Make Fun, not Profit?

Well, I'm not saying you can't do both, as the laudable work of several of our town's major fund-raising citizens would attest to, though it does sometimes seem that Lyme is now so 'organised' for 'business, 'progress', and 'profit', that we're all n danger of forgetting just what it is we LOVE about living in Lyme Regis. Doesn't anyone just have fun any more? Does there always have to be a means to an end? All power to Phil Streets elbow, along with the same to his sidekick Mike Higgs, and I get the power of the message, and I don't at all disagree with ther aim of raisng £30,000 to have a statue of Sir George Somers erected in the gardens, but, you now, a bunch of motivated students from Woodroffe could present us with a statue for a lot less outlay, and they'd probably have fun doing it, and the result would be more original. Or why not give the £30,000 to the new Youth Club, and call it the George Somers Youth Centre? A bit more dosh involved, and an increased purchasing power might present the youth of this town with a place where they could really have some fun, in the centre of the town, instead of outside it, at the back of the Health Centre, where the youngsters are hdden from view, and not just kept of the sreets but stored outside the town, like outlaws!
So I'm back to my original question, is it ever possible in Lyme to have some fun without attaching an economic value to everything? Answer is YES, thats our function, down here at LymeRegisRadio, we're doing it for fun, no underlying motives, no affiliations, we record the myriad activities and events of this wonderful town because we love recording people, we're natural eavesdroppers, we love meeting people, developng new friendships, associating with the ideas of others. We're doing it to make fun, not profit. Thats the aim we began with, and thats the way we'll continue. Start as you mean to go on is what we say.
Which is a long way round to say we've had a FANTASTIC year, all the way from being nominated as Community Champions, to the fun with Pip on Friday Nights at the Royal Lion, to newish and controversial ventures like recording Council meetings. I guess Mary might say that the best fun she's had this year have been the beachwalks with the highly informative and good natured Dr. Colin Dawes. Series One of these sessions will shortly be available on a CD, and we're already busy on Series Two which focusses on the bird life of Lyme. After that, there are the fields surrounding Lyme, and Colin's amazing metal detecting machine. I wonder sometimes if we shouldn't have a new museum dedicated to the historical and fossil finds of Colin Dawes, who is, incidentally, a person who really enjoys his work, and has a lot of fun doing it.
So if anyone has a bright idea for an audio series, we want to know. We have a few ideas of our own in the pipeline, and we'll be letting you know about these over the next week or two. What we can tell you is that we're definitely doing Open Audio this year, hopefully commencing this year in March, and with a similar format as we had the year before last, that is, live performances, in a live venue, because thats what creates the most fun.
In the meantime, the next event is a joint promoton with View from Lyme, its an 'Any Questions' style programme titled The Lyme Agenda, the panel includes Development Trust Manager Marcus Dixon, Councillor Lucy Campbell, TurnLymeGreen motivator Candida Blaker, our Community Policeman Richard Winward, and A.N. Other, undecided as yet, perhaps its you? In the Chair, with the Dimbleby role is Pip Evans. Informaton will be avalable in View from Lyme, and posters will be on the street. Please send in your questions!!
And while we're being serious, lets have some fun........