Last updated 19:45, Thursday, 31 July 2008

THE REAL heroes of the Maryport Blues Festival didn’t appear on any posters, didn’t feature in any newspaper reports and never rated a round of applause from anyone.

In fact the street cleaners from Focsa, despite their bright yellow jackets, were completely overlooked by most of the tens of thousands of people who poured into Maryport last weekend.

The fact that it was one of the hottest, sunniest weekends of the year kept everyone outdoors.

During most of the weekend, Shipping Brow was completely covered with bodies basking in the sun, eating takeaway food and drinking.

As many commented, it was the biggest street party for years.

But, of course, when they finally went home, they left their mess behind them.

In fairness, most of the bins were full to overflowing by Sunday night, but early on Monday morning the main street of Maryport resembled a bombsite.

There were plastic cups and polystyrene boxes, beer cans and beer bottles, left-over food, chocolate wrappings, cigarette butts, blues timetables - anything you can imagine.

But before most people got to work on Monday morning, 10 Focsa workers were already on the go, cleaning and sweeping and lifting and emptying.

They thought they had probably shifted about two-and-a-half tons of rubbish by the time I spoke to them at around 8am, and their job was by no means finished.

And all this despite the fact that some had been on duty all weekend trying to stem the tide of rubbish that finally overwhelmed them.

This week, people who attended the blues festival will be talking about Chuck Berry, Jools Holland and the other stars of the show.

But seeing the men in yellow on Monday morning was a timely reminder of how the stars can only shine if there is someone in the background polishing them up.

However, we can’t really have a festival just celebrating what ordinary people do.

How many people would come to a festival in West Cumbria to watch men sweep the street? How many would come to see a teacher putting in extra time to support a sports team?

How many would come to see my husband cooking and cleaning, and doing all that he does?

How many would come to see the nurse who pauses in her busy routine because she realises that an elderly patient needs kind words and comfort?

The answer is, not many. We are not interested in people doing ordinary things - the things we take for granted.

But without those ordinary people the world would cease to function.

I saw a discussion on television the other day about a mysterious virus that is attacking the worldwide bee population. Hives are being emptied because, when they are ill, bees instinctively leave the hive so as not to pass on the disease, and to protect the queen bee.

Scientists are worried because without the worker bees, plants will not be pollinated. Without pollination, crops will die and the result will be the end of the world as we know it.

The world will not end because the queen has died but because the workers have died!

It is a sobering thought.

But what is scariest of all is when we take a good look at ourselves and look at what we contribute to the common good. What if the world was on the verge of collapse and could only survive if we got rid of the deadwood?

Could you make a case for your own survival? Could I?

I’ve got to go now. Writing columns is not a survival technique. I am going to learn to do something useful.

Maybe the Focsa men can help me.