Persecution of good Christians

A churchwarden has been pressured to resign after church leaders deemed his political views as "incompatible" with Christianity. David North from Frisby-on-the-Wreake near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire resigned three weeks ago.

Speaking exclusively to this website, Mr. North said, "for 60 years I have worked hard for Frisby Church. When I was 8 years old my job was to pump the organ in church services and help lay out the carpets before each service. Over the years I have helped raise thousands of pounds for the church in different projects. I have been the churchwarden for over 15 years in two stints and I find it deeply hurtful to be asked to resign having done nothing illegal - it hurts"

Mr. North's son James, a local councilor for the BNP and the Melton and Rutland Organiser said, "I feel very upset by this decision. The church was a big part of my father's life and I feel let down by this decision, my family have always lived in Frisby and supported the church but sadly history always has a way or repeating itself. My grandmother when she was a child was not allowed to attend Sunday school and her parents were told they were not welcome in the village church due to the fact that they were not married at a time when this was deemed "incompatible" with Christianity. They were forced to become Methodists because of this but as attitudes changed they did finally return to the church. I believe we will see a similar story here."

A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Leicester said, "It was pointed out to Mr. North that membership of the BNP is incompatible with being a practicing Christian. This is the Bishop's complete stance on it. The pastor is not able to kick out a churchwarden but it can be pointed out that he must make a choice between the BNP and the Church. Members of the congregation can be a member of the BNP but he held an office in the church and was representing us both legally and professionally."

You can voice your opposition to the persecution of good Christians like David North by writing to:

The Bishop of Leicester
Rt Revd Tim Stevens
Bishop's Lodge
10 Springfield Road
Leicester LE2 3BD
e-mail: bishop.tim@leccofe.org

Update Video

The British media have fallen into a trap of their own making: should they report the truth fairly, or continue with their misrepresentation of the British National Party to obey their NUJ gangmasters? The British press know that the public are waking up to their blatant falsehoods. But as they are forced to continue misreporting, their dilemma is akin to personality breakdown: a true media Psychosis.

Local News

Next week Melton will host the Action for Market Towns National Convention at PERA on Tuesday and Wednesday. Its main topics of discussion will revolve around the current recession and how market towns can take practical steps to help survive it. Melton seems an unlikely choice for such a conference given its failure to hang on to local businesses as pointed out in our recent "Ghost Town" article. Let's hope town planners and the Council gain some information into how other towns are coping.

A motion to remove the bollards from the pedestrian area of Melton for a six month trial basis will be put forward to full council on Wednesday 14th October. The bollards were originally introduced because many drivers were using the town pedestrian areas as a convenient short cut. However the bollards have proved problematic with a number of emergency services having difficulty accessing the town centre.

Members of the Fire Brigades Union have voted against proposals by the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service to relocate eight fire fighters from Hinckley to Melton and cutting their shift sizes from ten to eight.

Three men have been charged with conspiracy to kidnap after a man went into Sycamores Harley Davidson in Uppingham and told staff he had been kidnapped. Police then arrested the three men all from Leicester aged 21, 49 and 59.

The owner of a recycling centre in Whissendine have offered a £2000 reward for information leading to an arrest and prosecution following a break in where vandals caused around £20,000 worth of damage. They vandalised two HGV's poured oil into a generator and caused damage to a loading shovel. Windows were smashed and tyres slashed. Items were also taken from inside the firm's offices. Police have stated that they believe the attack was a deliberate attempt to disrupt the business. If anyone has information regarding this case they should call the police on 0116 2222222. The officer dealing with the case is PC 2895 Champkins.

Ghost Town

Melton Council has supported plans by the Melton Town Partnership and Melton Art Society to use empty shop windows as art galleries. This is similar to schemes promoted by Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, and Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary.

Melton's town centre is dying as more and more shops close and less people are using the town for shopping and socialising. The question must be asked why, when neighbouring market towns are still very vibrant despite the current economic situation.

Oakham and Stanford are prime examples of market towns that have got it right. They combine the right mix of good shopping facilities while highlighting the towns unique tourist attractions and places of interest. This is then complemented with a nice mix of restaurants and cafes.

Melton suffers from a lack of wide ranging shops that in turn affects the number of visitors to promote the social and historical aspects of the town to. Will filling up the empty shops in the town with art solve this problem? Of course not! We suggest a novel idea to the Town Centre Partnership and Melton Council: how about offing empty shops to NEW businesses at a low rental rate for the first six months or even free rental, such as that which is being used in the pub trade to encourage people to take over failed pubs. This will be the first step to help kick-start investment back in the town.

We shouldn't be the ones to have to point out that a healthy and busy town centre promotes investment, good returns for businesses, council and tenants as well as a healthy economy for jobs. Melton has so much to offer with its rich history in food to its historical links and fantastic tuesday market. Lets complement this with some unique, original, shops.

Local News

We are back! We would like to apologise to our readers for not keeping this website regularly updated during the past month. This was due to a technical difficulty that has now been resolved.

Here is a summary of the past weeks news stories:

Vandals have caused havoc to a local school after breaking into the school on Sunday, pouring paint and glue over the floors and throwing eggs on the walls of the classrooms. Asfordby Captains Close Primary school was forced to close on Monday as cleaners and staff repaired the damage caused.

The shocking reality of this story is that the three boys responsible were caught and were all found to be under ten years old. Two of the boys were pupils at the school. Speaking exclusively to Melton and Rutland Community Voice one angry parent said, "It's unbelievable to think young boys of this age could do this sort of thing to their own school. They should have been made to come to school on the Monday and explain to the whole school why they did this and they should have been forced to clean up their own mess."

In similar news, vandals have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to new play equipment on Melton's Fairmead Estate. They set fire to a soft play surface, removed fence panels and snapped a support beam of an aerial runway. This is depressing news for the area. We would like to see a much harder line taken with young offenders. They must be shown that what they have done is wrong and they must be punished. Only the British National Party is in favor of the re-introduction of corporal punishment for petty criminals and vandals.

This also re-opens the debate of how to deal with very young offenders. As the law currently stands, anyone under ten cannot be prosecuted because ten is the lowest age for criminal responsibility.

A man from Frisby-on-the-Wreake was jailed for four months after pleading guilty at Leicester Crown Court to ten counts of downloading indecent photographs and a film of little girls being abused on his computer.

Andrew Marshall, 29, of Hall Orchard Lane, Frisby, was turned into police after his partner found the graphic images on his computer. The court heard that 1,854 images were found on Marshall's computer. He was made the subject of a five-year sexual offences prevention order, enabling the police to monitor his computer use. He must also enlist on the sex offenders' register for seven years and his computer will be confiscated. We believe this light sentence of four months is a joke. Pedophiles should be named and shamed with much tougher jail sentences.

Over 10,000 liters of fake vodka have been seized following a raid by customs officers from a bottling plant at a farm unit in Little Dalby, Melton. Six men were arrested.

This weekend also marked the annual East Midland Food Festival at Brooksby Hall. Over 200 Companies from around the county attended the event to showcase the best in local foods. Advance and day tickets were brought down in price this year in order to help people suffering in the current financial crisis. Thankfully, judging by the crowds on Saturday and Sunday, there appeared to be a large public presence.
Melton Council has started its public consultation over its new proposed buildings on the towns station site. They include:

What do you think of the designs which have been created by the architects?

Should the project quality be ambitious and inspirational or good but not outstanding?

What is the relative importance of quality, time, and cost? Is one more important than the others? If so please rank them.

Should there be a café facility for visitors to the council?
The road show dates are as follows:

Fuller Rooms, Bottesford, Thursday, October 15, 5pm-7pm

Long Clawson Village Hall, Monday, October 19, 5pm-7pm

Somerby Village Hall, Tuesday, October 20, 5pm-7pm
You can also email your questions to newcounciloffices@melton.gov.uk or refer to the detailed pages on www.melton.gov.uk

Constitutional Changes

This fantastic speech by the British National Party's Cultural Officer Jonathan Bowden is a must watch for all people regardless of political background.

Local News

Around 4000 people attended this year's Bank Holiday, Old Dalby Day. The event now in its 26th year had around 80 street stalls, events ranging from a dog agility demonstration, tombola, and a classic car and motorcycle display. We would like to thank all the organisers of this event for celebrating and showcasing a traditional English village fete, proving them to be as popular as ever.

Residents have lost their fight to prevent a store from selling alcohol despite the fact the area has already got an established problem with underage drinking and anti-social behaviour. Melton Councils licensing panel granted Hardial Singh of Nigel's News a licence subject to conditions despite another local store already selling alcohol. Last year A & R Stores in Barker Crescent failed a police test, selling alcohol to an underage girl. This has resulted in Melton Council's licensing enforcement officer to call for the premises licence to be revoked.
Licence holder Harivadan Modi was given an £80 fixed penalty notice following a Trading Standards sting operation. Residents are concerned that granting this licence will increase Anti-Social behaviour and alcohol related crimes.

A huge fire has ripped through three shops on the busy Nottingham Street in Melton this past Friday. Wilkinson's, The Glade Cafe and Salvo's hair salon. At the peak of the fire eight pumps were being used to control the blaze. Fire investigators are currently trying to attain how this could have been started. There have been no reports of any injuries but we have been informed there were as many as 50 customers in the three shops when the fire alarms went off.

Alan Duncan

Alan Duncan the Conservative MP here in Melton and Rutland has suffered a huge public and professional backlash following his comments in early August. He stated that MPs are being treated like **** and forced to live on “rations.” He rejected criticism of his decision to claim thousands of pounds for gardening bills at his second home in his constituency of Rutland, saying that “the world has gone mad.”

This week 1,311 Tory members voted in a survey rating conservative MP's. The level of dissatisfaction with Mr Duncan's performance is huge: 16% of Conservative members are satisfied with Alan Duncan's performance while a massive 81% are dissatisfied. This rating has declined sharply from the last survey just two weeks ago when 31% were satisfied and 61% dissatisfied.

Recently two prominent anti-sleaze campaigners have attacked Duncan. Former BBC presenter Martin Bell and Terry Waite have said they might stand as independents in the next general election to rid the country of MP's they see as corrupt.
In the local paper The Melton Times many letters have been printed by angry voters furious with both Alan Duncan's comments and actions.

We would like to add our voice to the many and call for Alan Duncan to stand down as MP for Melton and Rutland. Your apology was too little too late. We would also like to see the local Conservative association make their views clear on this matter as they have been very quiet throughout this affair. Are we to understand that this silence means you support our MP and his actions?

Alan Duncan's full expenses claims can be found HERE

Red, White and Blue

Thank you to everyone who came to the Red, White and Blue family festival and supported the BNP and the Melton and Rutland stall. The weekend was a great chance to meet with old and new friends in a celebration of British heritage and culture.

Once again our stall was a highlight for many young children as well as some good humoured adults as people had the chance to put Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, George Bush, Barack Obama or Osama Bin Laden in a set of beautifully hand crafted village stocks, throw wet sponges at them and have their photo taken.

We were also featured on Channel 4 news and mentioned in several of the daily papers. The Daily Mail reported that "The BNP have often denied being a racist party. But as a man dressed as U.S. president Barack Obama was put in stocks, the true colours of the party were clear for all to see. The shocking scene was part of the BNP's annual Red, White and Blue festival which is taking place in Codnor, Derbyshire this weekend."

That's strange because there is no mention that we had several other prominent politicians masks who are white! Or that the photo was taken by a reporter who paid for five sponges and requested the Obama mask in the stocks.

Well thank you Mr Reporter for the donation to Melton and Rutland BNP and the coverage it gave us. Also thank you for everyone kind enough to support the stall over the weekend.

Red White and Blue

Don't forget to come and say hello to all the Melton and Rutland BNP team at the Red White and Blue family festival this weekend in Denby, Derbyshire. We will be bringing back the ever popular village stocks with a few new faces. Enjoy this selection of photos from last year's event.