For years the bandstand in the park had been a sad sight. Money was short and it wasn’t being spent on places like this. Then the politics changed. Our city voted with the ruling government and suddenly money was available. Since then, in the last few years, children’s centres and libraries have closed. Council offices are closed and were eventually knocked down. Police stations throughout the city closed. Now there are only one or two left. Even the Magistrates Court was closed. The argument had been that we didn’t need, or couldn’t afford these things. Although the council changed allegiance the city wasn’t rewarded with much, perhaps a few newly built office buildings in the city centre (some still unoccupied years later). Certainly not much to make up for the losses. Oh the town hall got a makeover with expensive wallpaper, but what of the rest of the city…. Well we got a lovely new bandstand! And I’m not being a grouch, it is lovely, but where is the regeneration we keep getting promised? Stoke-on-Trent was once a centre of industry, steel, coal, and pottery. Now, a city of warehouses. Sad.