a pdf file and print it out on a single A4 sheet. Cut to give nine handy slips.
Volunteers Care!
Site Promotion Slips
This is probably the most significant point on this website. It indicates the site’s change of focus which has occurred following Local Government’s very negative attitude towards the site administrator.
Neither Choice nor
Voice
Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter, obtained illuminating responses from DCC and ECC regarding the fate of the Club’s 1999 plans for expansion. Here is the text of the replies. A tiny squeak from democracy!
DCC & ECC Replies
to Ben Bradshaw MP
This page is currently displayed just after the site’s title page. It’s content may vary from time to time, but the links to the ‘Slide Show’ and the ‘Hints on Navigating this Website’ page are stable.
The Big Query
This is only a partial list of those benefiting from the Club as members. Also benefiting
are their families, visitors, non-
A List of Past and
Present Members
ECC’s intention to demolish the Clubhouse hardly seems appropriate, but unreasoning bureaucracy and absolute power can override common sense. This letter makes some points to Exeter’s MP.
Open Letter to MP
about Demolition
Jim sent a letter containing points to be answered by ECC’s Director of Community and Environment to Ben Bradshaw MP, who will seek a satisfactory set of responses on behalf of the Club and Jim.
Points for Hazel Ball
to Answer Rigorously
ECC’s Director of Community and Environment pre-
Hazel Ball to Ben
about Open Letter
Exeter’s bid for Unitary Status is a controversial subject where views in the Club may well differ. Jim made this personal submission at the last hour after he learned of further ECC bureaucracy by email.
Unitary Status Bid
Submission
On discovery that the Devon LTA was supporting ECC rather than the Club, which totally undermined the Club’s negotiations, Jim successfully appealed to the Lawn Tennis Association for a Full Enquiry.
Request to LTA for a
Full Enquiry
Just another way to highlight the major issues which need to be addressed regarding the failure of Local Government, particularly the Exeter City Council, to give adequate support to the Club and children.
View a ‘Slide Show’ of Major Issues
For convenience, the pages of the ‘Slide Show’ are presented as normal pages for inspection.
Clicking this link displays the Navigator for the Issues Pages, which works just like this Navigator.
Slide Show Pages
This letter was written to discover whether any of the National Daily Newspapers were interested in Summerway’s plight. Further varied approaches can be tried to find out what works if this doesn’t.
Probing the National
Dailies’ Interest
Pessimism can damage your health. We all need to live in hope. It would be quite wrong to assume that it is impossible to change the ‘system’ that is threatening to engulf us. Let’s change for the better.
Local Government
Success
Sport England were encouraging the Club to make an application for Lottery Funding for the Club’s development plans. This letter describes the reason it was unable to do so with poignant clarity.
Lottery Bid Letter to
Sport England
Exeter City Council has had detailed knowledge of the Club’s needs for expansion for seven or eight years, so the decision to fail to meet this need must be deliberate. This says it all, to ECC’s shame!
ECC Councillors
Lobbied in 2000
ECC, treating the Club’s call for a moratorium with contempt, has created a new vandal run, thereby knowingly exposing the clubhouse to heightened vandalism. Read about the consequences of this.
ECC Open Up A New
Vandal Route
Part 3 of Jim’s response to a very unfriendly letter, addressed to him personally, from ECC’s Head of Leisure and Museums, highlights the deprivation being imposed on the community by the Council.
The Crux of the Matter
It was this very frustration that lay behind the need for, and the creation of, this website. This is Democracy, ECC style, in which the Council pleases itself, while ignoring the citizens of Exeter.
ECC Democracy
What hard hearts ECC Councillors and Officers must have! They have demolished our lovely clubhouse that Ace Magazine described “as if it’s been lifted straight out of a Famous Five novel.”
The Distressing Fate of the Clubhouse
This email was sent by Jim to Hannah Foster, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate
for Exeter, following a meeting. Reasons for the necessity of in-
Email from Jim to Hannah Foster
Exercising a right of reply is one thing, but ECC seems to have gone OTT with false comments to National TV. Request for Information email seeks to differentiate between fact and false impression.
Fact & Fuzziness
The release of further documents under the Freedom of Information Act reveals ECC secrets. The clandestine activities of Cllr Pete Edwards, the Leader of the Council, feature in this email.
Email to Update Ben Bradshaw MP
The Daily Express published this article revealing that Whitehall directives were encouraging town hall officials to set up call centres and computerised answering services. Another step towards ‘1984’ !
Town Halls told to Shun the Public
ECC is sending Exeter citizens a clear message that it decides, not the people. Jim’s email to Hannah Foster highlights the message we are receiving, and the haughty attitude of Councillors and Officers.
Jim’s Pagoda -
Now that things seem to be solidifying against the best interests of the community, the campaign takes on a wider significance. Objectives are crystallising and possible outcomes need to be considered.
Campaign Details and Possible Outcomes
The Rt Hon John Denham MP, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (a cabinet minister), visited Exeter in support of Labour in the Local Elections. Was he given a false impression?
John Denham’s Visit to Exeter
This series of three emails are in response to a letter from Hazel Ball to Ben about tennis provision in Exeter. The second compares ECC’s estimate of Hazel’s worth to the Club’s. Untruthful officers.
MP Issues (2 of 3) -
Jim’s submission to the Post Office ‘Consultation’ process over branch closures may have some validity and relevance with regard to Summerway. There may be a pattern linking local with national.
Post Office Closures and Summerway
Exeter’s MP, Ben Bradshaw, has really done the Club proud in trying to obtain information from the City Council. This, and the two emails below, are only separate to make them convenient for Ben.
MP Issues (1 of 3) -
The last of the series deals with deprivation. Local Government deprived the community by its failure to consider the Club’s value. National Government is compounding social deprivation regarding PO’s.
MP Issues (3 of 3) -
£70,000 is a lot of money to spend on controversial artwork approved by the City Council, but not by the local Heavitree community. Our children are deprived while the Council boosts its own image.
A £70,000 Status Symbol for Exeter
An introduction to the purpose of this website, with emphasis that the site is not subversive in nature.
Some will undoubtedly find it challenging, however.
You are invited to judge the facts for yourself.
Home Page
Regular visitors who wish to see whether this site has been updated since their last visit should look at this page. Website changes, news, developments and prospective web pages are posted.
Site & Developments
Update Noticeboard
Moving around this website is straightforward, and hopefully not too inconvenient. There is reference on the Hints page to the ‘Slide Show’ and ‘Fairy Story’ as well as the few tips on navigation.
Hints on Navigating
the Website
This is not ideal, but is something of a solution for those able to download a MS Word document and search its text. There are hyperlinks to bring up the relevant website page, but not highlight the text.
Search Facility for
Text on the Website
The first page displayed on accessing this website has changed from time to time. This navigation entry is to give a quick route back to it in two clicks – any page heading plus the box to the left of this.
www.summerway.org
First Website Page
APPLE USERS. Having acquired an iMac in order to resolve display under Safari, it
appears that it isn’t a browser issue, but the way Apple Macs display. Porting to
iWeb isn’t practical due to limitations, and there are some hyperlink problems as
well. Use command-
When appropriate, campaign updates are published to all email groups, including the Watchers. When time permits, it is hoped that these will also appear on this website. This is their ‘Contents’ page.
Summerway Updates Navigation Page
An unpublished report on top level County tennis, indicating the superb quality of coaching previously available at Summerway. The opportunity to excel at the game is now denied to many City youngsters.
LTA 2008 Summer County Cup Report
The website author is noting a few thoughts on a page which is intended to remain hidden until ready to be revealed. It is an explanation of what makes him tick, and why he is pursuing this campaign.
A Secret Page
The Daily Mail has published a very pertinent article headlined “‘Risk-
Are We Creating A Cruel Society?
Six extra street lights, only made necessary by the decisions of a remote City Council, are now using up precious energy. This page highlights how this came about, together with related considerations.
Councils Increase Carbon Footprint
Proof was required for a letter submitted to the Express & Echo for its ‘Points of view’ page. Still not suitable after proof supplied. Reporter will be in touch. Last two E&E articles very bad experiences.
Letter Unacceptable for Express & Echo
It seems important to the author of this website that all those who receive our emails as a Summerway Watcher realises they are appreciated individually, and are not just ciphers. This page makes the point.
An Appreciation of the Watchers Group
Serious investigators of Local Government Failure will find my response to the Councils’ Place Survey 2008 helpful. Only the most interested Summerway supporters will wish to work right through them.
ECC/DCC Survey -
Four Extra Pages
When Devon County LTA’s minutes for its 2008 AGM were circulated prior to the 2009 AGM, it was found that AOB Minute 9.1 gave an entirely false impression, requiring redrafting. View details.
Devon LTA AGM 2008 Minute 9.1
Truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth has meaning. Devon LTA AGM 2008 Minute 9.1 is in breach of this standard, misleading by stating truth, but not the whole truth. Also has inaccuracies.
Truthfulness
Yet another mystery for us to unravel! ECC has recently planted a deciduous tree four metres from the fence surrounding the Summerway Courts. Here we speculate on what underlies this hostile action.
The Tree
The marked contrast between the attitudes of HRH Prince Charles and the Exeter City Council towards the needs of today’s children prompted Jim to write to Prince Charles and submit an article locally.
A Letter to HRH Prince Charles
Efforts are continuing to enable local children to make use of the tennis courts at Summerway, even though the Club’s facilities were destroyed when ECC exposed and then demolished the clubhouse.
A Spark of Life on Summerway Courts
Another supervised children’s facility in our locality has been let down by Exeter’s “can’t do” Council. The Splash holiday play scheme has been targeted. Details given in an article submitted to ‘The Voice’.
ECC Ditches Splash
There are hundreds of Summerway Watchers who receive our Email Updates. Even so, the more the merrier. This page explains how to obtain updates, and is the www.sumupdates.co.uk domain’s target.
Keeping an Eye on Campaign Progress
An incident of deliberate criminal damage to an item of equipment by an invading gang of youths was allowed to become cold. Pressures/Priorities make this understandable, but a complaint was called for.
Complaint -
Ben Bradshaw MP has been kept up to date with most of the major developments of our Campaign. The complaint to the police and a Western Morning News article were the principal subjects this time.
Exeter’s MP Update in August 2009
This is an alternative page to act as target for the www.sumupdates.co.uk domain. Edmund Burke’s quote is used to test whether page content affects the proportion of positive responses obtained.
When Good Men do Nothing ....
Play equipment in Summerway Park declared to be a success. Questions spring to mind. Is the Council justified in patting itself on the back? Comment on a false dichotomy between adults and children.
ECC Assessment of Summerway Park
Article submission only partially published. Lack of a second adult denied the children a tennis evening. Weather perfect, children round their houses, but not a soul in Summerway Park. Link to photos.
Summerway Park
People have used web search engines to look for the term ‘Constructive Eviction’, and have been directed to this website. This page indicates what we mean when making use of the expression.
Constructive Eviction
The history of the Summerway Campaign’s input to the Boundary Committee’s unitary status review, showing it up to be an undemocratic shambles. The views of the public seem discounted. Details!
Boundary Committee Sham Exposed
ECC failed to adequately consult affected citizens. Executive Committee voted 8-
Public Excluded -
The Chief Executive passed Jim’s letter to the Assistant Chief Executive for a response, which only dealt with a small minority of the content. This is Jim’s emailed reply to Ms Bindu Arjoon’s letter.
Email to Assistant Chief Executive
An email of appreciation of Jim’s letter to the Chief Executive was received 8th December 2010 and was duly acknowledged. Posted on this website as is helpful to understanding the Campaign context.
Unsolicited Email of Appreciation
Nellie E, like Eddie O, is a significant symbol of the Summerway Campaign. The popular song ‘Nellie the Elephant’ appears in many forms on YouTube. Links are given to eight selected versions.
Nellie the Elephant YouTuberances
No response was received from the Assistant Chief Executive, Ms Bindu Arjoon, in the eight months following the encouraging meeting of 10th January 2011. This prompted a letter to her from Jim.
Letter to Assistant Chief Executive