The Burnley Voice, Community Magazine

[Mitch]

Issue 5, 1976

BURNLEY VOICE - AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1. To promote community action and solidarity amongst the people of Burnley.

2. To give a platform for: local action groups, views which do not get coverage in other papers and the work of local poets, artists, humourists and story-tellers.

3. To support attempts to bring power to the people and promote ideas about the accountability of representatives and direct democracy.

4. To be non-party political.

5. To encourage people to express their criticisms of the present, their ideals for the future and constructive proposals for alternatives to present policies.


"The Burnley Voice has finally found itself a suitable motto in the form of a short poem by Albert Camus. In future our motto will have a prominent place in every issue. Here it is:

Don't walk in front of me -
I may not follow

Don't walk behind me -
I may not lead

Walk beside me - and just be
my friend."

**********************************

Would this be a motto for our litte web forum? The Burnley Voice is a good name?

Some ideas?

[Mitch]

THE BURNLEY VOICE, ISSUE 5, 1976, Page 2.

POLITICALLY MOTIVATED?

Several people seem to think this magazine is too "political". What they mean by "political" I'm not quite sure. I certainly don't think the people who write for the Voice are any more "political" than writers for The Times, The Guardian or The Sun, for example. In fact, in terms of party politics, we are much less political than any of them.

The Burnley Voice doesn't back any party. We are far more concerned with what People want than with what Parties want.

We are interested in the ways people can increase their power so that they can have an effective say in deciding what happens to them, to their town and to their country.

We have been encouraged for too long to leave all important decision-making in the lap of the Gods - that is, with the political parties, the employers, the M.P.'s, the councillors - all those people who delight in telling us what to do.

It's about time the people took over the running of their lives instead of relying on the goodwill of someone else.

Look at the state of the economy, for example. We have people out of work, factories empty, machines idle. Who decided that? Not the people, that's for certain. The men upstairs decided all this should happen - the financiers who decide where and how much money should be invested; the government who back them up by giving them our taxes that should be spent on social services; the directors of companies like Philips, Chrysler and Ford who treat working people like pawns in a gigantic international chess game.

Only when control of industry and government comes down to the ground floor, to us the people, shall we have just and fair policies. This is what The Voice stands for and if that's being political I think our politics makes darned good sense."

Susan Ewens





"We want to see the community become independent. We want YOU to create an entirely new structure"
(Issue 5, page 5)




HOW TO ACHIEVE ECSTACY IN BED (The Voice, Issue 5, page 3)

Raders of the Burnley Voice have remarked on the fact that contributors to the Voice do not always sign their names to their articles.

This fact has been attributed by some to moral cowardice and lack of conviction, by others to the possibility that we are a front for a more sinister group (Burnley Labour Party?) and others are led to doubt our very existence (we would doubt yours were it not for your 8 pences).

We would just like to point out that we do all lead a fearless, brave and real existence somewhere in Burnley. There is no dark, threatening force behind us, and if you prick us do we not bleed?

The reason why we don't always give our full names is that we wish to stress that this magazine is open to all members of the Burnley community (although we will not guarantee to advertise the National Front Sewing Circle) wishing to express their view. Also we do not wish to be labelled as a particular controlling clique.

Please send us your comments, criticisms and your own contributions for printing or we may begin to think that it is we who are communicating with ghosts.

You may now turn your thoughts back to the words that made you turn to this article in the first place.

Don't forget, all contributions very gratefully received."
J.T.

[Mitch]

THE BURNLEY VOICE
Issue 6, 1977? or possibly 1976

RESIDENTS TAKE ACTION, p.5

"Burnley Wood Action Report

The Burnley Wood Action Group was formed a year ago this month. A number of residents were concerned that they couldn't get Improvement Grants from the Council. There were rumours and counter-rumours about demolition plans. One of us tried to obtain a copy of the Council's Five Year Clearance Programme from the Town Clerk but was refused. We'd heard from friends that action groups had been given this information and we also felt that we'd be in a stronger position to get hold of information and get our views across to the Council if we were organised as a group rather than acting as a lot of separate individuals. So a number of us called a small meeting of friends and neighbours to discuss forming a group. We had some advice from the Shelter Community Action Team (SCAT), and we decided to call a public meeting to elect a committee.

.....Lessons

FIRST, and most important, WE HAVE LEARNT THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO BRING ABOUT CHANGES IN THE COUNCIL'S PLANS. Many people seem to think that if the council wants to do something, they will do it no matter what we, the people, say or try to do about it. They think that democracy consists of putting your cross on a piece of paper every so often and then letting the elected 'rulers' get on with the job. They think that any sort of action between elections is somehow 'interference'. And the main political parties often encourage these views. But these are defeatist views. We have PROVED (like other Action Groups) that if the people are prepared to organise themselves and act together they can have some control over the future of their neighbourhoods.

BUT DON'T EXPECT OVERNIGHT MIRACLES. We've been in existence for a year now and (as we've described) we've achieved major changes in the Council's plans. But there is little to show for this on the ground. This is because the whole clearance and redevelopment of the area will inevitably take about five years and is still at the planning stage. Some people don't understand this. As soon as an Action Group is formed they expect an immediate transformation of the area. When they find this doesn't happen they lose interest and become disillusioned. the important thing for the committee is not to get disheartened but to keep on trying to reach and involve the residents in the work of the Action Group.

NEVER GIVE UP

At a meeting we had early on with the councillors and council officials, the Deputy Town Clerk said bluntly that there was 'no chance' of getting the 'fit' blocks saved from the clearance. Some committee members were very depressed at this and the committee got smaller. But we didn't give up our campaign and we won in the end. It helped us to know (what the Deputy forgot to mention) that the final decision on all Clearance Areas is anyway made NOT by the Council but by the Minister for the Environment after an Inquiry at which objectors can put their case.

KNOW YOUR STUFF.

In the last year we have learnt a lot about planning, housing and public health law, so that we can now hold our own when meeting with Council officials. It's now more difficult for us to be fobbed off with misleading or incomplete information. The Council will listen to facts, not hearsay."

BURNLEY WOOD ACTION GROUP,
Chairman: Adrian Ayers, 85 Waterloo Road
Secretary: Derek Goffin, 51 Hirst Street.

[Mitch]

The Burnley Voice
Issue 6, 1976 or 1977?

"People who do not represent themselves will be misrepresented, if not ignored ... either we speak for ourselves or get spoken for, told what's best and what to do". (p.5)

"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness!"
(p.8)

"COME TOGETHER
BLACK DAY FOR GAYS (Burnley Voice, Issue 6, 1976/1977?)

What do you think of the hounding of Jeremy Thorpe from office because of the possibility he may be homosexual?

Isn't it about time this sort of bigotry ceased? After all we are living in the 1970's, the supposedly 'permissive' society. But I don't see much that is permissive (or even liberal!) in the attitude of most heterosexuals to the gay minority.

Homosexuals are perfectly ordinary, normal people. It may sound corny to say it, but some of my best friends are gay. They are nice, sympathetic people and why they generate such hostility and fear in some heterosexuals I do not know.

Homosexuality is not an offence and many gay people are now quite frank about their sexual preferences. And why shouldn't they be? There are countries today where homosexuality is accepted as normal, yes NORMAL, behaviour amongst young men.

It takes all sorts to make a world. And it's about time the heterosexual majority came to terms with this minor deviation from their own norms of behaviour".

[michele cryer]

Thanks for posting these Mitch...great articles...and yes, The Burnley Voice would be a good name for the web forum...you want me to change it?

[Fred]

The Burnley Voice was started in the early 70s by members of Burnley Anarchist Group. It was the brain child of Bob Holden and for the first two editions it was typed by Bob and printed by a Yorkshire anarchist group. Later, the printing was taken over by a lone anarchist in Eastbourne called Ian. He was a paraplegic but a good friend. After Bob died the editing and typing were taken over by Susan Ewens. The articles were written initially by members of the local group and eventually we were helped [increasingly} by contributions from readers. initially we had a run of only about a hundred copies but soon built that up to a few hundred. Finally we achieved a sale of a thousand or maybe two, I can't remeber. The voice was sold at meetings and by hand to friends . The Anarchists sold it door to door .Our greatest success was when three women, Susan, Jennie and Eileen sold the magazines in the local clubs.It was an enormous effort not just the writing and editing, but the assembly and sales. It has to be remembered we were active in ecological efforts, i.e. the M62 Motorway,the anti-racist movement and building a local network of Residents and Ratepayers Associations. There were about 7 of the latter, most but not all being formed in response to the chaos of the motorway. In between all of this we did meetings on Anarchist ideas and Saturday paper sales. We went on pickets as supporters, we didn't sell our papers on them unless we were asked to.

In regard to the questions put by various Mich's or Michelles?

I think it would be a good idea to change the name of the site to Burnley Voice and I think it would most suitable to adopt the Aims and Objectives!

Incidentally the local and regional Bolsheviks opposed for ears the use of the name,"Burnley Voice" .They claimed it was a name they used. We had never heard this at all and certainly never saw any paper or magazine of that name.

[michele cryer]

Hey! Thanks for that extra background knowledge Fred...great to read about the good old 'anarchist' days in Burnley...seems as if the anarchists were quite a successful movement locally, back then.

Well, I don't see any reason why we shouldn't adopt both the Burnley Voice name and motto for the site now...and will make the changes accordingly.

Obviously some people are going to see this as an afront to those people on the site living outside of Burnley, but this is not the case...you are still welcome to visit and contribute to the site as much as ever...in fact we would welcome some input about what is happening in the rest of East Lancs/Manchester/Preston and other places...

[michele cryer]

Well everybody, I hope you like the new logo...created by 'shy' Graeme...our resident graphic artist extrodinaire!! Has promised to exhibit some of his finer paintwork on the site eventually, when it meets with his high standards...looking forward to that one.

Thanks mucho Graeme...and don't forget those posts about Ufos and Monatomic Elements...

[jiminy cricket]

the burnley voice? it seem there is only about 5 people post on here under various names. how many are actually from burnley?

[Mitch]

To community action and solidarity amongst the people of Burnley.

Superb logo graphic Graeme - Hooray to the Burnley Voice, and to our voices getting louder.

Someone saw a UFO over Nelson a few months back - was in the Leader so it must be true ;D

There was a picture on the front page, but it looked suspiciously like a plate to me!

[michele cryer]

LOL Mitch...apparently Graeme watched a really good documentary about them being in the part of space that cannot be seen by the human eye...lots of activity going on up above where the satellites are...will get more gen from him asap.

Jiminy Cricket...will you please return to your fairy tale land and do your job with Pinocchio, it's obviously too much for you to try to share your wisdom in the real world too...don't want you getting stressed

[Mitch]

A letter from Billy Smith, printed in the Burnley Voice, Issue 7, 1976 ;D ;D ;D

Dear Sirs,

The Burnley Voice has raised many pertinent issues during its brief life and has been rightly critical of the local Establishment. It appears, however, that the Voice does not practice what it preaches. This is manifest particularly in the person of Mr Fred Duckett, who is indulging in practices which make Chas. Clore (?) look like a brush salesman. He, Mr Duckett, is part owner of the new swish restaurant, 'The Knackers' Yard' which is due to be officially opened shortly by Mrs Margaret Thatcher. Rumour has it that Mr Duckett has himself designed the horse and tartan motif of the interior, which, I am told, has such an aura of stylish decadence and corruption that one could imagine Dorian Gray himself indolently flicking cerry stones down the pretty waitress's blouse, (providing she wore one).

The profits in the first year's trading are expected to be high (capitalist swine!) and the takings from the Special Branch alone should pay the rates. The partners are strongly denying reports they have concluded a deal with British Rail whereby the restaurant has first option on any unsold British Rail sandwiches, although they admit that they are working on a method of re-cycling Brown Windsor Soup. Mr Duckett is not entirely devoid of principle though, for he assures me that horse meat will never appear on the menu.

One may ask from whence came the finances to create such a project - could the CIA be involved? An innocent looking cafe in a Northern town could be the perfect front. A focal point for secret agents wo would be happy to risk the odd bout of food poisoning for the sake of garnering information.

I hope you can find space in your next issue for this item. My next article investigates Mr Duckett's venture into the field of agriculture (no pun intended) and should really get his goat - geddit!,

Yours

L. Sparsefustian."

[michele cryer]

Hehehehehehe...well done for finding this archive article Mitch! ;D