A 'Very Important Person!' All Part of the 'Master Plan'.

A V.I.P. Yes! That was me! Not only did I attend regular meetings of Exter Parks Watch, but also some (minimal) SDNP meetings. It soon became obvious that the only opinions that really counted were those of the 'chosen' few, heaven forbid that anyone outside the 'inner circle' would dare use any initiative without approval from 'on high'. I also became a Committee Member of St.David's Neighbourhood Partnership and rose to the 'dizzy heights' of SDNP's 'Membership Secretary', how impressive isn't that? It soon became clear why SDNP meetings were so poorly attended, the only opinion that really mattered was if it related to improving their (SDNPs) chances of taking control of the community centre.

My 'role' as Membership Secretary involved, or was supposed to involve, maintenance of SDNP's membership database and collection of subscriptions. Frequent requests to the Chair of SDNP, Hannah Reynolds, for the details of existing membership (and prospective new members), were always ignored and were never received. I soon realised that this was the 'norm', both for SDNP and EPW. Whilst both organisations 'welcome' voluntary contribution of time and resources, it has to be on their terms. As a 'foot soldier' you are 'permitted' to participate but, whatever you do, 'toe the party line or else', it's their way, or 'no way!

Naively, at this time, I still hoped that SDNP and EPW's remit was 'community focussed'. This very rapidly changed and I soon began to realise that EPW's involvement in Looe Road Park, and specifically that of Christine Fraser, was a 'damage limitation exercise' to improve SDNP's image as a 'caring/sharing' community organisation. SDNP's focus was on taking control of the Community Centre, whilst effectively ignoring the remainder of their 'community'. This attitude I believe, led to their (SDNP's) past failures in gaining funding for their proposed take over and refurbishment of the Community Centre.

As previously mentioned, appeals from various organisations for a wider community participation by SDNP were constantly refused. SDNP, at this time, had no involvement with social housing within their catchment area, despite previous frequent requests, from Exeter City Council, to widen their 'community perspective'. In fact, SDNP were very selective about who would or, more importantly, wouldn't be part of their activities, and this included many streets/roads on their own 'doorstep'. Suddenly the 'penny dropped', and SDNP realised that it was imperative that they became involved in community matters that didn't revolve around their taking control of the Community Centre if they were to improve their chances of obtaining funding. Suddenly, all of the community organisations that formed the basis for most of SDNP's complaints were 'welcomed' into the SDNP 'fold'.