More about John Dyke - County Councillor for Crewkerne

Helping to foster the Community Spirit

John's division is an inspiring place to visit and full of positive messages about Liberal Democrat action in this south Somerset town.

John has been a strong supporter and governor of Wadham Community School, which takes children from age thirteen (Crewkerne still operates the three-tier system). One of his concerns has been that the school is on one side of the town and yet the children it serves, live mostly on the other. Whilst the walk (or cycle ride) to school isn't long, it is fairly hazardous.

John therefore successfully campaigned to get pedestrian crossings put in at South Street (on the busy road from Dorchester) and subsequently on the equally busy A30 from the Yeovil direction. He also managed to get an old and rather shabby cycleway upgraded and hopes to do the same with a further section of an existing footpath. In this way, children will have a continuous and much safer route to their school.

John using the New School Crossing

Crewkerne is fortunate to be administered by Liberal Democrat Town, District and County councillors and their continued support has helped to deliver not one, but two state-of-the-art leisure facilities. These are the Crewkerne Aqua Centre which (with its recently opened Healthy Lifestyle extension) is located in the Town Centre and the Crewkerne Sports Centre situated on the Wadham School site. Each complement, rather than compete, with each other in terms of facilities. The Sports Centre is run by the County Council and the Aqua Centre by a local community trust. The trust is a wonderful example of community spirit since its staff includes over eighty volunteers: it is perceived nationally as an exemplar of good community practice and engagement.

The Healthy Lifestyle Extension to the Aqua Centre includes a gym, a fitness studio and three meeting 'pods' available for hire, including doctors' consultations, where young people can privately discuss any health concerns. The gym has approaching 1,000 members and flexible membership arrangements. Apart from the minimum 12-monthly membership, it's possible to join on a 'pay & play' basis, so you can dip in and out for £4.90 per session instead. This is a market the more commercial Sports Clubs haven't tapped into yet.

John visits the Crewkerne Aqua Centre & Healthy Lifestyle extension

The number of children learning to swim at the Aqua Centre is now 850 ( including 13 schools who bring an average of 40 youngsters per session). In fact swimming lessons are so popular that parents are even putting their unborn children on to the waiting list for swimming lessons!

John has used his Community Budget in many ways, including benefiting the Severalls Park and Merriott Bowling Clubs (in the latter case jointly with John Sharpe), buying equipment for the Day Centre and a laptop for the local primary school. On one occasion he spent a morning with a lady from the Disablement Society: experiencing what life is like for someone in a wheelchair. This prompted him to commit £950 of his Community Budget towards the installation of a pair of dropped kerbs, to make crossing the road at a particular point possible for chair-bound persons. This lady was so grateful and having learned first-hand the power that councillors wield, she subsequently became a member of the Town Council - as a Lib Dem of course!