Time to be more proactive with our big decisions

Plans to reopen the chapel at Maidstone Cemetery have now been revealed - and not before time.

The Grade II-listed building has been out of action for 12 years, with many families left frustrated at being unable to hold the kind of service they would want for their departed loved ones since 2006.

Indeed, it became something of a family tradition for many who have lived in the town for decades.

We all know council budgets are being squeezed harder than ever before, and bosses are having to make difficult decisions in terms of prioritising where to spend their dwindling resources.

And ploughing hundreds of thousands of pounds into giving a building a bit of a facelift might not be the easiest sell when there are other key issues in desperate need of funding.

However, this is somewhere that is dear to so many people’s hearts, and councillors at a recent committee meeting were unanimous in sounding their enthusiasm to see the chapel restored to its former glory.

Furthermore, one pointed out that the cost of the repairs is likely far more today than it would have been so many years ago, due to the amount of rot and decay that has set in, meaning the restoration process is now more complex.

So often in life it is easy to sit on things for a while, defer making a decision, ‘stick it on the laterbase’ - I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of that from time to time.

Perhaps this is as good an example as any that we all need to be more proactive about what we do, rather than wait until the last minute and have to frantically scramble around to find a solution.