“Wanted: One witch – salary £50,000”

Please Note : The following post has now been filled.

From  pa.press.net  Tuesday, 28 July 2009 :

Auditions are to be held for wannabe witches who are after a £50,000 job at a tourist attraction. Wookey Hole Caves, near Wells, in Somerset, is looking for a new witch to teach visitors about witchcraft and magic after its previous employee retired. The job offer comes with a salary of £50,000 pro-rata based on work during school holidays and at weekends.

The job advert, which appeared earlier this month in local newspapers and job centres, states that the successful applicant “must be able to cackle” and “must not be allergic to cats”.

Wookey Hole said it has since sent out 2,319 applications and have received 23 letters of complaint from church or religious groups. Legend has it that the caves were home to the Wookey Witch who was turned to stone by Father Bernard who had been appointed by the Abbott of Glastonbury to rid villagers of her curse.

Auditions for the role are being held in front of a panel of judges who will assess the applicants costume and character as well as the ability to perform witch tests.

Daniel Medley from Wookey Hole said: “We are expecting hundreds of male, female and trans-gender witches all in full witchy regalia competing for the 50k job opportunity in a X-factor style audition.In one minute they have to convince a panel of three judges they are the right witch for the job using whatever props they can carry. The grand winner will be chosen on the day.”

Sounds good to me !

Worcester Bosch – The Longbridge Option

It was trouble in the underworld below M5 Junction 6 and environs which led to the creation of The Witch of Worcester’s Blog – please see the December 2006 E-Pantomime @http://janetmackinnon.blogspot.com – and it is to the planning problems of those parts that I must now return.

In short, the company known as Worcester Bosch and regional development agency Advantage West Midlands are due to submit a planning application for a new manufacturing facility to the east of M5 J6. This application was delayed, incidentally, so as not to become subject matter for the recent West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy proposed Phase 2 Revision Examination-in-Public (now closed).

From what was said at the above Examination, it is understood that the subject of ancillary development will form part of the South Worcestershire Joint Core Strategy “Options” and “Site Allocations” process.

The option of Worcester Bosch relocating to Longbridge – where there is plenty of land available- was, however, raised at the WMRSS EIP session on South Worcestershire, but procedural constraints prevented a real discussion of this, which was a shame because some very real development constraints exist in the area of M5 J6, notably transport related.

In the meantime, what is happening at Longbridge ? Not a lot by all accounts, although an Area Action Plan was recently approved. Greenfield sites are so much more attractive, it seems.

However, I would caution those involved in the M5 J6 proposals, including landowner Spetchley Estates, against thinking that they have a done deal, even with planning authorities so supine as those in South Worcestershire; and recommend that full alternative location and site options appraisals (including environmental assessments) are undertaken. Better safe than sorry, as they say !

More information about Worcester Bosch can be found @

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester_Bosch_Group

 

 

An Artist’s Impression of the Future for Longbridge – Source BBC Images

The Travellers Return

Feeling a bit down in the dumps this morning – green woman’s burden and all that – I spotted a group of travellers with traditional horse drawn vehicles in the same vicinity as my sighting of the Route Master last week.  As I haven’t seen the travellers here for a several years, this was a welcome return. Yes, these folk’s encampments can be an inconvenience, and will no doubt upset a few of their suburban neighbours, but how uplifting to see something different from the same polluting motor vehicles, who, let’s face it, are a far, far  greater issue for us all.