Letters

MAY I suggest that anyone who thinks there are enough parking bays wide enough for the driver or passenger to use a wheelchair, would like to actually try it for themselves before they complain at on street parking.

Unless we find a disabled bay, we cannot use the car park as we simply do not have enough room to put the wheelchair alongside the car.

The pay machine is very difficult to use if you have difficulty picking up coins. Also try using from a wheelchair, then wheeling all the way back to your car only to find you cannot reach the windscreen from your wheelchair. You have to try to stand to do it which is most unsafe for many people.

The rules for the Blue Badge scheme include those who have lost upper limbs and may find using a pay machine impossible.

Strange then that our “caring council” sees fit to install machines that are so difficult to use.

Perhaps if they hadn't gambled with our hard paid council tax by sending it to Iceland they would have more money left for improvements to all services.

GLENYS BRIGHT

Address withheld

I WRITE in response to the letter from Derek Brown (January 23).

As if Mr and Mrs Adams have not suffered enough following their break-in, they now have to put up with being questioned over why they were keeping so much cash in their own home.

Before making comment it would be wise to know how and why the cash was being held at home - the majority of the money was made up of 20p, 50p and �2 coins which were awaiting banking in the new year. Daily banking of small amounts is not really an option for older people.

The fact of the matter is if it was �10 or �50,000 anything being held in our own home should be safe. Mr Brown seems to be suggesting that we should really not have valuables in our homes - so what does one do with jewellery, TVs, cameras etc when we decide to go out. Are we meant to have a safe deposit vault?

Personally, I have had to suffer having my house being broken into on two occasions and believe me it takes a very long time to recover from their experience.

I hope, Mr Brown, that you never have to put up with these “vile animals” breaking into your home and violating your privacy. If you are unfortunate enough to suffer this I do hope you don't get a mindless person writing in and asking and asking why you have been so foolish to have property and valuables in your home.

M ATKINS,

Jellicoe Road,

Great Yarmouth

I RECENTLY paid a visit to Great Yarmouth for the first time in 40 years and read in the Mercury about anti-social people who don't care where they park.

When visiting a friend who lives on Lawn Avenue I was disgusted to see how some people had ruined the grass verge on the west side of the road. When I commented to my friend, she informed me that a few years ago notices were put up to inform the culprits they would be fined, but she is still waiting for this to happen.

We went for a drink at the Avenue on Beatty Road, where have the trees gone? And lo and behold guess what? Cars parked on the grass verges, although some of the residents have driveways so they are just lazy and don't care for their neighbours.

Shame on you law breakers, shame on the police for not warning them, and shame on the councillors who don't walk round the roads to see how dear old Great Yarmouth is being let down.

DIANA KANE

California

USA

I WOULD like to thank the kind person who handed in a bottle of spirit I had accidentally left in a supermarket trolley in Great Yarmouth just before Christmas. They did not leave their name or phone number, but if they could contact me via the Mercury, I would like to reward them for their honesty.

J SIMMONDS

Middleway

Lowestoft

WE were reminded by publicity and reviews in the Mercury that the pantomime season is over.

As any avid young or older internet user can tell you, this part of festivities became more popular in the 1900s. Pantos stem from Roman dumb shows, going via harlequinades. Then a girl or woman was cast as principal boy and dame played by a male, to make the panto today.

In Great Yarmouth we always have plenty to choose from, to support or be in. Parents, grandparents and friends love watching, especially when their nearest and dearest perform, it's more exciting. Taking lessons for a while in performing arts helps confidence in everyday life. Some experience of movement, dance, speech or singing, shared with friends is time never really wasted.

Over 60 names in the programme all had some share in Cinderella, performed so well at the Hippodrome last Friday night.

The team now turn to attend to other things, possibly shows or concerts.

“There's no business like show business,” sung and danced in 1946, is a feel good factor still on offer to all age groups in our towns. Thanks for the entertainment.

ROY WALDING

Mill Lane

Bradwell

WITH reference to Cecilia Ebbage's letter in last week's Mercury concerning the attacking of our lightships by German planes, I believe that the incident to which she referred could be the one which resulted in my grandfather John Henry Cook of 37 Tan Lane, Caister receiving the OBE.

There was so much traffic using Great Yarmouth's harbour, all the fishing boats plus motor gun boats, motor torpedo boats, RAF rescue launches and a whole multitude of military craft.

It was therefore essential that lightships be in position at all times to prevent these vessels ending up on the treacherous sand banks.

Lightships normally I believe had no means of propulsion but I also believe that they had some sort of small auxiliary engine at the back enabling them to get into harbour if attacked.

My grandfather's medal was due to the fact that although being attacked he refused to move the lightship from its position.

When he retired he manned the coastguard hut at the end of his road and I can remember him telling me (as a young lad) that he once saw a man walk the whole length of the beach from south to north in and out of any obstacles (including barbed wire) as the beach was heavily mined and he could not call out to him as a step in any direction could have been his last.

My grandfather also had one son Victor who, after serving in the navy and having two ships torpedoed under him, joined the Trinity House after completing his service. Perhaps Peggotty could trace the Reculver episode in his archives?

DEREK COOK

Middlestone Close

Gorleston

SINCE my letter (January 23), I have been informed that Mr Roland George was not on the St Nicholas lightship, but was master of the Dudgeon when it was also attacked in January 1940. It was from this that he suffered fatal injuries.

During this period there was a concentrated attack on all the lightships on the East coast with the strafing of the Trinity House supply ship Reculver when she entered the harbour, killing and wounding several of the crew.

CECILIA EBBAGE

Lovewell Road

Gorleston

EVERYONE is talking about saving the banks and big businesses, but it isn't these people that can actually save the economy, it's the ordinary worker. I notice Mr Barry Coleman, leader of the council, virtually saying this year there will be an increase in our council tax, or should it be a government tax?

So, how do we solve problem? People working solve the problem, not giving people on income support more than they can earn on a minimum wage, so they don't have to work. The old adage, money makes money, is very true, but you start at the grass roots - the taxpayer, the ordinary Joe.

If you do not have jobs because of the economy, invent jobs. For example, our roads and pavements are in disrepair, our drains, cables and other things like that need modernisation. Employ people to do that. The big question asked is where do we get the money? The firms you are going to use to help do these things and the banks that seem to be failing us.

If we employ 100 men to rebuild a road, they will be earning money, that means they pay tax, they buy more food, clothes, cars, pay council tax, and all the other bills that keep other people employed. You need lorries, drills, shovels, etc, tractors and other mechanised equipment. Get them from British firms, which also keeps people in employment, and they are earning money, they buy houses, cars, go on holiday, etc, which makes more employment.

And it all starts with a little bit of common sense. And because we have this big infra-structure job it means at a later date we can use other firms from overseas, but it is here where it counts and it doesn't mean making the poor workers of every other countries richer by them being employed here and saying thanks for the money.

Come on, someone use their brains, it makes sense, or are the councillors and MPs going to say it can't be done. Let's get the “Great” back into Britain

DAVID BROWN

Gorleston

ALONG with members of the Rural North Tenants and Residents Association, and other concerned neighbours, I attended the Mill Farm planning application at the Town Hall.

The point of this application is to provide more permanent residential use for the seasonal students working on Mill Farm in Ormesby. Nobody would object to better living conditions for those working at the farm.

Many of the new proposals seem to creep in under the Caravan and Camping Act. How convenient for those who own land, and how they wish to use it.

Both councillors, who claim to represent Ormesby, seem more than happy to accept this proposal, is this because they both live, either at the other end of Ormesby, or in Caister?

But it is a farm, not designed for 150 inhabitants or possibly more. The owner lives away from the site and I suggest he wouldn't like to be informed of daily noise or parking problems.

The planning meeting was an absolute disgrace.

PETER KIRKPATRICK

Chairman,

Rural North Tenants and Residents Association

I AM a newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetic and I'm writing in the hope you will print this letter to give helpful info to others with diabetes.

I was invited to attend a DESMOND (Diabetes Education and Self Management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed) secession earlier this month and found it very useful. It is a new programme for this area and with the sharp increase in diabetes sufferers in the vicinity it should be bought to the fore.

The aim of the two lectures is to dispel the myths of the illness and to give sufferers the knowledge whereby they can control and be on top of their illness rather than the illness rule them.

Yes, diabetes is a life changing illness but it doesn't need to be one that ruins one's life. The two two-and-half sessions are tailor made to help each individual by explaining the medication prescribed for the diabetes and any other illnesses one has and how they work with each other. The main aim is to give people the facts and how they relate to themselves so that for example when the results of the three month blood test is given by the doctor or nurse it's not just a set of meaningless figures and letters but something that can be understood and related to your condition.

These meetings are free, very informal and friendly, a partner, friend or family member can go as well so they are able to understand the reasons behind changes being made by the sufferer.

The quickest way of being able to attend a course is to ask your GP or surgery to refer you to the DESMOND scheme or you can go on line to www.desmond-project.org.uk or even phone Maureen Chadwick, nurse consultant on 01493 334113.

Taking time out to attend one of these courses can make a wealth of difference to a diabetic's lifestyle so whoever you are your life quality can be improved.

Mrs Lorna Gray

Barnard Close

Gorleston