Early afternoon meeting with the Executive Head of Residents and Visitor Services and the Service Manager (Town Services) Torbay Council.
a bit of atmosphere-building… we worked most of yesterday drafting and rehearsing our pitch. In the early hours we were woken up by our youngest who had been very sick over himself, his bed, his cuddly blanket. We blearily cleared up as best we could, settled him down and he was sick again. And again, and again. At about 4.30am my Smooth Space partner said, “you go and get some sleep, I’ll stay here. We can’t cancel tomorrow – and one of us needs to be semi-functional”….
Torbay Council occupies the fabulous Town Hall building in Torquay built with money donated by Andrew Carnegie. The architect was George Soudon Bridgman, a descendent of an old Torbay family. The building stone comes from local quarries at Barton, Beer, Ipplepen and Ashburton and the interior is lavishly decorated with local marble. I have often used the adjoining library (also part of the Carnegie bequest) but have never been inside the municiple offices. Find I’m having mixed and blurry responses. In retrospect I think my ambivalence for this splendid Edwardian legacy is its heritage which ties it to a culture where investment in community was only achieved through philanthropy, especially as I’ve just been reading about the current Council budget. Torbay is ordered by Central Government to make a further £3 million cut in 2014 that will wipe out Adult Social Care (that’s 3 banker’s bonuses, folks) on top of recent cuts that have already totalled more than £22 million.
In meeting with Service Manager and Head of Residents & Visitor Services, in the silence after introductions and apologies. So I launch in – want to keep what I say straightforward, clear. We have outlined our proposal in a document sent before this meeting was agreed – no reason to describe what we would like to do all over again so I ask and answer – why Smooth Space, why Torre Abbey, why a 12-month residency? Takes less than 5 mins. Then the Head of R & VS replies. She begins to outline all the events that will be taking place at Torre Abbey over the next 12 months, telling me when they will happen and who’s involved. I’m assuming that the implication is that Torre Abbey has a full diary and would struggle to take on another commitment. But the Head of R&VS continues and is now considering our proposed timeline, showing how it slots quite neatly into existing events calender and then she and Service Manager have a lively discussion about who I should approach at Torre Abbey and who they will be contacting on our behalf to make introductions. A further 20 minutes and the Service Manager has helped me find my way back through the complicated route to the exit and is shaking my hand goodbye, reassuring me that he’ll be in contact with Torre Abbey as soon as possible.
