Your Letters - October 26

Lovely town

AS now I am living locally, my third month here in lovely Bexhill, I am still meeting so many interesting and friendly people, mainly long term residents and true locals. So much to converse about, a learning process for me, about this gem of a town.

Of course, as ever, comments on this misuse of the DLWP - and a few compliments as D V Browning's letter October 5 and many compliments on the towns unique character. Wonderful upbeat charity shops, and quality goods. Why has not more been exploited on the clean and varied cafes, restaurants, retailers (on the latter - forgive me - a few frontages could well use brightening up with a coat of paint). Yes - so the DLWP?! Why not alternatives? There is a small local cinema, which could be renovated and, say, good weekend feature films. Someone must be aware how the numerous local residents are "hoofing" it to Eastbourne - also for theatre entertainment. An income lost locally! One has to spend money to make money, which most entrepreneurs are glaringly aware. Maybe the local councils of various departments could take heed. Why lose visitors, locals and tourists to Eastbourne?

VALDA WARREN

Church Street

Wind turbine

IN regards to the proposed wind turbine at Glyne Gap, how much longer will the residents of the Glyne Gap, Penland Wood area be put upon by the developers of the shopping centre.

First it was the unwarranted extension, ie Wickes, then we had to put up with the intrusion of a very large phone mast towering over our houses. Now we learn that it is proposed to erect a wind turbine. Besides being an eyesore, they are useless in providing power.

The local residents will have to put up with the wump, wump, wump that these things make. The only people who gain from this is the greedy money grabbing developers who will receive a huge subsidy to spoil the lives of hard working people, are they not satisfied with fleecing the public who park on the small car park when they wish to use the beach. I notice that neither the developers or Rother Council have replied to letters and questions put in this and the Hastings Observer.

R ALLDER

Ridgewood Gardens

Sale boards

PSST, wanna buy 10 metres of hedge in Gunters Lane or maybe a triangle of grass between two roads down Ninfield Way? Better still how about a street sign, namely Robin Hill, or the piece of land in front of the flats down Little Common Road. You could even be offered an alleyway or a set of railings or a chunk of waste land if you are prepared to go just past Filsham Road on the A259.

All of these have for sale boards on them when those boards ought to be attached to the property on sale. I was under the impression that for sale boards sited as such were against council regulations. If so why aren't the council doing something about it? These boards seem to proliferate at times and do nothing for an area from an aesthetic point of view.

P M ADAMS

Hornbeam Avenue

PS - I just noticed you can also rent the railings outside the new Redrow houses in Turkey Road. Now there's an opportunity not to be missed.

Meals service

REGARDING your article on Meals on Wheels anniversary, why no mention of the fact that the commercial enterprise that now carries out the service has only been involved in the last six years? During the previous 44 years the service was carried out by volunteer drivers. It was then decided by East Sussex County Council that it could be done cheaper and more efficiently by a commercial company.

When the change over took place the County Councillors did not even bother to say thank you to the volunteers. We did not expect to get a medal for the job done 365 days of the year, just a grunt from one of our hard-working councillors would have sufficed.

At least when we did the job no politics were involved.

P D EDMOND

Cantelupe Road

Disabled loos

I AM writing to you to ask you if you can do anything about the public conveniences at Glyne Gap in particular the disabled one.

I had to use this particular one on Monday, October 8 at around 1.40pm, and to my horror they were absolutely disgusting, the bin was full with nappies, the toilet looked as though it had not been cleaned for weeks and the floor, well it is hard to describe how dirty it was.

I spoke to two men who were sitting in the hut around the corner and they told me that they were not responsible, it was Land Securities and that they had been cleaned at 6 o'clock that morning. If that is the case they did not do the job very well at all, so I decided to write to you to see if you can do anything about this matter.

May I make a suggestion that the disabled toilet in particular can be locked at all times so that radar key holders only can use this convenience. I am very particular about my hygiene and do not wish to catch anything.

I trust you will be able to look into this matter.

MISS M TRANTER

Beaconsfield Road

Hastings

I READ with interest your article in the Bexhill Observer dated October 12 regarding the delivery of Meals on Wheels over the past 60 years.

It seems a pity that it makes no mention of the many years during which Meals on Wheels were sustained by volunteer helpers and drivers of the WRVS. In fact Apetito took over the service only in 2002 when WRVS lost the contract to them. Previously since its commencement the WRVS were responsible for the running of the Meals on Wheels service.

It seems ungracious not even to mention the contribution made by WRVS over so many years.

MARJORIE LEWZEY

(Ex WRVS driver)

West Parade

Wonderful NHS

COULD you please print this letter praising the good work of the NHS, in the light of Maidstone etc we believe that in some way deflects from the situation. We rarely hear of good work being carried out.

My husband, daughter and I moved to Bexhill-on-Sea from Sheffield, South Yorkshire on July 7 of this year. Our eldest daughter already lives here along with her partner and our three-year-old granddaughter. On our many visits we fell in love with the area.

On our first visit to The Old Town Surgery, my husband and I met Dr Price (a blessing in disguise). His instincts told him something was amiss with my husband's appearance (ironically, not picked up by his doctor in Sheffield). Immediately he ordered tests to be carried out at Bexhill Hospital. Later that day we received a telephone call from Dr Binodh at the surgery's branch in Little Common, who was concerned about the results. Almost immediately my husband was sent for tests at Conquest Hospital, which unfortunately showed him as suffering from bowel and liver cancer. He is now receiving chemotherapy, thanks to one doctor's concern for his new patient.

So we have a lot of people to thank for my husbands care, at the top of the list is Dr Price (thank you for your kind words and encouragement) and Dr Binodh. Bexhill Hospital; Mr Khoury, Conquest Hospital wards De Cham, Ashburnham, and McCartney. Not forgetting Endoscopy, Oncology, Dr Beesley and the tireless Macmillan Nurses, especially Gemma who has not only been there for my husband but for his family also. The team of voluntary workers also deserve to be mentioned, who are always pleasant, thank you. Last but not least our loving daughters, their partners and 'Nurse' Millie (our three-year-old granddaughter). If we have missed someone out then please accept our thanks to you also.

Finally a big thank you to Kipling and Ticehurst wards at Conquest Hospital who looked after our daughter and granddaughter, both having operations while my husband has been receiving treatment there.

MARC AND JANE SEARSTON

Turkey Road

Day centres

AS organiser of one of the Bexhill Voluntary Day Centres, I should like to amend the statement made by Ruby Lunn in last week's Observer (October 12) that members of the Clifford Day Centre (incidentally, not Beulah Baptist) were "up in arms", concerning the rise in the weekly subscription.

Yes, there was initial shock at the suddenness and amount of the rise but the overall consensus of opinion was that they receive value for money and are grateful.

PHYLLIS WARBURTON

Chepbourne Road

High rise flats

THERE are town councils who are adopting a policy that no constructions should take place on land which has not had previous buildings, this particularly applies to large developers from taking over every available space. I feel that Rother Town Council would be wise to adopt a similar policy as Bexhill has too many high rise flats. It would have prevented this disgraceful decision to allow Churchills to build Gullivers Bowling Green.

PATRICIA M MAYER

Knole Road

De La Warr

IN reply to Mr Ashton Dent-Gilbard - Observer, October 12.

I must say I do feel the deepest sympathy for Mr Ashton Dent-Gilbard - having to share the De La Warr with the great unwashed, but surely it is a blessing that there are so many of the disgusting proleteriat - the ignorant "Philistines" of Bexhill - in order that they may cheerfully pay their rates and taxes to support his revered "iconic building" and the all powerful Arts Council.

What a pity these plebian ignoramuses - these residents of this unworthy town - are allowed over the doorstep of this hallowed ground. But then, the toilets are quite a temptation, aren't they?

By the way, I wonder if Mr Dent knows who paid the 80,000 for the building in the first place?

JACKIE BIALESKA

Cantelupe Road

HAVING read Ashton Dent-Gilbard's arrogant, abusive criticism of Bexhill and its citizens I felt irritated enough to reply.

Firstly, assumptions about education - formal or otherwise should never frame an argument. The term Philistine was ill-advised and frankly wrong. In fact, one of the suggestions in a letter the previous week was to embrace the idea of exhibiting works of art from the early 20th century. I thought that sounded great. Hepworth, Nicholson and many others could be added to that good lady's list. Hardly an indifferent hostility to culture.

The solution of flattening the rest of Bexhill is interesting. Perhaps that idea was suggested when Tate St Ives was built? I think not! A far more inclusive and celebratory attitude was adopted.

The DLWP management obviously has a lot to do to make it financially viable, and would be wise to listen to, and consider ideas from the population that funds it. Rather than dismissing the thoughts of ordinary people, there may just be some gems of wisdom to help take our fabulous place forward.

As for his very rude comment that the people of Bexhill have very petit bourgeois attitudes he is again very arrogant. Class has little to do with opinion about art. We are all entitled to our views.

ISOBEL GARDNER

Marina Arcade

There are two entities at the De La Warr Pavilion. One the theatre which is attempting to cater for a fairly wide audience. The other a non-entity for the towns-people of Bexhill on Sea. The exhibitions at times semi pornographic, no doubt are meant to shock can be likened to expletives heard whilst watching television, pointless and puerile.

It is not a time capsule for the few but an exhibition centre for all aspects of art and culture and should be a place that all the residents of Bexhill should be proud to take their visitors to see and not just for the magnificent architecture alone.

ERIC TOMKINS

Penland Road

Community bus

IN answer to Cllr Winterborne' s letter "Bus Future" in the Observer dated October 5 can I assure all our passengers that the Bexhill Community Bus WILL BE continuing and that we have never had any intention of stopping our services and it is wrong of her to suggest otherwise, thereby possibly upsetting our regular customers.

She is also incorrect to say that, as we were not getting enough fares, we expanded into Pebsham. We have been running to the outskirts of Pebsham since we started in 1980, but in September 2005, after a review of our services we, in response to an earlier request from Cllr Clarke for us to provide a service further into Pebsham, were able to add Seabourne Road and Haslam Crescent to our routes.

This enabled a few more people from that area to get into the town and also to the local hospital.

Whilst it is true that the free bus pass system has generated some extra passengers, it is very rare that our bus is full and that we have to refuse anyone from travelling on it.

It is true that due to the drivers' licence regulations, we are limited to the number of passengers we can carry.

However to suggest that we put another bus on the route at busy times is entirely unworkable and unnecessary.

Does she think that we have volunteers standing by at a moment's notice?

We run to four different areas around the town morning and afternoon, six days a week, with each area being served twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon giving people time to plan their visits and appointments throughout the day or week. Another fact that might be taken into consideration when planning journeys on the bus is that we are twice as busy in the mornings than the afternoons.

Of course as we are all volunteers we can only continue if we get enough people to help, and therefore if anyone has a half day a week spare and would like to help drive or conduct please contact me in our office at 25 Sackville Road or by telephone on 222820.

IAN HARRIS

Managing Director

Bexhill Community Bus

Waste of money

Copy of complaint to the Post Office

TODAY (October 17) there appeared two new expensive-looking plasma screens in Bexhill Post Office.

One was advertising - goodness knows what, it was silent - but that's OK as it is very noisy in there anyway, and possibly most of the customers are hard of hearing - I certainly am.

The other told us which till point to go to.

WHAT A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY - the old system worked fine before.

JULEY ROSS

Dorset Road South

Spoiling the town

WE moved to Bexhill a year ago. My first impressions were: beach - wow! Pavilion - wow! dogs' mess - URRGH!!

And it hasn't got much better. It's everywhere. My kids and I play dodge the dog's mess on the walk down Barrack Road to school. They have a refrain that goes "Why don't people clear it up!" - not bad for a three and five-year-old, and hey, we are learning the meaning of new words like "irresponsible" and "disgusting".

But, the final straw came yesterday when my nearly two-year-old wobbled and fell on some grass near the Pavilion and splat, hand covered in dog's mess (you have to be super speedy to keep a toddler from putting their hand in their mouth). The irony of this being we were less than a metre from a dog waste bin.

I just want to ask the question why? Why and Who? And what is the problem about clearing up after your dog? Any answers please?

ZOE SMITH

Barrack Road

Corrections

WITH reference to the letter from D. J. Digweed on the letters page on October 19 there are two points for correction.

There is a bar in the auditorium foyer.

The Christmas show this year is Acrobats & Angels, a circus cabaret, running from December 22-30 (see page 12 of the autumn guide).

SALLY ANN LYCETT

Head of Communications

De La Warr Pavilion

Recycling woes

THOUGHT I was one of the Good Guys!

There I am washing up tins (cut myself a few times), sorting out all my rubbish and leaving the bins at the top of my drive on the eve of collection (not easy as I have a bad back) and so far I've had my bins emptied with no trouble.

However .... this morning they ignored my recycling bins which were sitting at the top of my drive where I've always left them on collection day ..... Why?...... because they had to open my gate to get to them and put a foot on my property?

They told me they've now been told not to open gates or step foot on people's property at all. Any bins they cannot reach from the path are to be left.

How else are people going to learn?

We must put our bins either on the path (thought you weren't supposed to do that) or on the edge of your property, with the gates OPEN.

They then did empty my bins for me but I must consider myself "told off" and to leave the gate open in future.

What can I say?

DEE REYNOLDS

Downlands Avenue

Dangerous road

YET another serious accident this morning (Wednesday) on the Barnhorn Road causing diversion chaos.

When are the authorities going to wake up to the dangers on this road and install proper traffic controls?

Or is it the case as some of us believe that speed cameras are only placed where they can make a profit and that the authorities consider loss of life just an inconvenient irrelevance?

Simon Taylor

Broad View

Pavilion benefits town

WHAT a delight to read two sensible letters relating to the DLWP in the latest editions of your newspaper.

I refer to those of Ashton Dent-Gilbard and Lesley Wilder. Such a pleasant surprise after the weird and wonderful selection which have appeared since the launch of 'Creative Impact'.

None of these other writers want to believe that the refurbished DLWP does have a financial, beneficial and positive impact on the local economy, but that Bexhill's seafront and especially the town centre has yet to reach the same stage of regeneration. For example, if as many of your writers state, local shops attract visitors to the town, why is it that the average DLWP visitor's expenditure on shopping in Bexhill and Rother is 4.09 compared with 8.74 for all seaside resorts?

The town's retail centre requires further investment but as quoted in the report whenever plans for a regenerative approach to the problem have been put forward they have been abandoned due to overwhelming local opposition. However nothing changes in Bexhill, when plans for the building of the DLWP were first made public, protests against this 'monstrosity and blot on the landscape' came from all quarters but mainly local!

Finally and because I have to declare an interest, I would point out that Bexhill Museum is the second most popular visitor attraction in the town after of course the DLWP.

JOHN BETTS

Eden Drive.

What regeneration?

I NOTE that the recently-published "Creative Impact" evaluation of the economic impact of the De La Warr Pavilion makes numerous references to the need by the Pavilion of more regeneration of the town in order to develop its full potential.

One of the co-authors of this Study is Sea Space, the executive arm of SEEDA, who control the funding of the proposed 15M regeneration programme for Hastings and Bexhill announced five years ago.

Bexhill has received virtually no investment to date whilst the Pavilion has benefited from a separately funded 9M refit and Rother Council annual funding in excess of 0.5M!

Apart from noting the obvious irony of the Sea Space involvement in the contribution of such references and to seriously question the claimed "independence" of the Study, my questions are these:- WHAT has happened to the regeneration process?

WHEN can we expect it to start in Bexhill?

J. Hodson

Cooden Sea Road

Opposition to EU

AS chairman of the Democracy Movement in South East Sussex, it is my duty to conduct a strenuous campaign during the coming months, throughout the constituencies of Hastings and Rye, Eastbourne, Bexhill and Battle and part of the Lewes constituency at Polegate. Certain Members of Parliament have refused to vote against the EU budget deal, which means that British taxpayers must pay 115 million every week to the European Union in Brussels and many MP's are also refusing to demand that their constituents be allowed a vote on the EU Treaty, which Gordon Brown recently signed during the Lisbon summit.

Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and the MP for Hastings and Rye, Michael Foster, were elected at the 2005 General Election on their undertaking that the EU Treaty would be put to the people in a Referendum. All have now welched on that undertaking, which leaves the Democracy Movement no option, but to highlight their deceit by distributing leaflets from door to door and by handing out millions of leaflets in the constituencies of the appropriate Members of Parliament, before they are called upon to ratify the signing of the Treaty in the coming months.

Michael Foster's name appears on Democracy Movement's 'Hall of Hypocrisy' list and between now and Christmas, members of our local team will be in and around Hastings, canvassing to point the accusing finger at its MP.

One of the three notices, which will be in evidence in Hastings in the coming months states: "Your MP refuses to allow his constituents a referendum on who governs Britain! Westminster or Brussels."

In the past few weeks, similar notices have been displayed in other neighbouring towns and have attracted must attention to the potential destruction of British freedom and sovereignty, for which many of our citizens died between 1939 and 1945.

ANTHONY LEEDING

Collington Rise.

Post Office closure

GREGORY Barker is shedding crocodile tears over Post Office closures ("Hopes dashed as Post Office told it will close in February", October 19). Indeed he seems to be the kiss of death. But Mr Barker is so out of step with his party on so many things that the odds against coincidence don't stack up. As one reader asked some months ago: "Who is this man Gregory Barker?"

The answer, I suggest, is that he is a front for the hard-faced policy wonks who populate Tory HQ in London. He presents the caring, compassionate face of conservatism. In the jargon he is the "soft" Tory who can appeal to most shades of opinion, amply aided by his boyish looks and charming and sincere manner.

Except that he isn't. Round about the time that Mr Barker was having his picture taken and chatting to postal workers in Devonshire Square during the recent strike, the Tories launched a swingeing attack on the workers' union, the CWU. Alan Duncan, Tory Shadow Business Secretary, denounced the CWU as "irresponsible" and claimed that it was "destroying the postal service". Exit photo and any pearls of wisdom that may have been uttered!

So, beware. And remember who you would really be voting for if you were thinking of voting for Mr B.

STEPHEN JACKSON

Second Avenue.