There are no Liberal Democrat wards in Furness, so consequently there is no representation in the council cabinet, and all decisions regarding Furness are handed down without consultation from Kendal, the county town of Westmorland. It is against this background that there was a furious backlash when the exclusively Liberal Democrat cabinet announced that they were closing and demolishing the Forum theatre.

The council has no plans to replace the theatre, and if funds were ever to become available it is unlikely that a replacement could be up and running in less than three, and more likely five years.

Of course it is theoretically possible to build a thousand-seater theatre in less than a year. The Victorians built Blackpool Grand in nine months from greenfield site to opening night. But then the Victorians could do things that modern Britons can’t, such as build railways.

The Furness community’s grassroots tradition of young people’s theatre is going to be hit worse than the adult groups, since continuity will be lost and a generation will grow up with no experience of performing in a real theatre environment. Meanwhile the youth drama groups will have disappeared.

The Liberal Democrats need to understand, if they care at all, that a child’s perception of time is different from an adult’s. We often forget that time is relative and subjective. When you're a middle aged councillor, a three year wait is acceptable. But to a nine year old child, three years is a third of a lifetime. What for an adult is an inconvenient delay, is for a child an irretrievable loss of learning and development opportunities. In future the children of Furness will be deprived of experiences regarded as a normal part of growing up by previous generations.