Your Letters - November 23

PO battle 1

Copy of a letter sent to Mr Gary Herbert, Network Development Manager, Post office Ltd:

RE: The intended closure of Collington Mansions Sub Post Office and London Road Sub Post Office

I would dearly like to know why the closure of these two offices?

The above welcome their customers - the main GPO is so impersonal - together with long queues, no disrespect to the staff!

The research put into these sub post offices must have been 'taken from afar'! From most point it is down hill to the GPO, up hill on the return journey. Public transport - difficult to 'step up' to the bus. Taxis - out of the question for those on low income.

In your leaflet - 'There are fee paying parking facilities outside GPO' - Where?

Most elderly live close to the sub post office branches and it is their lifeline!

It seems to me like 'killing off' the elderly!

ALEXANDER (Mrs)

Amherst Road

PO battle 2

Copy of a letter sent to Mr Herbert, The Network Development Manager, Post Office Ltd:

I HAVE just read your pamphlet on the proposed closure of the Collington Mansion post office. I can't help thinking that Collington is less costly to run than, say, either Windmill Drive, Sidley or Little Common. I would indeed suggest that the business at Collington generates more income than Windmill Drive and Sidley combined.

I believe that you propose to chop Collington because it is nearer to the main post office than either Sidley, Windmill Drive or Little Common.

I can assure you that there are more elderly with walking sticks and shopping trollies in Collington post office in a morning than there are in the queue for the main Bexhill post office.

There really are large numbers of pensioners using Collington, and they have neither email nor on-line facilities.

Have you really analysed and compared the takings at Collington with those of Sidley, Windmill Drive, and Little Common? Personally I would need some convincing.

I do not like to contemplate the fact that dozens of old ladies, and, indeed, old gents will be cast along Terminus Road and Station Road in order to draw their pensions or allowances or to post mail or buy stamps.

Then things could be worse in winter or wild weather.

They might be able to use public transport, but it isn't usually entirely reliable. At the main post office they would not get the kindly and friendly treatment; more personal is a smaller establishment.

That brings us to the crux of the problem; Mrs Williams the post mistress is infinitely efficient and knowledgeable in postal matters. She is also well versed in areas like banking and pensions and allowances.

If you close Collington post office you are casting adrift not only an efficient expert but a person who is widely and fondly regarded. The main post office in comparison will be impersonal - perhaps even terse to the pensioners.

For his part Mr Williams, who runs the shop, has to contend with a Tesco local store. Since Tesco opened a greengrocer went out of business.

Mr Williams used to sell cakes and pastries and also flowers; he has had to drop these. Tesco has dented Mr Williams' trade in newspapers, journals and magazines, and this continues.

With all due respects to Tesco and their enormous business potential by taking on items other than groceries they are in effect riding rough-shod over small traders; and the Government permits it.

Most customers at Collington post office do not own cars, they are mainly OAPs, so think in terms of "Tiny Tim" in Dickens' Christmas Carol - invalid in health. Do not deprive these people of their post office!

Since the GPO has decided to use draconian methods to regularise profits may they consider humane action. Many closures conform to commercial considerations but with compassion before convenience to Post Office Limited.

That said, may the red pillar box continue to be a cornerstone of this pleasant land - don't get a notion on them!

D J DICKENSON

Colebrooke Road

PO battle 3

AS you point out Gregory Barker has been very vocal and active over post office closures (Observer). I vividly recall the iconic soapbox and megaphone snapshot of Young Greg outside the Sedlescombe PO in the run-up to the council elections. So let's ask him the $64,000 question: If the Tories win the next General Election will they re-open closed post offices? I think we should be told.

STEPHEN JACKSON

Second Avenue

Stage call

IN light of parts of the recent Rother Pavilion working party report might we now see a revival in interest 'by the Pavilion' for local theatre and art?

The hard work of volunteers who put on both BLODS and BATS shows are just as vital and as much as a draw as many professional groups.

Like other local theatres in both Hastings and Eastbourne a more welcoming approach to local talent might now be the order of the day. Also local artist groups - many of which actually include professional artists - are producing a huge array of art that surely merits at least one small exhibition a year?

So can I direct our local audience to the De La Warr this month, after a hugely successful BLODs show, The Gondoliers to the BATS next production of JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls.

PHILIPA COUGHLAN

Publicity - BATS

Exciting menu

WE read with interest the Special Report on the De La Warr Pavilion Future.

Our eye was first caught by the heading 'Dismay over restaurant and theatre.' This is the exact opposite to our reaction.

The Autumn programme for the theatre is most exciting and surely offers something for everyone.

We do not expect to find everything to our taste but are pleased to see that every show is of the highest possible standard. I understand that attendances have in fact been very good.

The only grouse we have heard is that the bar service in the interval is sometimes not adequate.

As to the restaurant, the pre-show meals to which we have treated ourselves, have provided the most exciting menus and best value to be found anywhere. Service is efficient and friendly and we find the restaurant itself spacious and stylish with of course incomparable views. Lunch is a real treat, too.

We only wish that we could eat there with friends in the evening - and have time to sample the puddings ! Keep up the good work !

John and Heather Morrey

South Cliff

Still here

I SEE from last week's Observer (November 16) that John Shaw and SeaSpace are feigning an interest in our little town again with hints of a new hotel to support the Pavilion.

Well, be aware, Mr Shaw, that we of S.O.S. and Vox Pop are still here. We have not gone away. And should SeaSpace try to "muscle in" on our beloved seafront again, we and our 15,000 supporters will rise to fight again.

If the Pavilion can honestly justify the need for a new hotel why, for instance, are all the developers building flats? Why did the canny Mr Khan not apply to build a hotel on the De La Warr Heights site at the end of Sackville Road?

That was a prime site if ever I saw one. Maybe the developers know more than Mr Shaw and realise it would not be financially viable and it would be their own money they would be risking - not the taxpayer's.

Also, why is the Pavilion expected to be a "catalyst"?

We don't expect the parks or museums to be catalysts, and lots of public money goes into those. Surely it is a public amenity for us all to enjoy and, by the way, if it's good enough bring in revenue from visitors from other areas.

Why can't SeaSpace give this town some of the public money it is being so profligate with in Hastings. And let this town and its council decide where the money would be best spent for regeneration.

After all, it is our money, the money we pay in taxes that they are keeping from us. Meanwhile there are important things that we know need doing. Why should the quangos decide what to do. Only we know what to do in this special little town.

Finally - a message for Mr Shaw - keep your hands off our seafront. We want to save it for the generations to come. Remember last time and beware!

JACKIE BIALESKA

Cantelupe Road

Cultural vanity

Re: De La Warr Pavilion : SeaSpace

HOW apt it is that, as the pantomime season bears rapidly down upon us, SeaSpace should once again materialise, like the Genie in the Lamp, onto the DLWP stage.

Was it only last year that we all had such rollicking good fun at the expense of their ludicrous 'West Lawns Hotel' masterplan?

This year, the SeaScape pundits have re-examined the situation and apparently decided that the "key factor" in the eternal doldrums becalming the DLWP is the "lack of quality accommodation" in the town. Now, I may not be the sharpest knife in the box, but is this not almost exactly the same in essence as they said last year before their proposals were laughed off the front page?

Or, to put it more directly, it's the same old SeaSpace.

Hogwash wrapped up in slightly different packaging.

The brutal fact remains, however, that Bexhill is only a matter of two hours or so from London and around an hour from the pagan delights of Brighton. No-one is going to be tempted to linger overnight in Bexhill purely on account of anything the DLWP can rustle up (unless, perhaps, it could re-incarnate Buster Bates for one final, career-topping practical demonstration).

I suggest that the simple reality of the DLWP dilemma, to anyone with half an eye still open, is that the Pavilion will succeed or fail almost entirely by its ability to sell itself to the broad local audience. Everything beyond that reeks of a monstrously delusional cultural vanity which we (the local taxpayers) have been subsidising for far too long.

ALEX HAWKINS

Cooden Sea Road

Lights outrage16,000 IN lights, they are wired-up.

Regarding your piece last week on the festive lights, and the proposed 16,000 expenditure on lighting-up the Town Hall, I consider this vast amount of capital, also taking into account the carbon footprint used to heat-up the atmosphere an outrage, an affront to taxpayers' intelligence, and 16,000 is more than some people earn in a year! Any person that might propose, or second such a scheme does not deserve to represent the council.

RICHARD PAINE

Gwyneth Grove

Poppy thanks

ON behalf of The Royal British Legion Bexhill, I would like to thank all those background volunteers and groups who helped make the Remembrance Sunday Parade and Service so memorable.

Our particular thanks to Mr John Black for the PA system, and the organist Mrs Gillian Peacham, to the Bugler, the Pipers and the Newhaven Youth Band, to Bexhill Sailing Club, to scouts Jacqueline Davidson and Connor Dukin who read the poem "A Broken Word" written by Hilary Malpass.

Finally, our thanks to the Parade Marshall, to all those ex-service groups and youth organisations and to members of the public who participated.

C L LAWRENCE

Chairman

The Royal British Legion

Bexhill Branch

London Road

Our bus

Re: Letter from Dulcie Robinson 'Bus Route' Bexhill Observer, November 16

I WISH when people complain that they set the facts right. People from Pebsham are blamed for filling the bus before it reaches The Glades.

The facts are mostly two only from Pebsham, two from St Johns and one coming back from town.

The bus carries 16 sitting. Drivers can choose whether to carry people standing as they are not insured for this, most drivers will carry people standing and we often give up our seats to the disabled. If an extra bus was put on it would run empty for the rest of the day. Monday is the only day it is really busy. May I suggest people in The Glades catch a later bus on Monday. They are all retired.

This is a super bus and I am fed up with all the moaning from The Glades.

DAPHNE HOUGHTON

Alford Way

Missing specs

WHILE shopping in Bexhill on Friday, November 9, I lost a pair of spectacles in a grey plastic pouch. If you have any information please phone me on 217991.

Thank you.

ANN NOVAK

Woodville Road

Animal slaughter

HOW upsetting for Gillian Stone to lose her pet sheep in such awful fashion.

We recently had presumably a human or humans slaughter a pet goat in our area featured recently in Bexhill Observer. It seems that unless animals are kept under lock and key that other animals, and I include those responsible for the goat killing in this category, seem to be able to carry out their will with ease.

I believe there used to be a law stating dogs found worrying sheep would be shot, if this is still the case and even if it is not perhaps a few signs put up in the vicinity of the recent incident may focus the presumably irresponsible owners of these dogs that their animals instead of being just "fashion accessories" could be at risk especially if a friendly local farmer is involved.

This type of thing needs to be stopped before we read that an innocent child has been attacked in its own garden.

Paul Stewart

Duke Street

Decision making

THE results of Rother Council's '06 to'07 questionnaire have been announced. The questionnaire was sent to 2,500 Rother residents and replies received from about 1,100.

Detailed results can be found on RDC's website, www.rother.gov.uk or contact their policy officer, Joanne Wright.

What I found particularly interesting was their summary which indicated that nearly 70% of these residents believe that they can't affect decision making in their area. This is a salutary reminder for Rother councillors who have been repeatedly informed, at least through the media, that between 70 and 75% of British laws are now made in Brussels. These Rother residents are right; finances, planning, waste, recycling, you name it, are directly or indirectly subject to EU decision-making and Britain has but one voice out of 26 other EU States to make its case.

Your readers will have seen the MPs, Greg Barker and Michael Foster posing in front of Post Offices threatened with closure.

What a sham!

Both the parties to which they belong support the EU and yet it is an EU Directive that legislates our Post Offices to be more competitive. What hypocrites! Such support for the EU is killing off our communities life blood; even profitable Post Offices are closing.

Our Westminster Parliament has gradually become impotent as treaty after treaty with the EU has been signed to the extent that our MP's only initiate up to 30% of our laws. Disregarding the South East unelected Regional Assembly, our elected councillors are the pit ponies at the coal face. As hard as these ponies work, (and they do), the coal can only get to the surface if the EU pit boss allows the lift to work. Yes, Rother residents, you are correct; our councillors really do have limitations as to what they are allowed to do; you can only influence 30% of their decision-making.

Tony Smith

Brownbread Stud

Ashburnham

Music prices

My son has an interest in music and would have enjoyed last Saturday's English Chamber Orchestra at the DLWP, however the only concession for under eighteens was 1.00 off the top ticket price. The cheapest tickets were 16.00 each: 32.00 for both of us. 64.00 for a family of four!

The DLWP explained that a high profile Orchestra will always be expensive, however I have just checked the English Chamber Orchestra's website: http:www.englishchamberorchestra.co.uk/ and am surprised to find that at the same performance the following evening in Chelmsford, the cheapest tickets were 10.50. Even more intriguing for their concert in central London this week 10.00, in fact every other venue listed is significantly cheaper than the DLWP.

The good news, I was told by the DLWP, is that under eighteens will only pay 10.00 for this Saturday's jazz opera Bridgetower; the trouble is the cheapest adult ticket is 22.00. Again 32.00 for two of us. 64.00 for a family of four! I have just had a look at the English touring Opera's website: http://www.englishtouringopera.org.uk/tourdiary.php, and the same performance is cheaper at other venues.

Are these prices reasonable in a town with such a poor local economy? It can only mean that the performances at the DLWP are exclusive, and poorer children inevitably have less opportunities.

A Drawbridge

Egerton Road

Dog toilet

I AM writing on behalf of an elderly lady-friend who lives on Eversley Road. It has been a source of some unpleasantness for her that the area around the house where she lives has been seen by local dog-owners as a sort of dogs' lavatory, the more so when it seems possible that one of the other occupants of the building, owner of two dogs, may be partly to blame. (This seems the more likely in that a third occupant claims to have seen the dogs in question fouling the forecourt of the building - by now a disgusting spectacle to occupants and passers-by alike).

Presumably at some point someone has reported the matter to the Environmental Health Department. Good for them! But imagine my friend's anger and distress when, victim of all this, and obliged to pass the accumulating droppings every time she enters and leaves her flat, she receives a letter from Environmental Health threatening her with fines if she (as The Occupant) does not attend to the matter!

Clearly the letter was one of several sent to all occupants in the building; but in the possible eventuality that the dog-owner among them is responsible, it does not seem to have had any effect - quite the opposite.

My friend phoned Environmental Health about the matter the day after she received the letter, but got no response, so I rang for her the day after, to be told the relevant official would call me back. It is now over a fortnight since the original letter of October 24 and nothing appears to have been done, in spite of the officially-threatening tone of the communication. I rang again, today, and got from a colleague of his, if not an apology, at least the scarcely-necessary explanation that it was a block-letter. The responsible person, however, was yet again "not at his desk" (first call) or "not in the building" (subsequent ones).

What kind of local government is this??

FREDERICK ROBINSON

De La Warr Parade

Data protection

Copy of a letter sent to Greg Barker and Rother District Council:

IT seems that Rother District Council (RDC), and no doubt many others, are in clear and blatant breach of the Data Protection Act on their website. As one example, when people apply for planning permission, an electronic copy of their application form is published in full on the RDC planning pages. The application includes the applicants name, address, normally a telephone number and usually a facsimile of the applicant's signature. The latter must be an identity thief's dream come true.

Here's an extract from http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/RightsAndResponsibilities/DG_10028507

"The details of the Data Protection Act are quite complex, but at the heart of it are eight common-sense rules known as the Data Protection Principles.

These require personal information to be:

1. fairly and lawfully processed;

2. processed for limited purposes;

3. adequate, relevant and not excessive;

4. accurate;

5.not kept longer than necessary;

6. processed in accordance with your rights;

7. kept secure;

8. not transferred abroad without adequate protection.

Organisations using personal information ('data controllers') must comply with these Principles."

It is obvious that RDC are in breach of bullet points 7 and 8.

It seems that almost any government or pseudo official body can publish this sort of data with impunity. Is this the intention of either the Data Protection Act or the Freedom of Information Act?

Your comments would be appreciated. "It is common practice" is NOT a satisfactory answer however much it is "common practice".

In the sort of document mentioned above, it would not usually seem necessary to give the applicant's name, as it is the property that is being discussed, and it is certainly most undesirable and unnecessary to include the writer's signature block.

T J THOMAS

De La Warr Road

Unique town

JUST a few notes on my "settling in" five months in splendid Bexhill on Sea. The more I meet such friendly, interesting and exceedingly well travelled locals and residents, the more I ask myself, why does not the powers that be, in various official departments, listen to them!

I am so content to shop in this small unique seaside town, but when stopping for coffee or tea in one of the various local coffee shops or cafes, and conversing with numerous different residents, voila, the subjects always include lack of public toilets, bins, alternative choice of a theatre and cinema. Also - how curious the residents are about funds for such amenities should have been allocated. The locals contribute in many ways, and should have their opinions considered, as they place the people in official capacities, where they are.

Most are aware of their own loyalty and caring for this community and are quite sad at the lack of interest shown, to keep Bexhill as a truly special place, in the most recent past. It is well known, no town can survive on just one outstanding attraction.

VALDA WARREN

Church Street

Marching song

WITH regard to the (Remembrance) write-up in the Observer (well written by the way), you refer to Sussex By The Sea as the marching song of The Royal Sussex Regiment.

I was led to believe that it was the music of the Norfolk Regiment, and the Royal Sussex march was Let The Hills Resound With Sound.

I think my grandfather told me this and he was Bandmaster of the Bexhill-on-Sea Town Band for many years.

I have no doubt someone will correct me about the music if I am wrong.

D. Wilson

Wrestwood Road

The Royal Sussex Regiment website gives Let The Hills Resound as the 5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion march, later adopted by the 4th/5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion. It describes Sussex By The Sea, written in 1907, as a subsidiary regimental march adopted by all battalions. Ed.

Generous gifts

THE Bexhill Caring Community would like to thank everyone who has so generously donated towards the Christmas Appeal.

A particular thank you to TVC who are now collecting luxury items such as chocolates, wine, Christmas cakes and puddings, etc. at their premises in Devonshire Road.

A further thank you to Curves who are also collecting luxury items from the ladies in Bexhill.

Because of the fantastic response so far we will be able to help a lot more people than ever before.

If anyone would like to nominate a person or family in need please contact The Bexhill Caring Community in confidence with the details. If you know of anyone recently bereaved please also let us know their details in order that we can send a plant to them.

Packing and delivery of the hampers will be carried out in the middle of December.

Bexhill Caring Community will also be holding a raffle to help towards food vouchers.

The draw will take place on Tuesday, December 18 at 11am and everyone is invited to join us for coffee and mince pies.

MARGARET VON SPEYR

Manager

Bexhill Caring Community

Horse show

ON Sunday, November 18, Chris and Philippa Davey of St Francis Farm held a horse show for Children in Need 2007. Clear Round Jumping from 6" to 2.6" was followed by a freestyle "Strictly Pairs" riding competition. Forty show jumpers braved the cold, windy conditions to win a Pudsey badge.

The "Strictly Pairs" competition was won by Zoe and Sara Ballard, riding Jacob and Wolfie as the Pink Ladies from Grease.

480 was raised and has been sent to Children In Need 2007 and many, many thanks go to everyone who helped and supported this annual event.

C DAVEY

Potmans Lane

Dogs' newspaper

I WAS absolutely thrilled to receive a reply, through your letters page, from Jack Gardner the talented writing spaniel. I recognise that I owe Jack an apology and had not realised the full extent of his injuries.

I hope that he is making a full recovery and is being properly pampered by those who attend to him. I suspect that Major, the thuggish English Bull Terrier who attacked him, could not even write his own name let alone organise his walkers to clean up after him!

If only there were more dogs like Jack; if there were, they would soon create a newspaper of their own and put the Observer out of business.

TIM MATTHEWS

Luton