Chapter 2: Bone of Contention
Monday Night
The Village Hall was already packed when Louisa got there. She looked around but didn't see Martin. She took a seat near the front and saved one for him, hoping he would make it in time.
The members of the Village Council were sat at a table on the small stage, with the mural of the Platt and the harbour decorating the wall behind them. To the right side was an easel holding a big sign board that read "Treasure Island: Your Shopping Adventure!" The Rev. Rosie Edwards was setting up a microphone stand.
People were still milling about, not yet ready to take their seats. A man was out walking amongst the crowd, shaking hands like a politician.
He was tall, almost as tall as Martin, and about the same age, with similar silver blonde hair but in a slightly longer, more relaxed style. His eyes were a brighter blue, with an appealing crinkle at the edges as he worked the crowd, shaking hands and talking to people. He wore a smartly cut, bespoke suit but with no tie and the shirt open at the collar. As he approached her, Louisa couldn't help but notice he was a very attractive looking man.
"Oh please don't get up," he said, extending his hand as Louisa started to struggle to her feet. He sat on the chair she was saving for Martin and grasped her hand. "Congratulations on your impending blessed event. I'm Malcolm. I'll be giving the presentation tonight on behalf of Treasure Island Enterprises. I'm eager to get to know the residents of Portwenn in person."
"I'm Louisa, Louisa Ellingham."
"Ellingham, eh?" He seemed surprised by the name.
"Yes, I'm the head teacher at Portwenn Primary. Well, I was. I'm taking some time off from teaching, to take some counselling courses and, of course, for maternity leave."
Malcolm seemed about to say something else, when Rev. Rosie tapped the microphone and called out, "testing, testing, can everyone please take your seats, the presentation is about to begin." He grasped Louisa's hand one more time, gave it a squeeze, and said "I'll be back," before bounding up onto the stage.
Martin still hadn't arrived. Louisa spotted Ruth hurrying into the hall and waved her over to take the seat she had reserved.
"Welcome everybody. I'm the Rev. Rosie Edwards, I'm the new curate and sure you all know me by now as Rev. Rosie. Rev. Moore is on another one of his spiritual retreats."
There was some snickering from the audience. "You mean one of his fishing retreats," someone called out.
Rev. Rosie ignored that. "So I've been asked to keep the peace this evening." She was interrupted by general laughter and applause. "We have here Dennis Dodds, council chair, and the other council members, whom I'm sure you all know." There was a mix of applause and possibly some "boos" from the back. "We also have someone here on behalf of Treasure Island to explain what this is all about."
There was more applause and some louder booing. "Now, now, quiet down," Rev. Rosie said. "As it says in the Epistle of James, 'everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.' Who knows, you may learn something tonight that could change your mind, one way or another."
The audience began to settle, and Malcolm took the microphone.
"Hello everyone, so glad you could all join us tonight. I'm Malcolm Bellingham, CEO of Treasure Island Enterprises, and I'm delighted to be here in Portwenn to tell you all about my plan to bring an exciting retail opportunity to this part of Cornwall."
There was some more applause and booing, but he smiled and continued. Louisa was impressed by how well he kept his composure.
"Now I know many of you are sceptical about this idea. You're all expecting I'm some down-from-town Londoner, but I assure you that Treasure Island Portwenn will be built sufficiently away from the village centre so as not to affect the traditional character of this lovely place…"
With a flourish of his hand he indicated the mural of the Platt and the harbour wall behind the stage.
"…while being close enough to bring in the benefits of increased tourism to this area. And I don't need to tell you that tourism brings jobs and opportunities." There was some applause. "Treasure Island Portwenn will only enhance and complement the village's existing assets. You know, in the short time I've been here I've already fallen for North Cornwall's amazing coastline. That's why I chose this place for Treasure Island Enterprises' first outlet mall development. I recently bought a boat, a lovely 32 meter Super Sport, which I'm having refurbished by the Wenn shipyard here. I expect to have it up and running soon so I can take full advantage of your beautiful harbour."
He went to the easel and removed the introductory board, to begin walking the audience through the details of outlet mall plan on a series of boards.
When Malcolm was finished, Dennis took the microphone. "It's that we important to understand that, in addition to the outlet mall, Treasure Island has committed to build affordable housing for six families on the site. And we all know Portwenn can always use more affordable housing."
"You mean your building company can always use more work," shouted a man from the audience. There were more cheers and boos.
"This isn't just another set of shops we're talking about. It's a program of rejuvenation for a whole village," Malcolm said, drawing some scattered applause. "Why? Because at Treasure Island we care." There was a bit more applause and some grumbling.
"You care about money, you mean," a woman shouted. "We all know that permission for this development has already been passed at the highest level. But we must reconsider the potential erosion of the quality of life in this village." There was more applause and some cheers. "It'll bring in traffic and hurt local businesses."
"What local businesses?!" someone said. "Portwenn is dead. We can see through your yuppie scam Bellingham, this is just gentrification."
"What about my shop?" another man said. "This could actually bring lots of new business to the village."
"Your shop," the first man sneered. "That's part of the gentrification. You sell posh grub to the second home people from London. Us locals have to drive to Delabole to shop because we can't all live on sun dried tomato at ₤5 a kilo."
The audience was in quite a commotion by now.
"Guys! Come on!" Rev. Rosie pleaded. "Give everyone a chance to have their say!"
"You don't care what happens to this village because you won't be here, will you," the first man shouted at the second. "You'll just sell your shop to Treasure Island. Greedy bastard with your snout in the trough. Then the Crab and Lobster will sell out, so we won't have a pub anymore, we'll just have another bloody petrol station."
The commotion was now threatening to turn into a fist fight, with shouts of "stop that!" and "get off!" Rev. Rosie was trying to get everyone's attention, her ineffectual protestations lost in the noise. Louisa was starting to get alarmed. Ruth stood up, adjusted her cardigan, and got up on the stage.
"Children, please, that is enough! Enough!" Ruth whistled into the microphone and causing everyone to shut up and clap their hands over their ears. "I think everyone has had their say for tonight. Both sides have made their feelings known."
She handed the microphone to Rev. Rosie, who fixed it back in its stand. "Thank you, Dr. Ruth, for that. Right then, the next step is for the vote. The referendum is set for one month from today. Every adult resident of the village will have their chance to cast a ballot right here in the Village Hall. See you then."
The meeting broke up, with people still grumbling in small groups. Louisa was relieved, as she was becoming uncomfortable in the hard plastic seat and would need to find the loo soon. She finally spotted Martin coming into the room, with James in his pushchair. She and Ruth went over to him.
"The child minder couldn't stay late for James," he said. "It seems everyone in the village is here tonight. I brought him along so I could find out what this is all about. Missed most of it but I understand it got rather heated."
"Well, feelings ran high, but that's to be expected isn't it," Ruth said. "It's interesting though Martin, the man in charge of this outlet mall development company, I think you'll find his name is familiar."
A woman came up to them holding a clipboard. "I've started a petition to stop the vote on the proposed development. I'm sure I can count on your support, Dr. Ellingham."
Martin waved her away impatiently. "I barely know anything about the issue, I'll have to study it further before I sign anything."
At that moment, Louisa saw Malcolm making his way through the crowd again, chatting with people, shaking hands, and gradually moving toward them. He came up behind Martin, beaming at Louisa. "Well Mrs. Ellingham, I hope you and your friends here found the presentation interesting."
"Actually this is my husband's aunt, Dr. Ruth Ellingham, and this my husband, Dr. Martin…"
Malcolm turned toward Martin with his hand extended and froze, as a scowl of recognition flickered across Martin's face.
"Martin Ellingham, of course. I heard that you were living in Cornwall. I believe I've already met your, uh, surprisingly lovely wife."
"I was just saying Martin," Ruth cut in, "isn't Malcolm here a relation on your mother's side?"
"My cousin, yes," Martin said curtly.
He turned toward the woman holding the petition clipboard, grabbed it and furiously scribbled his name on it.
To be continued…