A sad statistic

"The mean salary in Scarborough in 2016 was £19,925, the lowest in Great Britain and £8,517 below the national average."

In 1626, Elizabeth Farrow discovered a stream of acidic water running from one of the cliffs to the south of the town. This gave birth to Scarborough Spa, and Dr Wittie's book about the spa waters published in 1660 attracted a flood of visitors to  Britain's first seaside resort.The coming of the Scarborough–York railway in 1845 increased the tide of visitors.When the Grand Hotel was completed in 1867 it was one of the largest hotels in the world and one of the first giant purpose-built hotels in Europe. Four towers represent the seasons, 12 floors represent the months, 52 chimneys represent the weeks and originally 365 bedrooms represented the days of the year.

That a seaside resort once admired as a pioneer should now fall from grace in such a sad way is, for me, just part of the story. Scarborough was in effect the town where I grew up, where I spent almost every summer holiday up to the age of seventeen. Were I a younger man I think I'd return there, to lend my effort to the various initiatives to improve the outcomes of future generations of Scarborians.