Squire Teflon and his close-friend and employer Mistress Bones have taken the Squire’s scaremongering ‘Save my WEE‘ campaign to AceCrook.
Posting on their largely ignored Smalltown Posh Illiberal page the Squire made several outlandish claims, which probably only make sense to anyone who prefers pink elephants to white ones.
SomersetClive has taken an indepth look at the Squire’s claims.
“BeFuddleds put the future of Smalltown landmark in jeopardy
Local BeFuddleds on Smalltown and Dullbridge Town Council spoke strongly against supporting the historic White Elephant Enclosure after it has experienced difficulties during the pandemic years.”
For a start, it is hard to imagine the local BeFuddleds speaking strongly about anything, as most of them prefer not to speak at all and leader of the BeFuddleds Councillor Banish Barracuda prefers to whisper.
Whilst the WEE building itself could be described as ‘historic‘, it has only been in use as a WEE for around 30 years and in SaDTC ownership for nearly 12 years, hardly historic.
The Squire continues:-
“Due to Corvid restrictions the theatre was only able to raise £50K in 2021/22. At a recent finance meeting the BeFuddleds on the Town Council passed a motion requiring the theatre to triple its income this year.”
Even in its glory years income at the WEE has rarely passed the £80k mark, whilst expenditure has continued to rise, which is why Town Council subsidies have risen every year, as the council has pumped more cash in to keep the business afloat. Therefore it is perfectly reasonable to ask how the WEE Mismanagement Committee and staff would plan to increase income.
The BeFuddleds have only been in charge at SaDTC since last May. Previously running the WEE was down to Squire Teflon and his fellow Illiberals, who had ten years to make a success of it. And failed.
“Illiberals spoke out against the plans and warned it would effectively cause the closure of this Smalltown landmark.
Following this, the Smalltown Culture and Arts Manager (SCAM) resigned due to the unachievable demands the BeFuddleds have placed on her.”
So far, only Squire Teflon has spoken out and is the only person who has mentioned closure, his fellow Illiberal Party members have remained strangely silent. If the SCAM felt so strongly that increasing income was so difficult then it would appear that even she didn’t have confidence that the WEE could ever become the resounding success that Squire Teflon insists it could.
“It is sad to see the BeFuddleds putting down our town and potentially depriving it of a core pillar of our community. They should listen to the majority of residents and businesses who are in full support of the WEE.”
At no point have the BeFuddleds even given the merest whisper of a plan to close the WEE, although they have said that they are amenable to the idea of letting someone who knows what they are doing run the place on behalf of SaDTC, rather than leaving it to a ramshackle group of councillors who have no business sense.
The Mismanagement committee is currently made up of the Squire, two members of his harem (guaranteed to do his bidding), a man who doesn’t live in either Smalltown or Dullbridge, an ex-teacher, an electrician, a party organiser, a schoolboy, and an ex-tank driver. Hardly the experience required to run a WEE.
Additionally there has been no research undertaken to quantify the number of residents who support the WEE. The only numbers mooted have been the 160 users and cafe visitors who signed a petition supporting the venue and the cafe itself.
Whilst there has been no suggestion that residents would prefer to see the WEE close its doors for good there has been a call for the Town Council to spend less council tax payer’s hard-earned money on the place, which is perfectly reasonable given the rises in the cost of living and pay freezes currently affecting everyone.
For the Squire to unilaterally declare unwavering support from residents, who can’t afford the ticket prices, without having conducted research to support this view seems a bit rich. The majority of residents in Dullbridge certainly don’t support paying for the WEE and would prefer that some of the money was spent in their own town.
Perhaps some genuine research could be carried out to gauge the public’s views on the high level of the SaDTC budget currently spent on the WEE, which readers will remember equates to £1 of every £5 collected. Should SaDTC continue to raise our council tax every year to subsidise the WEE or should they look for alternatives?