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2013 - A Time of the Signs But perhaps it is really a 'Sign of the Times'! A search was conducted to find one of the original (postwar?) NCC village name signs, constructed in cast iron as are some surviving street signs in town, but in Blisworth they have all been replaced with sheet aluminium versions and these current designs are photographed below before they, in turn, are whisked into oblivion by a "new order". Note that the typesetter for the newer one, on the left, has applied a differing perspective on what provides clarity and opted for cost-saving monochrome.
The "Best" There was some excitement in 2012 when the PPPT (that is the Parish Plan Progress Team) entered the village into a countywide competition for "best village" and won three trophies in that year. Some fabric banners, some 7 foot by one in size, were strung up at one or two entrances to the village but were taken down a few weeks later in response to a ruling that they breached local planning rules. Alas, there was no photographic record made. The PPPT then worked on a design that would be compliant and the claim of best in 2012 would be incorporated into a heritage design already in use in Towcester, being one based on gold lettering on a black background. It will eventually be placed at every approach to the village and will become the new order, alluded to in the above. Highways took quite a time in coming to an agreement about the new signs and there was some concern that the design would then end up with a '30' sign incorporated into it. Many months had elapsed since the start of this action and some delay was involved in the Parish Council having to sign an undertaking to pay for any maintenance that the signs may need. Then there was a considerable delay - so much so that this web-page goes out before it's done - 'Sign of the Times' overflows into 2014. Anyway, we soon learnt that the "best in 2012" would be incorporated into the village sign mentioned below (see "Totem") and that the upgrading of all the village traffic signs was shelved. SNC's contribution is shown here.
A Grave Matter A project in recent months has been the tidying of the village graveyards. The PPPT has been helping with this also and to commemorate the improvements to the supplementary graveyard on the High Street a sign was put up near the gate to make everyone aware of the winning of a 'Silver' Award from the Northamptonshire Wild Life Trust. Quite what to call this graveyard presented an opportunity for long discussions on how its name should be recorded. The graveyard was created as a Cemetery in 1863 being the word for any unattached or annexed burial place and that is how it is labelled in the Ordnance Survey mapping right up to the present, this being followed by the SNC in their official map (based on Ordnance Survey) of the village. This has been explained to the PPPT but they are aware that a minority of villagers refer to the graveyard as "the Old Graveyard" because "Cemetery" sounds impersonal and irreligious. This alternative naming is wrong, of course, and one can argue that signs should never be wrong. What transpired, in part paid for and supported by the Parish Council, is just fine and presents a rewarding amount of background information. This information board was officially unveiled on Saturday, 3rd May 2014.
Village
'Totem' For
a number of years there had been discussions regarding an emblazoned
"Blisworth" village sign that would be set up at a central point. There were
always two main questions: (i) which central point - should it be at the
Royal Oak or at the place of the now removed Elm Tree and (ii) what
should the design be? The PPPT
in conjunction with the
Parish Council took up the task of organising a bit of a vote and it was
subsequently decided the sign should go at Elm Tree corner and be based on
a large board that could be viewed from either side. A sign at that
location should ideally face three ways and be prominently sited but
issues such as the
potential clutter and the existence of complex underground services
seemed to direct everyone to mounting the panel near the existing
Blisworth Heritage plinth, or even directly over it - the only problem with that
being that the sign would not be easily noticeable to travellers
coming through from either Towcester or Northampton. The chosen designer Ivan Chester and artist
Alan Baillie (to be seen below) have opted to
picture a canal narrow-boat under the name "Blisworth" and
depict two seasons on the two sides. It has turned out to be a
fine piece of work but the Parish Council has become concerned about
planning permission and shelling out £200 for the fee to the SNC
- yet they worry about asking neighbours for their approval (which is
what the SNC want the fee for!). With the announcement that the frame
for the board will take time to design, to construct and install we knew that
the job will take months to complete. However, the unveiling occurred on 22nd
July 2014 but even this was improvised at the last moment when the
contractors promised for the frame on which to mount the sign had become
insolvent and a large artist's easel was used instead. The sign was
properly installed soon after.
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