To tour or not to Tourism, that is the question

All of a quandary, I looked at the following story in the Rutland Times.

Rutland's tourist officer should be a crucial job. As one of the county's, sadly, popular industries, I would agree that the position is tenable.

However, I can' t seem to agree with financials. If anything, it should be a volunteer position, and should be fielded by more than one person

I seem to get the feeling that Rutland County Council office is sometimes like the video below. Class characters, but sometimes, they are silly enough to believe some of the paperwork. 

B & G's first foray onto the media

Feel free to visit the website here for an article detailing Rutland & Stamford NFU's new partner, Nicola Goodall.

The article is part of an increasing campaign of awareness for the offices.

Long may Sheep Market's finest continue to provide support to the local farming and non-farming community.

Redoak Pigs Strike Back!

Continuing in the usual Redoak tradition, here are some pictures of our recent batch of Pigs. There is also a shot of a slightly disgruntled looking Rutland Correspondent, ill prepared for the camera. The two in the blog banner were our first batch, and have been immortalised on Youtube. You can find two videos, both here and here.

I can highly recommend keeping pigs, and urge anyone who has any questions on it to please get in touch. They are very rewarding animals.

The Long Good Friday....Oakham

Good Friday in Oakham, a perfect time for some photos for blog followers to put a 'face to the name' of the town of Oakham, Rutland

1) Oakham School's School House, the 7th From Day Boys end. One of the Rutland Correspondents old stomping grounds

2) Shop frontage of Hambleton Bakery

3) Whiper In, the town's equivalent to the old Plaza, New York

4) All Saints Church

5) The mystical Oakham Castle. Home to the UK's biggest collection of ceremonial horseshoes.

Rutland Prison Riots!

HMP Ashwell has played host to a 400-man prison riot!

Details can be found here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/7994616.stm

UPDATE: I will be uploading the photos from Oakham in my next post, as promised. I thought the Ashwell riots took precedence.

Easter Holidays

Spring Term has finished at Sunderland university, bringing with it a holiday of (hopefully) Morcott sunshine, many trips to Uppingham & Oakham market, and other Rutland curiosities.

I shall be uploading a few photos of things that happen around Rutland, and try to put 'a face to a name' to the towns of Oakham & Uppingham.

If there is anything in particular you would like to know about Rutland, leave me a comment and I shall do my best to answer your question/request.

Adblogging

In our Social Media class today we sat around and brainstormed the idea of advocacy blogging.

An unusually dry topic from the Rutland Correspondent, I struggled to think of a suitable topic to bring a crescendo. I looked to my previous posts, and found that the 'Lambing With LEDs' is adblogging in practice.

By creating a funny viral video, posting it to a couple of FWI blogs, critical to it's target audience, Samsung will be maximising audiences, reach, potential sales etc.

But, from FWI's perspective, is it right to be blogging about products favourably? Perhaps if its a Klass or Massey tractor, yes, but Samsung? Probably not.

Online product reviews could already be seen as adblogging. Portmanteau aside, it is an online publication, containing opinion, that can be favourable (yet also show some negatives). Take a look at this HAWX review for the PS3. Whilst the reviewer is highlighting its negative sides, he does recommend it to users at the end.

For a different perspective on adblogging, check out The Real Student Voice, an honorary Raddlemen

Is it all really just an April Fools?

Today's news that unitary authorities, opposed by many who work in local government at the minute, are being rolled out across the UK should be seen as an April fools.

Full details here

Targeting predominantly Conservative Councils, our Labour government really are plucking at straws to distract from another recent bout of bad news.

But targeting Conservative councils? That's just cheap.

Also in Rutland News was the potential loss of full-time firefighters in the area: details found here

It can already take Police just under 2 hours to respond to an emergency call; do we really need a slow/non existent fire service? 

Oakham & Stamford police effectively work 9 till 5, with calls then being shifted to Leicester Police. If the same were to happen to our fire service, Raddlemen would be lost for words.

We can only hope that this is all just an April fool, for those not just in the new unitary authorities, but also to all Raddlemen.