Thanks to bus driver who helped

My wife and I were shopping in Great Yarmouth on Thursday, May 24 and my wife became unwell just off the market place.

A very nice young man named Ian who works as a driver for First Bus came to our rescue and kindly giving up his lunch break assisted me in getting my wife back to our car on Deneside.

I would like to thank him for his help.

FE ROBINSON

EAST ANGLIAN WAY,

GORLESTON

Shopping woes aren’t our fault

As a reply to A Hatcher, it’s not the local people that have failed to support the shops and market. For starters, 15 years ago there were far more stalls with far more variety than there are today, also, just how many people do you think need to go to a shop or a market stall every week to buy things other than food and essentials?

I certainly don’t - you don’t need a weekly supply of clothes, shoes, furniture, bulbs, bags, bedding, phones covers, calendars, etc.

Besides, what’s in the market? A pet stall, clothes stalls, ironmongery stalls, bag stalls, bedding stalls, all left out in the rain, even the canopies can’t stop the goods from getting wet or rusting. Last time I visited the market it had been raining, I saw already rusty tools and accessories wet from the rain, wet bags covering bedding, wet clothes hanging on hangers which had been blowing around and in one largish area which was taken over by one particular person’s goods in crates, bits of plastic draped over the items but not covered so everything that is paper or cardboard is getting wet - yet your still expected to pay full price for all these things.

The same with shops. How can you support all the shops when there are so many that do the same thing?

I am not a fussy person when it comes to clothes for instance, I prefer simple styles and comfort, not fashion, I have walked around every clothes shop in Yarmouth and walked out buying nothing because most of the designs, styles, materials and patterns are really naff.

I think most people go to the market just for the food stalls these days.

P LONG

Email

Our council is out of money

Many readers have slowly begun to notice that local services, once taken for granted, are either shabbily provided or suddenly non-existent. This is because the local council is broke. It has been for a while, and will continue to be so. Government funding of county councils is expected by 2020 to have decreased by 93pc.

This means less money for local councils, such as Yarmouth Town Council, of a similar amount. If you wonder why you are spending more and more (Nationally, the average county council tax bill is now over £1,600) for less and less public services, this is why.

ANDERS LARSON

Vienna and Great Yarmouth

Your thoughts on new bridge?

Last Friday’s Mercury carried my letter on the need to use the £98m grant to build a fly-over at Gapton and dual the road to Norwich and make use of the existing bridges.

I was surprised that there is only one response to my thoughts; does that mean that the motoring ratepayers in the borough, especially those that use Gapton, agree with me? The one letter came from Mr R Colman of South Denes who has a very biased reason for wanting the bridge because of where he resides.

Will the thousands that use Gapton agree with Mr R Colman?

JOHN L COOPER

Burnt Lane,

Gorleston

Don’t blame the council for grass

Regarding the letter from Darren Fleming complaining about grass verges not being cut.

I won’t make any comment on other areas of the borough but would point out that the grass and weeds are growing fast due to the nice weather.

I cannot think why he should be in Bately Avenue or Youell Avenue as they are not ‘through routes’ but I would point out that many of the residents do not wait for the council to keep their roads clean and tidy, they cut their verges and trim the edges regularly.

Rare items of rubbish are picked up and disposed of so our roads are kept clean and tidy, which obviously the ‘idiot’ doesn’t realise correctly Mr Fleming. I am sure the residents of other roads do the same.

PAULA WINSOR

Bately Avenue,

Gorleston

Thanks to a Good Samaritan

I would like to thank the lovely family who helped me on Tuesday afternoon when I fell in one of the rows. They helped me to my daughter’s and I got to the doctor’s later.

I’m a bit sore but fine.

Thank you all so much.

M ENGLAND

Dolman Close,

Great Yarmouth

Please leave a space for me

With the law now allowing cars to park on the pavement, could there be a stipulation which says they must leave a space of at least four feet between their car and their garden wall.

With having to use a mobility scooter, to keep off the road is nigh on impossible.

This stipulation should also apply to wheely bins!

My long distance sight is not what it should be.

Where cars are a menace on the path, I fear I would be more of a menace on the road.

Please spare us a little thought.

JACK DYE

Gonville Road, Gorleston

Women we should be grateful for

May I saw how completely I agree with your correspondent, Mike Spragg, in his appreciation of two citizens, of whom the borough should be justly proud.

It was my privilege to have been alongside Kerry Robinson-Payne when she appointed me as her chaplain.

I saw first hand the amount of time and energy she freely gave to so many organisations and causes.

Also during my time with Dusmagrik Young People’s Theatre Co and subsequently there has been much to thank Anne Edwards for, in the fair and generous support and coverage to our young people and promoting an important part of our precious community which I know she holds dear.

So, with apologies to Rudyard Kipling, and the apocryphya, as I slightly change the words:

“Let us now praise famous women,

“Women of little showing,

“For their work continueth...

“Broad and deep,

Greater than their knowing!”

DUSTY MILLER

Meadow Court,Gorleston