Rhyme spurs Bolton Council into poetic reply
1:00pm Saturday 18th July 2009 in News
THE words “local authority” may conjure up images of humourless bureaucrats pushing pens as they pore over reams of tedious minutes and agendas.
Not at Bolton Council.
When faced with a resident who wrote a poem to poke fun at town hall bosses, council officers replied in kind.
Marilyn Crook, aged 62, of Longworth Road, Egerton, amused her neighbours earlier this week when she penned a short rhyme and fixed it to a lamppost in her street with balloons and ribbons.
The poem was inspired by the council’s act of installing new streetlights, but forgetting to turn them on for more than five years.
It was written from the perspective of the lamp, which Mrs Crook named Fullbeam after it was eventually turned on.
When asked to explain the mix-up, a council spokesman replied in verse.
He said: “We’d like to share in Fullbeam’s cheer, that he is lit, we’re glad to hear.
“It has been a while, we do admit, to get this street’s lampposts lit.
“Now the council has made its mark, by bringing residents out of the dark. “Patience and grace have proved you right, and now we’d like to say ‘let there be light’.”
Mrs Crook said she was pleased that her poem had elicited a response from the council.
She said: “They’ve managed to do that quicker than they did the lights anyway.
“It’s a pretty good poem as well — it’s as good as mine.
“I’m glad they’ve taken it in good humour, and it makes me feel good that what I’ve done has made them respond.”
The project to replace old streetlights in Longworth Road was put on hold when a resident complained about their location after they were installed.
The council admitted that the scheme had then been forgotten about, and it was only after the story appeared in The Bolton News last November that the situation was reviewed. Bromley Cross councillor David Greenhalgh said he welcomed the cultural element to the council’s response.
He said: “It’s certainly a good response to the residents in Longworth Road, and it should stimulate the cultural side of people’s brains.
“I’m pleased that people can see the light-hearted side of this, but there is a serious issue behind it and I’m glad that the matter has finally come to a satisfactory end.”
