From Bedlington to Glastonbury Town.

[Malcolm George Allan]

Hi I have lived in Glastonbury Town for 35 years, as you know we all have heard of Glastonbury Festival which takes place at Worthy Farm Pilton generally last week of June, I have been many times, I know Michael Eavis not well but I have met him on a few occasions, I don't go to Pilton (Glastonbury Festival) anymore the last time I was there in a sea of mud met Herbie Hancock and thanked him for all the great music he has performed from Miles Davis to his own band the Headhunters, he was a very nice man. 

What is unique about Glastonbury, been one of the seats of early Christianity one of the most prestigious Abbeys in Britain until it was ransacked by King Henry the VIII and the Abbot Richard Whiting Hung ,drawn and quarted  and left hanging in the Tower at the top of Glastonbury Tor.

You also have the Chalice Well famous spring for it's water along with independent shops that attracts about 500,000 people to the town through the year people from all over the world come to this small Market Town in Somerset population 10,000  so what is the Unique Selling Point (USP) for this town to attract so many visitors?

It's quite liberal and tolerant as we get all sorts of people some on a quest  of self-realisation others just to come for the experience, there is a lot of artistic murals and a healthy music scene plus alternative therapy's available if your into that sort of thing.

So as you see if your town offers something that you don't get anywhere, you will get visitors and create a alternative experience that has an overall positive economic effect for Glastonbury Town.

I think that the good people of Bedlington live in a satellite town due to been close to Newcastle Upon Tyne, and as it seems the lack of investment in the town has had a detrimental effect on the potential for business growth in the town, as Bedlington has some beautiful Countryside and parks and not been to far from the sea also.

Lets hope in the very near future that Bedlington gets some real investment to improve what the town has got to offer and to bring that extra quality of life the everyone deserves in the 21st Century.

Yours in the Spirit of Co-operation.

M G Allan.