Letters, December 16, 2016

I write in response to the article on the front of last week’s Mercury regarding First’s reluctance to run a bus to and from Gapton Hall.

This an old chestnut for us in East Norfolk Transport Users Association (ENTUA). With the continued growth of this area we can’t understand why one operator will not take a chance and divert one of their many Southtown Road operated services via Gapton especially with the growing number of large retailers now opening premises on this site.

I hear what Iain Rankine is saying when he speaks of the problem with the traffic and particularly with the lack of infrastructure for buses in that area.

We have debated this issue with Iain many times and ENTUA feels with the traffic situation on Southtown Road being just as problematic with queues happening along that stretch at numerous times of the day this is not a wholehearted reason not to consider a service.

Also I am certain that once people became aware of the bus service it could end becoming quite a lucrative route!

At our annual public open meeting held in August, Daniel Yellop mentioned that some money is ready to be spent improving bus information in a corridor from Caister to the James Paget Hospital. Surely some money could also be found to build some lay-bys close to Gapton Hall or does the County Council want Gapton Hall to continue being the only retail park in Norfolk not served by public transport?

STEVE HEWITT

East Norfolk Transport Users Association

Circular route to Gapton is needed

I live in Winterton-on-Sea. We have an hourly bus service, no problem, we can live with that,

We can stay on the bus and go all the way to Lowestoft, they have a nice M&S there. Or, we can get off the bus in Yarmouth, change buses and go to Norwich - they have an even better M&S there.

Or I could shop in Yarmouth. We have an M&S, but can’t get to it - no bus service.

Why can’t we have a circular bus that goes from Market Gates, calling in the railway station, up to Asda, over the new bridge into Gapton hall, on to Tesco’s into B&Q and back into Market Gates stopping off by Hughes and Matalan? It would be even better if we could have two buses an hour, but being used to just one I can cope with that.

MARIE JENNETT

The Old Mariners,

Winterton-on-Sea

Young man was a credit to his family

Can I thank the young man who helped me and my husband when we arrived at A&E at the James Paget Hospital in the early hours of Thursday December 8.

Not only did he come to our rescue with some change for a wheelchair, but he also carried my husband’s overnight bag all the way to ward 17 where my husband was admitted.

This was despite the fact that he was at the hospital as his father had been arrived with chest pains.

All I can say is that I will be eternally grateful for his kindness and wish his father a speedy recovery.

I am afraid that I did not get your name, but you are credit to your family.

PAULINE VINCE

Email

I long for the old Banana Buses

What nonsense from the First Bus network manager apropos a Gapton bus service, (Mercury, December 9).

Invoking the absence of pavements, narrow roads, no stopping places and the need to add lay-bys, all of this is just too disingenuous for words - and this from a company which is responsible for a fifth of local bus services in the UK and has bus routes serving 40 of the largest towns and cities in the land. Heaven help us all.

How we long for the old Banana Bus service, those guys running it who lived and breathed the whole enterprise. Rumour had it that they even slept in the garage with their buses, and the courtesy with which they treated their passengers became the stuff of legend. No wonder First Bus bought them out and left the town in the mess it is in today regarding public transport.

First Bus clearly puts its shareholders first, taxis are too expensive and the railways are very much a laughing stock, Third World travel in a whole heap of ways. So the time has come for Uber to step in, as it has done to wonderful effect in other parts of the country which, like us, have no decent public transport worthy of the name. A simple service to the top of Pasteur Road, leaving people to use the pedestrian crossing to Gapton itself, would be a good start.

MIKE SPRAGG

Collingwood Road,

Great Yarmouth

Children’s books were downstairs

I beg to differ with Julie Grint’s memories of Gorleston’s Carnegie Library; I believe the children’s library was in fact downstairs at the north end of the building and directly above it was the reading room, wonderfully silent apart from that ticking clock!

MIKE BURROUGHES

Contact me if you knew Walter

I am from Norway and am hoping your readers can help me make contact with Walter Reginald Cooch/Cook or any of his friends or family.

He would be quite old by now and the last address I was able to find for him was in Homefield Avenue, Bradwell, although that may well be out of date.

If anyone has any information I would be delighted if they could contact me at aida.finserasen@gmail.com.

AIDA FINSERASEN

Norway

‘Yuppie flats’ vs working river

Re the consultations between the Great Yarmouth Borough Council and the residents of the borough on the third river crossing.

I would suggest that the consultation is a ploy. Ten years ago our council dreamed of a future port that had no shipping from Gas House to Haven Bridge in the guise of 1st East.

1st East were to create a housing complex and the quays were ear -marked to be residential properties.

Where the council suggest the third river bridge to be is not a suggestion but a decision already made by the same councillors that made such a mess in 2007 on the promised jobs and ferry in the outer harbour deal.

GYBC intends to put a bridge across the river on Gas House Quay, seven years ago they blighted the houses on Queen Anne Road, in doing so there was no public consultation.

I have no idea of the cost of a lifting bridge, what I do know is it will be many millions more than a fixed bridge. By building a bridge at Gas House shipping will go no further upstream than the proposed bridge,

One has only to study the 2007 borough council green paper where they talk of turning Darby’s Hard into a lay-by berth to give you an idea of our councillors thought process.

As I and many port companies point out, we already have a way out of town north. From South Denes road vehicles would traverse up to South Quay passing Haven bridge on their port side along North Quay turning left over Bure Bridge travelling East to join the Acle Road. Perhaps this way once the frogs or the newts and any other creepy crawlies would vacate and the road could be duelled.

Residents should think long and hard. Do we want a working river from the harbour’s mouth up to the town hall, or do we want “Yuppie Flats” causing more hazards for vehicles, more clogging up of our schools, doctors, and hospital.

JOHN COOPER

Burnt Lane,

Gorleston

Tree festivals are pagan to the core

In his letter last week Mr Cairns mocks me for saying “Christmas” and “Easter” are not Christian.

Many of the Norfolk churches are holding a Christmas tree festival, yet this tree is pagan to the core.

And “Easter” comes from the name of the pagan goddess Eostre, also known as Ishtar.

So we have apostolic, biblical Christianity versus modern, man-made churchianity.

See for example Ephesians 4:11–16 and Romans 16:5. Jesus says: “True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (John 4:23).

E. Barkhuizen

Albemarle Road

Gorleston

What church does Mr B belong to?

I am in total agreement with Mr Colin Cairns’ opinion that Mr E Barkhuizen seems to be sitting on his hands when it comes to revealing what Christian sect (or cult from what diatribe he speaks) he belongs to.

Week in week out we deal with a man that passes judgement on individuals and other Christian denominations without a shadow of grace and quite frankly I am sick of it.

All these constant quotes from the bible. I envisage a man who quotes from textbooks and religious scripture but unfortunately for him has never probably had an original idea in his life.

I would love to know what church he is from, that way I could have a decent conversation with the organ grinder rather than keep reading the mumblings of the monkey.

DANIEL CANDON

Isaacs Road,

Cobholm

Thanks for all you have done for us

May we through your letter column thank everyone, individuals and companies alike, who have kindly supported us over the past year, either by way of generously sponsoring, attending our events, holding events themselves, making a general donation or in memory of their loved ones.

Also to those who have held a bucket for us, enabling us to raise £31,000 which will be earmarked to be spent in this area in providing vital services for people living with cancer and their families to receive essential medical, practical and emotional support.

We wish all concerned a merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.

We would also like to say that the committee will have been in existence for 50 years next year and to celebrate, we hope to be able to organise an event every month and raise £50,000.

Our first event will be a celebratory dinner to be held at the Imperial Hotel, North Drive, Great Yarmouth on Friday January 27. For further details and information please contact either Tracy Cox on 07912684438 or Lynn Bensly on 07768621008.

Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Macmillan Cancer Support Committee

Give us back our harbour highway

Reading the recent articles about the Great Yarmouth outer harbour and the current owner Peel Ports’ ongoing developments for their area together with the mention of heavy machinery being used by port director Richard Goffin let’s hope that he will see fit to re-arrange his site to give back to the borough and people of the town their highway around the harbour’s mouth.

The previous owners were not entitled to have its possession but that fell on deaf ears so I assume that Peel Ports doesn’t own it either.

So let’s hope that Mr Goffin and Peel Ports will do the decent thing and remove the security gates across the north and south ends of the road as there has never been a security problem as such from the beginning as nothing developed regarding requiring security and Peel Ports can go about their business the other side of the fence and give the town its highway back.

CP HOPKINS

Laburnum Close,

Bradwell

Good for some but what about us?

At last some sewer work is being done for which we have been waiting a long time.

Once this is dealt with occupancy of that block of dwellings near Morrisons store can take place, which should sort out the flooding problems around that area. But will it ease the flooding existing in other parts of Gorleston and Bradwell?

Some £260,000 could sort out one problem but will leave very little for anything else, leaving us to wait for the Anglian Water £30m annual programme of works to sort our part of the flooding out.

Anyhow, with my propensity to always look on the bright side may I wish all readers a very happy Christmas.

JACK DYE

Gonville Road,

Gorleston

I’m no absconder, party is for town

I read with interest the letter from John Cooper regarding myself and another councillor. Unfortunately, is was full of inaccuracies and innuendo.

I did not leave UKIP to set up another party. I was expelled in my absence by a kangaroo court set up by its leader, 18 months ago.

I did not seek publicity over my expulsion, nor did I create merry hell in the press, even though I could have done. I did the correct thing by keeping it an internal party matter and appealed to the NEC. If John reads the article properly, it clearly states that I formed this party to get meaningful recognition in the council thus allowing Robert and me, to do what we were elected to do, and represent the interests of the people of Great Yarmouth.

I do however take objection to the word absconder, I did not abscond from the party, but was expelled because I dared exercise my democratic right to challenge the party leader and her position. If John were to apply that label to others in the council, then the only “absconder” we have is Sue Hacon, who absconded from the conservatives to UKIP, because she was unhappy with the way the conservatives were treating Cllr Shrimplin.

With regards to Dr Petty’s letter. There may have been a party formed by Sir Stafford Cripps called Tribune, there may be an internal group formed in the Labour Party called Tribune, but there is only one party registered with the electoral commission called Tribune and that exists in Great Yarmouth. As stated in my letter, we must be registered with the commission to field candidates.

We will be standing on a platform of “what is best for the residents of Greater Yarmouth”.

It is difficult to explain how this non-political form of governance will work in just a letter. However, we will be launching our party, our policies, and our manifesto by mid-January next year, and I invite the good Dr and John to the launch where we will answer any questions they may have. If in the meantime they would like to contact me personally, then please do not hesitate to do so, my contact details are on the council website.

CLLR ADRIAN MYERS

Tribune Party

Lothingland Ward