IN reply to the report on the Magdalen community fair, August 9, I would like to add my comments.Unfortunately the Mad Mag Day has become a victim of its own “hic-cup” causing us, the MCA in co-operation with the Safer Neighbour Team, to scale this year's event right down to a community fair.

IN reply to the report on the Magdalen community fair, August 9, I would like to add my comments.

Unfortunately the Mad Mag Day has become a victim of its own “hic-cup” causing us, the MCA in co-operation with the Safer Neighbour Team, to scale this year's event right down to a community fair. We felt that we had to put something on so as not to disappoint the many people who have enjoyed our Mad Mag Day since the first one in 2002.

We had no free rides for the children, no beer tent, no large stage with bands playing from 12 noon through 11pm, and no fireworks.

Instead of two to three thousand people attending there were only about 300.

As the weather deteriorated most people gathered in front of the Cap Gown pub, which also happens to double up as our “community point”, we are not fortunate enough to have a community centre.

At no time was the problem mentioned caused by drinking in the Cap and Gown; it started in the road outside by two grown men. Mitch who manages the Cap and Gown has not been approached to give his version of what happened. He does not have to be told to close the pub, he knows exactly when to do this and does it. He is a very community minded and I feel that his integrity has been breached. He tries to help everyone and keeps a “middle of the road” approach to all situations.

My remark about too many PCSO's reiterates exactly to what I said last year when the situation was worse. People know the limits of a PCSO and play on it and although they do an excellent job in the community, faced with a situation like this one, their training does not cover it.

With hindsight it could have been handled differently, but then no situation is the same.

I would like to thank all the people who came with good intentions and enjoyed it, all those who helped the various groups, St John's, the stall holders, the bands Monkey Spanner, who played on until 6.15pm like Titanic, although the fair had finished by 4pm.

Last but not least my colleagues at MCA especially Mac who does most of the co-ordinating and band slots, must not forget our excellent team of neighbourhood wardens, who respond beyond their duties.

The MCA will be discussing the future of Mad Mag Day with the police and Mitch. Any sensible input from “jo public” will be welcome.

PATRICIA PAGE

Chairman MCA

Councillor Magdalen Ward

FURTHER to the articles and comment in the press on coastal erosion.

Some of the comments, as reported in The Independent, by the newly appointed Head of the Environment Agency, Lord Smith, have been welcomed by the Scratby Coastal Erosion Group.

That Lord Smith promises 'to work closely with the communities involved to achieve as much consensus as possible over which coastal stretches to protect' is applaudable coupled with the comment that he promises to do his 'level best to defend communities where there are significant numbers of properties under threat and where its possible to find an engineering solution' is significant.

He also calls upon ministers to give emergency help to families whose homes will be lost and suggested that re-housing should be paid for out of government funds.

It is hoped that the Environment Agency will be in contact very soon to discuss all these very valid points.

In the meantime Great Yarmouth Borough Council is working on producing a viable plan for the rock berm extension project at Scratby for presentation to the Environment Agency for funding next year.

Scratby Coastal Erosion Group will continue their campaign to pursue the Rock Berm Project and to obtain social justice for anyone who may suffer damage caused by coastal erosion.

JIM BRATTON

Secretary

Scratby Coastal Erosion Group

The Esplanade,

Scratby

I would like to thank Mollie Timby for putting me straight regarding the resident parking signs in her letter published Friday, August 15. I concede the fact that they exist at the beginning and end of the zone and I would expect that residents within the zone like herself are aware of the times and conditions of something that I would assume impinges quite dramatically on the quality of her life.

I fear that Mrs Timberly may be seen as being a wee bit presumptuous. Unfortunately, I like many thousands of non-residents of the town who are not directly affected by the ever increasing boundaries of this modern plague may not be familiar with the “Zone A Entry” sign located at St Nicholas Road/Nelson Road junction or the exit sign at the Nelson Road/St Peters Road junction or the other signs bordering the half mile square area of the town and that all the resident only parking streets it contains are part of the same zone.

I appreciate her confirmation that parking is permitted to all after 6pm until 8am but I am still somewhat confused, perhaps wrongly so, for believing that resident parking zones are to ensure spaces are available when folk return from work in the evening, not to deter non-residents from parking during the day when the streets are virtually empty. The lack of clarity and obvious effect of the existing policy is evident when you see restaurants placing adverts in The Advertiser informing that you can park in said zones in the evening. This is no doubt because they are experiencing a fall in customers and are aware that people are not familiar with the situation. It would be clearer if times were identified on the localised street signs.

With regard to the personal reference to my eyesight and driving ability, may I point out to Ms Timberly that her surprise at no letters being printed regarding yellow lines being placed on the road on Hall Quay, may have something to do with not being a regular or proficient and observant reader of these columns as this problem was highlighted earlier in the letters' page dated July 25.

I will of course keep spreading the word regarding the parking times as I hope she does.

T ANDREWS

Northern Close

Caister on Sea

AFTER last week's fiasco by the borough council, aided by the local police to enforce the pay and display regulations on the beach coach station car park, may we now assume that we all have “cart blanche” to flout the rules on parking in the borough.

How can it be right for there to be a set of rules for one and another set for others.

Would the local authority like to declare (under the Freedom of Information Act) how many parking tickets were issued during the week in question, on the other pay and display car parks, or is this just too embarrassing.

The issue of a single ticket would be sheer hypocrisy.

When are the authorities going to wake up and realise that under the current regime of “political correctness” and all that entails, there are minority groups who laugh at the rules of society and drive a coach and horses through the regulations that the law abiding, tax paying, ordinary citizens of this country abide by.

CHARLES BIRCH

Yarmouth Road

Ormesby St Margaret

IT will never happen again. These were the words of the police and council after the last invasion of the travellers. But it has. It's time the powers that be come clean and admit there is nothing they can do. How many fines were issued to these people over the time they were here, none I should guess. It is time the police and council got their act together. Let's have a travellers holiday week, open up the market place for them free of charge.

R FEARNS

North Denes Road

Yarmouth

Your report about the repeated sewage escapes in Belton (August 14) raises some interesting questions.

As a resident in Sharman's Loke who has also regularly endured the misery of raw sewage escaping onto our horse paddocks and patios I have got to know our little pumping station quite well. Having regularly supplied cups of tea to the Anglian Water engineers who turn out in the middle of the night when the pumps fail I became familiar with the problems they are up against.

It was therefore a bit of a surprise that you quoted an Anglian Water spokesman implying that “ageing pumps” were the cause of the problem and that new pumps were in process of being replaced (the work being carried out today - Monday - in fact).

“We hope this will reduce the problem,” said the spokeswoman.

She's very optimistic, in my opinion.

The problem has very little to do with the pumps, old or new. It has to do with the behaviour of human beings and our neighbours are quite correct to say that the problem is becoming more common. You might imagine that common sense would be an evolutionary process but it isn't.

Without going into too many unsavoury details, the pumps stop because the impellers get jammed with the most unbelievable things that people force down their toilets. The electric motors which drive the pumps overload and they “trip out” for safety before they overheat (a red light advising this comes on in a control centre in Peterborough, 100 miles away, incidentally).

It's extraordinary that Anglian Water's PR department did not seize the opportunity to explain that towels (of all descriptions); children's romper suits; blankets and other hefty items of clothing (including a pair of men's corduroy trousers) do not pass through centrifugal pumps very easily.

I have more than once watched the heroic efforts of Anglian Water's engineers battling to untangle the high speed pump impellers from these very items. Most of this material is suspected of being in a very “contaminated” condition before they are disposed of down the loo and I leave it to your imagination as to the state they are in by the time the engineers have to remove them. These guys should get a medal. It's good for their sanity that they can still sometimes laugh at their discoveries.

Why Anglian Water are inferring that their own pumps are at fault mystifies me. Big utilities like them are usually skilled at blaming anyone but themselves. It's part of the game. In this case. however, it is the customers who are the villains - I wish we could find out who. And Anglia Water shouldn't be trying to build up our hopes that this problem is going to go away.

What possesses people to try to flush their clothes down the toilet is beyond me but Anglian should apply themselves more productively to an education (or re-education) campaign explaining what can or cannot go down the pan. We got taught as kids what not to flush - the first time you block the lavatory at home and it flows over the top of the bowl you tend to get the message.

It's commendable that new centrifugal pumps are going in at Sharman's Loke but I suspect that this is a routine maintenance upgrade (submersible pumps in the pits without a spindle drive would have been a better idea but that's another story).

It's just possible that the new pumps might try to munch up giant incontinence pads for a little longer than the old ones before the electric motors trip out and we're inundated with Belton's poo and pants once more. But I very much doubt it.

Donald Blair

Sharman's Loke

Belton

On Saturday I received a leaflet from Great Yarmouth community housing aimed at the elderly called “keeping warm in winter.” On page two we are advised the temperature in your living room should be between 180C and 210C (640F and 700F).

To make sure I would be warm enough I turned the heat up to 210C, within a few minutes “Boots” the cat had fled in terror and I realised something was very wrong. My neighbours had followed the power saving advice, turning their room thermostat down 10C and are now being treated for hypothermia.

To be serious this is a very bad mistake and could cause problems for the vulnerable. The council will probably say most people will notice the mistake, well all the so call educated people concerned in publishing this leaflet must have thought the advice was correct.

I can only assume the council will contact all those receiving the leaflet to give them the correct advice.

COLIN GILDING

Windsor Way

Gorleston

WHAT bright spark decided that when the pavement was repaired on the west side of Middleton Road that the grass verge would be reinstated. If they had tarmaced the whole then the mindless motorists who park there would do no damage, you just have to look on the opposite side of the road to see the damage that can be done. The same happened in the Gloucester Avenue area a few years ago since then it has been one long battle to try and keep vehicles off the grass with no assistance from the council or local residents. It would appear from the response that I have had from the council and councillors it is far easier to ignore it. I was under the impression that parking on a double yellow line or crossing it to get on the pavement is an offence. I have seen the police walk and drive by on Middleton Road and ignore it. Surely if one or two fines were dished out it might well stop.

HG PERRY

Gloucester Avenue

We are remembering John Green on August 31 this year at our John Green Memorial Championship - our annual dressage competition organised by East Norfolk Equestrians, a riding group of people with learning difficulties and Pakefield Riding School by kind permission of Tessa Hardy MBE.

John sponsored East Norfolk Equestrians for 20 years perhaps more, from the Romans Walls Burgh Castle Trotting Races in the middle 80s to the Christmas lunches our riders enjoyed and every Christmas since up to Christmas 2007.

With John's support we were able to provide training, riding holidays and competitions and our riders were enabled to access riding lessons to further develop their skills as a rider and equally important as a person.

We would not as a voluntary group have been able to do this for our riders without the generosity of people like John Green, in that John's generosity was special, it was special because we did not have to ask for money. John offered before we asked for it, that was generosity, that was John Green and we shall celebrate his memory each year with the John Green Memorial Championship and introduce the John Green Memorial Trophy.

God bless and thank you John.

Thank you also your friends and colleagues who donated monies instead of flowers, with the generosity as your own, thank you.

MAURICE BUTLER

Jenner Road

Gorleston

Before closing Springfield Road post office, why didn't the government look at the hassle they were causing. The cost of the bus fares. It cost my husband £4 to go to the high street and return or approximately £3.50 for Forboys and back. People have been feeling the pinch, since the allowance does not increase by the same percentage as prices do. This means there are more people on the poverty line, before they consider going to the high street to do the shopping. The only people it does not affect are OAPs and disabled who have bus passes.

Either they should increase everyone's allowance, or replace Springfield Road with another post office locally. They think they can have their cake and eat it. For those who prefer to walk, it may save the pennies concerning fares, but they will need to buy more shoes than they used to. Also for folk like myself we collect allowances twice a week, it cost us £10 for my husband to collect my allowances, with his own money to collect on Mondays it shortens us by approximately £14 per week. So like many others, we are not getting the full amount. The government should have looked into this months before setting the date of closure.

There are people like myself who cannot get used to the card system, that's why my husband pays approximately £14 on the buses. It's great for them, as they are getting more customers and more money. They still keep the same number of buses on the road. No matter how many people need them during school term, I don't find it easy to get on a bus, school kids seem to think they have more rights to the seats, push OAPs and disabled people off the seating if they can get away with it. Leaving those who need the seats more to queue at the bus stop again. Those who think they can afford to, get a taxi to get home. I suggest the government look into this, there must be someone who can understand the problems.

MRS M WOODS

Leman Road

Gorleston

PS Why did they not change the staff at Springfield PO, close Forboys PO which is approximately halfway between High Street PO and Springfield Road PO, it would have made more sense.

I moved to Fleggburgh in 1990. When I moved here we had a regular bus service, a shop and post office etc. The shop and post office closed a few years ago and the regular bus service stopped running.

If we want to get into Great Yarmouth to do shopping we have to rely on a bus which goes at 8.20am every weekday.

The last bus back is at 4.20pm. I just think we need a regular service to Fleggburgh and back, then everyone would be happy.

P TURNER

St Margaret's Way

Fleggburgh

I READ last week's letter from Mr Devey with some amusement. Horse and unsecure stable door came to mind! Great Yarmouth Borough Council have for years been wasting council tax, from the surrounding villages, on megalomaniac schemes for Yarmouth sea front. One of the few useful amenities along there, the marina, they are desperate to knock down!

It seems that salvation may be at hand via the boundary committee if their preferred option is successful. Needless to say Barry Coleman is in a panic at the thought of being marginalised, he and his colleagues are desperate to maintain the status quo and continue with the ongoing stream of white elephants.

JIM MALLARD

Beach Road

Winterton on Sea

WHY are local venues turning their backs on the thousands of people who make the annual pilgrimage to Great Yarmouth for the East Anglian Festival, three days of racing and greyhound semi and final nights, from September 13 to 20?

I have made this week a regular holiday for over 20 years, but there are no evening shows anymore. The Britannia Pier has for the last few years nothing to give the many people who are in town; Peter Jay's circus ends for the season on September 7. The Marina offers us nothing. So all the many people looking for entertainment have nothing.

Whatever has happened to people realising many people need things to do after racing.

All we are left with is to be grateful for the pub on the Prom which gives us somewhere to exchange dog and horse talk.

There is a big market of people coming into town so come on Yarmouth, wake up and grab hold of the opportunity to make a few quid and give us hordes some entertainment during the biggest racing festival of the season at Yarmouth.

MARTIN BROOKES

Boxgrove Priory

Bedford

LOOKING for people who are 60 plus and grew up in Filby or surrounding area.

We are having our fifth childhood reunion on Sunday, October 5 at Filby Clubroom, 2 to5pm.

This year we are having a Yarmouth Speedway memory corner, so if you have any items of interest please bring them along.

JOHN GAZE

34 Reynolds Avenue

Caister

01493 721203