The Friday Five 21.01.22
It's the dead of winter. The days are short still, dark and cold. We say 'Let there be light'. Read on, to find out why...
1. MASTERPLANNER, PROJECT MANAGER - DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT, KIRKLEES COUNCIL
Location: Kirklees, West Yorkshire
The job: “We are seeking to appoint a forward thinking, motivated and organised planning professional who is keen to make a significant contribution in the performance and achievements of our development management team.
“You will have significant experience of dealing with complex major planning applications and appeals. You will need to be a team player with a positive approach, willing to contribute to the delivery of transformational change and continuous improvement to secure excellent customer service.
“You will contribute towards the planning, design and creation of the masterplans and design frameworks and infrastructure delivery plans to make our key strategic sites a reality. You will be asked to lead on the planning stages, coordinate across the Council’s services the infrastructure requirements to help shape and realise the strategic housing and mixed-use sites.”
Fun fact: Think of the word 'moonraker' and the chances are a particularly cheesy 1979 Bond film comes to mind. But what does ‘moonraker’ actually mean? The answer can be found in the bright and quirky Moonraking Festival held every two years in the Kirklees village of Slaithwaite.
Though it started just 30 years ago, the festival recalls a story - probably legendary - of smugglers who would hide their bounty brought in by narrow boat beneath a canal bridge in the town. On the nights of a full moon, the smugglers would use rakes to retrieve the bounty, in this case a barrel of rum, from the canal. The story goes that the smugglers were caught in the act by the local militia. When challenged, they claimed they were raking the reflection of the full moon in the water.
‘Moonraking’ is actually a centuries old term associated with many towns that have waterways and traditions of smuggling. Under full moons you would rake the bounty from the water - moonraking.
The Slaithwaite Festival, which takes place on a February evening, is a festival of light that foresees the ending of winter and the return of light to the world. Villagers spend the week beforehand making lanterns which light up the town, there is a procession, a retelling of the story and a giant lantern moon floated along the canal on a raft. The festival culminates with the moon being ‘raked’ from the water.
2. PLANNING OFFICERS - DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT, SHETLAND ISLAND COUNCIL
Location: Shetland Islands
The job: “Are you an ambitious planning professional looking for both a fresh career challenge, and a better quality of life? Shetland’s spectacular landscapes, coastal waters and diverse economy make the islands an exceptional place to work in planning.
“The islands provide a strategic hub for a wide range of established and emerging industries including a proposed spaceport in Unst, onshore and offshore renewables, aquaculture, and nationally significant energy projects.
“Working as a planner in our development management team, you will play a vital part in shaping life in Shetland, with opportunities to assist in the delivery of existing planned growth, as well as planning for the long term future of the islands.
You will make a difference within the community you’re living in and get to see first hand the impact of decisions made within the role. We’ll give you exposure to all areas of planning, helping you to develop your career at a faster rate than you would working in other locations.”
Fun fact: Up Helly Aa in the Shetland Islands is another festival of light that breaks up bleak midwinter. In this case it is a fire festival that culminates in the burning of a replica Viking longship.
Shetland is renowned for its fire festivals and Up Helly Aa (End of Holy) Day is the largest and most famous, marking the close of Yule at the end of January each year.
Among much music, dancing and general celebration, the festival involves a large procession through Lerwick by costumed participants (known as guizers) who carry flaming torches which are used to set fire to the longship.
Though presented as an ancient festival that draws on the islands’ Viking roots, Up Helly Aa - like many ‘ancient’ celebrations - is a Victorian invention. The first torchlit procession was in 1876; the first on Up Helly Aa in 1881; and the first Viking ship was burned in 1889.
The festival does have an older root, though. The end of Yule had been traditionally marked by drunken young men dragging barrels of burning tar through the streets of towns and villages on sledges and causing trouble. In a bid to divert them from this troublemaking, the do-gooding Total Abstinence Society created a more civilised torchlit procession, which developed into the festival as it is today - a light-filled celebration of Shetland’s culture and history in the dead dark days of winter.
3. PLANNING POLICY OFFICER, EAST DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL
Location: Honiton, Devon
The job: “We currently have an exciting opportunity for a planning policy officer to join our friendly and expanding policy team tasked with, and at the initial stages of, producing a new district wide local plan. As a planning policy officer, you’ll assist in the process of developing and monitoring planning policy. You’ll undertake research and data collection to support the work of the planning policy service, prepare planning policy documents and assist in the preparation, presentation and monitoring of feedback for consultation exercises.
“East Devon is a district of contrast with exceptional areas of natural and built heritage, which within planning policy we aim to protect and enhance, but we also have a growth agenda with significant ongoing development in the district. The contrasting characteristics of East Devon, along with ensuring we get the right development in the right places to meet the needs of our communities, will ensure a varied workload with the scope to lead on and develop areas of specialism and interest.”
Fun fact: Each year, on the first Tuesday after 19 July, the Devon town of Honiton celebrates the granting of its Royal Charter in 1221 with a ‘ceremony’ that involves throwing hot pennies from windows to the people below.
The Hot Pennies ceremony has its roots in the practice of the landed gentry throwing hot chestnuts to peasants to mark the beginning of the annual Honiton Fair. Over time the chestnuts became pennies and this apparently generous practice was the cause of amusement to the wealthy who enjoyed seeing poor people burn their hands while picking up the ‘gifts’.
Nevertheless, the custom was a popular one and attracted visitors from the surrounding area to attend the fair, without fear of arrest for their debts: at noon on the day the fair begins the town crier raises a pole with a glove at the top and declares that “The glove is up. No man may be arrested until the glove is taken down”. Whereupon hot pennies are thrown from balconies of high street buildings to crowds below. Nowadays, the pennies are merely warm.
4. SECTION 106 MONITORING/ASSISTANT PLANNING OFFICER, MENDIP DISTRICT COUNCIL
Location: Mendip, Somerset
The job: “We are looking for a Section 106 monitoring / assistant planning officer to support the council’s delivery of the Development Management service.
“The role is split into two parts: the first involves helping to monitor and administer the financial and non-financial obligations secured through the granting of planning permission via S106 legal agreements in the Mendip district which will enable us to bring forward projects to support the future growth of the district, ranging from transport infrastructure through to schools, hospitals and open space.
The second part involves dealing with, and making recommendations on, planning applications. While at the start you will be dealing with householder and other small scale planning applications, as you progress, gain confidence and broaden your skills we will give you the chance to deal with larger or more complicated applications such as Lawful Development Certificates, Prior Notifications and other proposals that are commensurate with the role.”
Fun fact: The Mendip Hills were the inspiration for the hymn Rock of Ages, which went on to become one of the ‘Great Four’ Anglican hymns of the Victorian period (‘Hark! The herald angels sing’ was another).
The story goes that, in 1763, the Reverend Augustus Mantague Toplady was sheltering from a storm in a gap in the rock of a gorge in Burrington Combe while travelling through the Mendips when inspiration struck him. He was taken by the phrase ‘rock of ages’ and scribbled down the initial lyrics. So it is said, though the story is somewhat dubious.
Anyhow, the hymn was first published in full 13 years later in 1776 in The Gospel Magazine. It became extremely popular and has continued to be so to this day. Several well-known recordings of the song were made during the 20th century, including one by Bing Crosby in 1949.
A plaque is now sited in the gorge where Toplady allegedly experienced his inspiration.
5. DIRECTOR/ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR/PRINCIPAL PLANNER, ENTRUST PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL
Location: Liverpool and Galway
The job: “Our Liverpool office has a director/associate director vacancy and our Galway office has an associate director/principal planner vacancy, for the right candidates.
“These are excellent career opportunities for ambitious suitable candidates as Entrust is a fast-growing consultancy, which offers a unique opportunity to have a very wide ranging role within the company in terms of the roles themselves and also in the different infrastructure sectors which we operate within and as a result there is a genuine opportunity to grow your career rapidly within the company to management level and beyond.
“The roles will vary and may involve managing a number of infrastructure planning applications, client interface as well as overseeing and mentoring staff, amongst many other tasks in a dynamic environment. There will be a strong emphasis on developing the business in the energy sector for the associate/director role.”
Fun fact: Galway is home to what is claimed to be Ireland’s smallest museum, dedicated to one of the city’s most interesting but perhaps lesser known figures. The Nora Barnacle House Museum (pictured) is set in the former home of Nora Barnacle, a Galway girl who became the lover, companion, muse and then wife of James Joyce, considered one of the 20th century’s greatest writers.
Born the daughter of an alcoholic baker and as dressmaker in 1884, Nora met Joyce in 1904 while working as a chambermaid at Finn’s Hotel in Dublin. Their first ‘romantic assignation’ (as Wikipedia puts it) took place on 16 June 1904, a day immortalised in Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses and one which is still celebrated each year as ‘Bloomsday’ (after the novel’s main character Leopold Bloom).
Though very different in taste and temperament the two became immediate and lifelong lovers and companions. Nora followed Joyce to Trieste in 1905, where they had two children, and later to Paris. Their relationship was complex and often difficult but letters between them (some of which have fetched a high price at auction) show that they were passionately in love.
Nora became the model for the wonderful Molly Bloom, the all-encompassing, life-enhancing wife of Leopold in Ulysses, and she became noted in her own right - enough for plays, films and books to be written about her, as well as museum created at her former home.
Image credits | iStock; Shutterstock
