Re~Stirred Forum

Only caught the "tail end" of this news item , something about a nuclear cloud over the "Lake Distict" -that will be buried in the lakes and will stay there for 2 million years till it was safe? , can anyone explain to me properly whats going on .

But I like them? ok I will try, but you haven't said anything about the worrying cloud?

Sally, this is the proposal to create a deep underground storage facility for radioactive waste somewhere in west Cumberland. I'm no fan of nuclear power but this isn't a cloud, it isn't physically in any lake, and it's probably reasonably safe. But it has of course started off the usual banging group of protesters. What they won't say is what the alternative economy is for west Cumberland. It's a desperately poor and depressed area where Sellafield is now the only major employer though not as big as it was. All the factories created by, mostly Labour, regional policies postwar to replace jobs lost in mines and steelworks have closed. (They included the big Leyland bus plant at Workington and the Marchon chemcical works at Whitehaven.)

West Cumberland is a wonderful place in many ways. If Allonby beach were in Cornwall it would be packed with wall to wall surfers. Whitehaven is a Georgian town second only to Bath. (Yes. Astonishing.) Silloth is a lovely Victorian seaside resort of the type our mums and dads went to. But no-one goes there because of the industrial legacy. And the murderous taxi driver has, to put it mildly, not helped. Therefore local councils have to accept the nuclear industry, or all their people would be out of work.

Sally - ignore Barnard on the emoticons... I find them useful to decipher when people are being sarcastic/joking/apologetic etc.

Even for writers with perfect punctuation these things may not always come through in the coldness of screen text.

Thankyou Kenco, for that link, I am embarassed to say due to being so caught up with my "micro" world, I have forgotten the really important issues in the "macro" world. Andy again knowledgable, thanks for explaining "Sellafield" and the issues surrounding the nuclear plant, once you reminded me, it for me was ,a "Homer Simpson" moment.....Doh.
I love Cumbria it is a beautiful part of England, largely unspoilt, maybe more could be done to promote the coastal resorts around Cumbria, I think the "Lakes" have done well re-this, from the t.v programme called interestingly "The Lakes". The link that Kenco posted, took me directly to "Google", which displayed a page (and more), about the different views of "Sellafield", it's history and what is happening now, I will revisit the link to read more.
This also reminded me, there was talk that, other countries nuclear waste was going to be disposed of in Britain. I will look that up before giving an opinion. I am anti nuclear , and wish more could be done re-sola, wind,water as well as looking into plants that could possible produce an oil , which could be an alternative to desiel oil/engine oil, I am sure "rape seed oil" was being considered.
I hope the opening of the steel works in newcastle? (I think it was ) is successful and it can filter down to Cumbria. Guy The Mac, I agree with you about the "emoticons" but I think I got a bit ott with them , so as a compromise and just for Barnardhobbit, I will only use one, if i need to point out an emotion such as the ones you spoke of Guy.

Strange request from someone who always uses a bold font.

Other than the 15 million people who visit the Lake District each year. Granted these visitors are concentrated in the national park, but with better attractions and marketing, it shouldn't be too hard to get a small proportion to visit other parts of Cumbria.

Exactly my point about the tv programme "The Lakes" Derogatory, we agree, Cumbria needs better promotion.

the only thing I can do on this technological site is use icons, I cannot upload photos or data sheets I would appreciate a concise course on how to fully use this site.

So please do not stop the use of .

As for nuclear clouds, hey we have all got to go at some time

Surprising or not, they don't. I have been at Allonby and Silloth on a Bank Holiday Monday before now and both were nearly empty.

Ah, the Marchon plant! I can still remember the smell! And thank you for your paean of praise for my hometown, Andy. It is still beautiful, and definitely under-appreciated. Readers of another thread may (or may not) be interested to know that my dad worked at the Marchon plant, and it was from there that he was made redundant, necessitating a "length-of-the-country" type move when I was about 5. Of course, there is a strong Birmingham link there, as the plant was owned by Albright & Wilson, whose offices used to be at the Warley Bowl until pretty recently.

Last time I was in the area, St Bee's Head was swarming (pun only partly intended!) with holidaymakers, though Ravenglass was all but deserted.

Whitehaven is - we can agree on this Fergus - a wonderful town and probably the most under-appreciated place in Britain. Which gives me an excuse to post this, which will puzzle people like Guy and Derog, but which I find genuinely moving:


(Whitehaven Civic Hall)

If you can't read it, it's to Fred Marzillier (1906-1979) "Man of Business, Socialist and Humanitarian".

What a pity your politics were not influenced by him and Schon. We must live in hope. When I was taking this pic an elderly man came up and talked to me about working at the Marchon. He'd been in 'the deeps' as he called it, the muckiest place in the works, but still remembered them and the firm with happiness.

As usual Birmingham gets passed over in favour of an obscure part of the country. We are the second city and we deserve our own nuclear cloud.

We still have the nuclear fall out tunnels located In Newhall Street and spreading out through the city centre, so we at least have the infrastructure in place, if Sir Albert Bore is not considering moving his cabinet into them.

And if those aren't available, I was walking round Brandwood on Saturday looking at buildings for research purposes, and found an Anderson shelter.

Would that be Clive or Pamela's shelter?

Which was the better performer the Morrison or the Anderson, of course Labour supporters would have to go for the Morrison, who was related to some guy that was the embodiment of new Labour.