A Stroke of Luck

I had chance meeting with Christine Fraser (Committee Member of SDNP and EPW) and she invited me to participate in EPW's recently started involvement in Looe Road Park. I expressed a little concern and reluctance, never having been previously involved in community matters. CF reassured me that she would, "Show me how the games was played", or at least the way she played it! I finally agreed and attended my first meeting at the St.David's Community Centre (SDCC).

At the second EPW meeting, again at SDCC, I was asked by CF to fill some kettles with water for tea/coffee making. I was unfamiliar with the building and wandered around until I found a member of staff to show me where I could fill the kettles. The staff member asked who it was for and when I told her that it was for an EPW meeting she informed me that a meeting was a meeting booked for SDNP not EPW. SDNP had themselves decided that they should not pay for room hire because of their ongoing intention to take control of SDCC and, "Didn't see why they should have to pay for room-hire". CF claimed that these two meetings were for SDNP discussions when in fact they were for EPW. Frequent requests, from the Centre for EPW's contact details to allow a room-hire invoice to be issued were always ignored. Clearly SDNP and EPW thought it acceptable to deprive SDCC of deperately needed revenue. CF told me, "Keep your mouth shut and keep it zipped in future". What a charmless and manipulative character CF really is, and this was only a taster of what was to follow.