The elephant in the Drill Hall

I believe now that the time has come to put a few words on the banned list. Facebook is awash with complaints of “council corruption” and the killing of Aber’s heritage. I agree that it’s sad to see some of our history go, but without moving forward the generation to come won’t have a town to live in. I don’t want to stop people from speaking with nostalgia of Rolling Stones gigs in the King’s Hall or Line Dancing at the Bandstand, far from it. I love the stories, the memories, the photos of people enjoying all that the Aber of old had to offer. But that’s exactly my point, it’s the Aber of old. We must celebrate our past but we mustn’t allow the past to strangle the future. Therefore I propose that we blacklist all complaints over the destruction of:-

1. The King’s Hall – Though it was a lovely place full of countless happy memories it was structurally unsound and if it had not been pulled down it would have fallen. I for one am glad that we can remember all the King’s Hall gave us without having to remember a tragedy of a collapsed building on our seafront.
2. The Bandstand – Yes, I realize that this is still a contentious issue and the council has handled the whole thing appallingly. However, it was an eyesore. A hideous pimple on the pearl of the West Wales coast. A poll of tourists a few years back found that more people thought it was a lifeboat shelter than a bandstand, for me that is proof that we needed a change. (I accept that hate will be handed to me for this, and the same goes for the rest of the list)
3. The Drill Hall – It has become a bit of a cliche of late but I must repeat it. “It was never used.” In all my years in Aber I have not heard a mention of anyone using it nor have I used the place myself. I have heard the odd rumour that it was used as a practice venue by a brass band but even if that is the case then that is say one hour a week. Hardly sufficient to warrant standing in the way of the biggest development Aber has seen in decades.
4. The Day Centre – I appreciate that most people will have stopped reading in disgust at this point and I can understand why. There was and continues to be such passion around the campaign to keep the day centre and I do see their point. In an ideal world I too would have liked to have kept it where it was but the fact of the matter is that it is gone. We must now move on and look to the future. Please feel free to throw proverbial bottles at my head for this but I must say that though having good provisions for our elderly is incredibly important, if we don’t provide jobs for the young Aber will be without any elderly people within a generation.

Well, that’s my rant over. If you have continued reading to this point and still don’t feel like tracking me down and hanging me from the clock tower then I applaud you. The passion that people feel for the town is wonderful, it is one of the many reasons that I love the place so much. My problem with the whole thing however is that we seem to use that passion negatively. If we put all the energy that we currently devote to crying about the bandstand into promoting the town then our hidden gem of a town would become even more of a paradise.

That’s me done for now. Please direct all hate mail to the Cambrian News letters’ desk.