DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY

According to a recent survey, Shropshire’s neighbouring county of Powys is the happiest place to live in the UK. At the other end of the scale, Edinburgh, in the gloomy north, is the most miserable. In all, 273 regions were assessed for the project, run by the universities of Manchester and Sheffield. And guess where the Bridgnorth district comes on the happiness graph? Way down in the dumps at a wretched number 236, far below Dudley, Luton and Tower Hamlets in London’s East End.

If the survey is accurate, it’s difficult to see why we should be so glum. Yes, the economy is taking a battering and
the outlook, in the short term at least, is less than rosy, but that’s not a situation exclusive to this part of Shropshire. We live in a beautiful rural county, full of history, with comparatively few social issues: a far cry from the claustrophobic streets and soulless housing estates of the big cities. Of course there are problems, and some poor individuals seem to have more than their fair share, but surely, as a community, we should be happier than, say, Salford (142nd) or Walsall (153rd).

So let’s be positive for a change and look on the bright side of life. Spring’s coming. Obama’s in the White House. Russell Brand’s disappeared. And Bridgnorth has a by-pass.
After more than 25 years of procrastination, evasion, buck-passing and horse-trading, the Whitburn St. relief road has finally happened.
The project has been bedevilled with controversy as the district council, Tesco and Sainsburys performed a complicated courting ritual to determine the fate of the rest of the site and establish who would pick up the final bill. What emerged was the best possible outcome, with Tesco routed and the far more community-friendly Sainsbury’s scheme declared the winner.

A result then, and one which will be obvious to anyone who has faced the horrendous congestion and dangerous traffic that has plagued Whitburn Street since the need for a by-pass was first proposed a quarter of a century ago. It’s a small but significant improvement to the overall quality of life in the district, along with other recent innovations such as the new hospital and the medical centre. Yes, money’s tight, but I seem to remember a time when there were far more empty shops in our local town centres than there are at present. Some retail casualties are inevitable – look at how the venerable Woolworths went to the wall – but the businesses most at risk are the ones that crawl under the metaphorical duvet and hope the recession will go away. The real survivors will be making a noise, promoting, hustling, snapping up whatever business there is to be had. Sure, times are hard, but money isn’t going to disappear overnight.

Bridgnorth and the other towns in the district have survived recession, depression, oppression, civil war, the Black Death, fire, flood and famine, and are still standing. Why don’t we count our blessings, accentuate the positive, look for the silver lining and stop being miserable? Or would you rather live in happy place number 219 – the nurturing, caring and utterly delightful district of Haringey?

Peter Wooldridge
Editor