Round-up: Red Nose Day, Earth Hour, Zumba and Banning The Council

Red Nose Day

The people of Louth embraced Red Nose Day 2011 with gusto this year. Here are a couple of the fundraisers I saw in town.

Earth Hour

26th March at 8.30pm is Earth Hour. This is a global event organised by the WWF to highlight the issue of climate change. Lighting isn't usually the biggest contributor to carbon emissions (heating or refrigeration are usually much worse culprits in the home) but it's a symbol of the importance of this issue.

The people at Transition Town Louth are organising an acoustic gig at the British Legion Hall on Northgate, if you want to take part and don't fancy sitting in candlelight in your own home. It should be quite atmospheric.

Sadly St James' Church won't be joining in by switching off their illuminations. When I asked them, they said there were problems with resetting the clock that switches the lights on and off each day. However, don't let that dissuade you from getting involved in your own way.

Zumba

On April 2nd a series of new Zumba fitness classes will begin at the Louth Hospital Club. Zumba is a cross between aerobics and Latin dance, and it's an activity that's rising in popularity. There are three sessions of an hour each, from 9am. Zumba Gold is for people new to exercise, Zumba Toning is done with dumbbell shakers, and Zumba Fitness is the standard dance lesson. For more information contact Leila Hardy at BU4Life.

Scrap Louth Town Council

A new Facebook group has formed in response to some of the recent excesses of the town council. Scrap Louth Town Council was started by Bill Nicholson in the belief that "Louth Town Council is totally out of control and only represents itself".

I'm not going to comment on the number of members that group has, and not merely because Facebook group membership fluctuates. Facebook group sizes are a bad measure of the true popularity of a cause. Interested people may not belong to certain social networks, or may not have heard of the group yet. On the other hand some people might join only through curiosity, or they might be added against their will by others, In other words, it's a really fuzzy way to measure how serious the current opposition to Louth Town Council is. The real test of whether this is merely a gut reaction by a few or a serious political movement will be what the group does next.