Letters, March 9, 2012

RE the article in the Mercury last week about the indignant reader who alerted the papers about the rubbish at the gateway to Breydon Water, the so-called Wherryman’s Way/Weaver’s Way to the Broads.

One day last week, I decided on my journey into Yarmouth along the Acle Straight, the main gateway into Yarmouth, to check the laybys and verges for rubbish.

If this same person is that concerned about rubbish why haven’t they brought this area into the limelight as anyone can see it’s an eyesore.

I also went and had a close look at the area in front of the Seafood Restaurant; the owner Miriam Kikis keeps on about this area needing to be cleaned up.

This I have to agree to, as there is an old chain link fence running up to the bridge and rubbish has been thrown through the rails on the other side and in front of the bridge coming from the station, pizza boxes and other items make it just as bad as the rubbish on the estuary.

It would be nice if Miriam Kikis could organise a working party to do something about this rubbish in front of her business.

I’m hoping to get the salt marsh in front of Asda cleaned up, depending upon the weather and to get some more rubbish bins put up along the footpath with assistance from Asda.

We need to put pressure on those responsible to get these areas cleaned up.

B FROSDICK

Oaklands Close,

Halvergate

Trying to track down Michael

I AM trying to find the location of a Michael John Copus, who I believe lives or lived in Great Yarmouth. It will be 26 years since we were last connected. If anyone can help, I can be contacted by email on clarecopus123@aol.com

CLARE COPUS

We must fight to save surgery

I HAVE just returned to Belton after two months of intensive surgery at the JPH and Papworth. Luckily, I am sorted.

But I was horrified to learn we are about to lose our GP surgery in St John’s Road in June. We are to be relocated to Millwood Surgery, Bradwell.

I have lived in Belton since 1973 and as the village has expanded in other areas, such as sports facilities, so it should for medical provision.

We need to expand and renew our medical facilities, especially for an increasingly ageing population who will require taxis or voluntary drivers to get them to Bradwell. I’m okay, I have a car.

Our village needs and deserves hands-on medical staff and provision, as I was privileged to have at the two hospitals where I was treated. What is going to happen to the pharmacy next door to the present surgery? I suppose it will have to close as well.

Let all interested parties really talk this through. We’ve lost our Nelson’s Jetty. Now it’s Belton surgery’s turn. For heaven’s sake, let’s resurrect the original idea of a brand new, purpose built surgery, car park pharmacy for everyone in Belton at the old Waveney School site, Bell Lane.

Let’s push for the funding. It can be done. Medical provision for Belton will then be in the 21st century.

PETE MORDEN

Orwell Crescent,

Belton

No comparison with specialists

I MUST respond to the letter sent in by Mrs Vera Symonds of Caister on Sea. I was taken into the James Paget Hospital after having heart attacks and later was sent to Papworth Everard Hospital to have bypass surgery.

I must say that Papworth Hospital was fantastic to me in every way, the food was really nice as well and the cleaning of the wards could not have been better. I know that Mrs Symonds no doubt wants to heap praise onto the James Paget, they were good, but, of course, they could never be compared to a specialist hospital like Papworth.

PATRICK J ATKINSON

Main Road,

Ormesby St Michael

The cats can be as bad as dogs

I HATE it when people don’t pick up after their dogs. I’m a dog owner and always carry bags with me, but what about cat poo? In Northgate street (the hospital end), there are cats roaming everywhere and there is cat poo daily at the entrance to my property, never that of dogs.

ANGIE MCALLISTER

Northgate Street

Great Yarmouth

Dogs are fine

on the beach

WHY do people think they have the right to moan about dogs off the lead on the beach? There are other places on the beach where dog restrictions are in place.

I’m fed up with this anti-dog thing going about at the moment. It’s getting hard enough as it is to be able to exercise our dogs freely without yet more moaning about dogs on what is after all our beach also...we pay the same taxes and council rates, so stop discriminating.

As long as responsible owners know their dogs are safe around people and other hounds and they clean up the mess, then live and let live. The letter writer last week said they had the worry of their grand-daughter being bitten? I assume from this that she has, which is a shame for the rest of us who have safe and sound animals.

SUSAN INGRAM

Email

Lead suggestion

is just ridiculous

RE the comments made by Ms Whittaker in the Mercury letters last week. We are well aware that as in all walks of life there are those who spoil it for others, and dog owners are no different.

There are those who feel it is okay not to clear up after their dog or to allow their boisterous or aggressive dogs to annoy others. But to suggest that all dogs should be on leads just for the convenience of one small girl and her grandmother is ridiculous.

Many of the dogs and owners she chooses to criticise are there every day in all weathers enjoying the open space and fresh air.

We note that the lady cannot actually describe any particular dog that was in any way misbehaving, only that they ran past or came towards them in friendly curiosity. Maybe she should have taken the chance to introduce her little girl to all the friendly dogs we meet every day on Gorleston beach so the next time they go everyone can enjoy the sand together.

Please appreciate the activities and feelings of others even when they pose no real inconvenience or threat.

PHIL and CAROLE HENLEY

Lowestoft Road

Gorleston

Lanterns are

not so greeen

HOW commendable that Dale Hurren wishes to remember his son, who tragically died in the Boxing Day Tsunami. However, surely a more environmentally friendly way could be used.

Dale wants to release 500 paper wish lanterns into the environment at �1 a lantern. Is he not aware that the non-degradable frames can cause untold damage to sea and wildlife and domestic farm animals?

Surely a more fitting memorial would be to spend the money on planting trees or placing benches in beauty spots so that there are everlasting memories to his son.

After all, many lives and the environment were lost in the tsunami, so why contribute to destroying more of our precious natural resources?

Name and address withheld

Please don’t ride on the paths

AM I the only person in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston who rides my pushbike on the road?

Over the last few months, I have noticed more and more people - adults as well as children - and very often together on the school run, riding on footpaths with pedestrians jumping out of the way. It may be safer to walk on the road, there’s less chance getting run over.

PAUL SCALES

Stuart Close,

Gorleston

So much more to consider

THE Outer Harbour bosses hope the special LDO will be granted. It will allow businesses, within certain guidelines, to develop sites without specific planning permission. Now let us get this right, GYBC sent letters to commercial companies and public bodies for their views of a restrained Local Development Order for the South Denes area. This was the GYBC consultation process.

Great Yarmouth Port Company and International Port Holdings wrote what they thought it should be as a reply to the consultation, and in their capacity as new board members of Eeegr, that body promoted Eastport’s viewpoint.

The port company’s legal team writes: “As GYPC is owner occupier of over half of the land on the peninsular, it is a “statutory consultee” with the same status as the Environment Agency.

This would mean that in charge of their own environmental destiny the port company and IPH would be answerable to only themselves. The port company’s answer to GYBC’s Consultation Draft contains no mention of those residents living near or opposite South Denes, it depicts not an answer but an alternative to what GYBC (the authority representing the residents) is suggesting.

Since 2007 we have all been aware of our borough cabinet’s stance on IPH and the port company, and I believe our council has always placed the port company before the ratepayer. Our MP Brandon Lewis will probably follow the cabinet on party unity.

Call me cynical but after five years of not getting answers to my questions there is more to consider in granting the port company their wish.

Grant this zero planning LDO and what is to stop the port company importing waste from around the world and building on the Spending Beach area opposite Gorleston Bend an incinerator, a revival of the fish reduction factory of the 1950s/60s that polluted Gorleston?

The port company has been trying for over two years to be granted the 2005 Harbour Revision Order to take over all the former port authority duties, but – and there have been objections - the Marine Maritime Organisation - have not issued it.

For the Special LDO to be granted, the Secretary of State must issue a further Harbour Revision Order. But with so many objections to the 2005 one a further HRO cannot be even considered.

There should be a public meeting similar to the Pier car park meeting, with an independent chairman. Gorleston has a lot to lose an already depressed suburb of Yarmouth. There could be noise pollution, air pollution, and light pollution, on top of our council’s generosity to the port company with our assets.

And decause we, the residents, feel our position is being ignored by the council over the zero planning restrictions, this letter is being sent to all GYBC councillors, cabinet members, MP, and Eric Pickles MP prior to the meeting, which was due to be held last night, March 8, to ensure they know our views.

JOHN L COOPER

Burnt Lane

Gorleston on Sea

We want to keep resident parking

RE the consultation report on the removal of residents parking. I am a local councillor living in the residents parking area. You can imagine my surprise when reading the report to find no mention of my being against the removal of the scheme. Another local councillor, who like me has a permit, is also not mentioned.

If this scheme is abolished, the biggest losers will be resident car users with disabilities. We will be going back to a free-for-all. Parents with small children will be similarly affected. Car ownership is low in this area and this will have affected the number of responses.

This report confirms the views of local councillor and residents: we want to retain residents parking.

Cllr MIKE TAYLOR

Central and Northgate ward

Policies will deter visitors

GOOD news for the town that some fresh ideas are being looked at for parking, belatedly, of course. The Green side of me says hammer the motorists with parking charges so they use the bus.

My love for my birthplace of rundown Great Yarmouth says do something before the town declines further. The Mary Portas report suggests car parking charges are detering shoppers and hasten the decline of the centres. Some statistics published last week for Abingdon, Faringdon and Wantage in the Vale of the White Horse suggest huge increases in town centre visitors since free parking was introduced.

Perhaps this is what our town needs? Incredible that summer parking charges start on April 1 - how foolish. Some council policies seem designed to wreck the town and deter visitors.

CHRIS WRIGHT

Victoria Street,

Caister on Sea

Why is bridge closed to 7am?

AS a taxi driver of the borough, I am asking why is the Haven Bridge still closed until 7am, when the cones are removed, but the maintenance crew finish working around 2m and 3am. Is it ridiculous health and safety laws? If so, why don’t the people who put them there take them in? And why doesn’t the maintenance crew work longer and then it won’t need to take eight weeks? I can’t remember the bridge being worked on every year like it is now. It can put up to another �6 on a customer’s cab fare.

D J COLMAN

Gorleston

Paws for thought

on cat question

I APPLAUD the letter by Mrs S E Aldred concerning cats in last week’s letters column., This has been a great concern of my for some time. Thankfully in Belton we have a parish council which does not pussyfoot around but deals with the problems head on.

With immediate effect they have imposed a strict curfew on offenders venturing out after dark. Any cats caught will be required to do immediate community service and will be issued with bright orange suits in order to shame them. Purr-sistent offenders will be subject to a tagging order.

A working party has been set up for the Protection from Offending Odours or POO for short. Those who are on the frontline of this problem know how distressing this can be but if we all paws for thought I’m sure in time the problem will tail off.

Mrs TILLY VIVIAN

Belton

Horrified by his

parking views

CAN I say, on reading the Mercury, I was horrified to read Cllr Charles Reynolds comments about the residents parking zone.

As always Cllr Reynolds, deputy leader of the council, has gone off on a tangent again. The only thing the Conservatives are interested in is the holiday industry and not the people who live here 52 weeks of the year.

Could I just point out that at his last election Cllr Reynolds managed to get only 29pc of his electorate to vote for him, so by his own words as printed in the Mercury 71pc did not want him, so is Cllr Reynolds going to do the right thing and resign? I think not. So why does he use such a silly comment about the residents in the car parking zone in Great Yarmouth.

Cllr MICHAEL JEAL

Nelson Ward

Great Yarmouth

It’s the owners

not the animals

CATS roaming in Great Yarmouth, a largely urban area, can be a nuisance. However, as a rescuer of two homeless cats myself, it is important to recognise that if any animal is a nuisance, it is generally for two reasons; first the owner may not understand the animal’s behaviour and secondly they may not know how to be responsible for the animal. Cats are often misunderstood and do not deserve to be labelled a nuisance because of human neglect.

My website may be helpful: http://www.animalhealingandhumans.com and I am always willing to give people guidance about cat or animal behaviour.

ANNA PURCHASE-WALKER

email

Doubt enterprise

will succeed

WHILE I applaud any enterprise to try to make something of the former Regent Cinema and Mecca Bingo establishment, I doubt that any venture will come to fruition. There just isn’t the interest to attract top names or size of audience needed to make it viable.

In summer months, the Britannia Theatre stages certain acts but mainly threes have seen better days but still have a certain following.

I’ve often wished we had a venue here like the Marina in Lowestoft; they stage acts ranging from classical to pop, stand up comedy, drama and film, often showing films which are not seen at the multiplex cinemas. But even the Marina’s future was in doubt recently.

Further afield, Norwich has the wonderful Theatre Royal that attracts top acts and audiences but of course Norwich is much more cosmopolitan and has a university.

Back home, Gorleston’s Pavilion shows always get plenty of positive feedback and in the past likewise the St George’s Chapel. These are the sort of venues which are likely to attract a decent audience. Let’s face it, Yarmouth is a cultural backwater and is likely to remain so. On a lighter note, in the warmer months, the so-called Puppet Man will be back and is always a source of amusement to visitors with camera phones.

R HARRISON

Euston Road,

Great Yarmouth

Can you help to solve mystery?

I WONDER is anyone can help me? I have come up against a problem in researching my family tree and am hoping someone with a bit of local knowledge may be able to help.

My grandmother Elizabeth Sarah Flora Sutton was born February 12 1879 and lived at 44 George Street in Yarmouth. Her mother, Elizabeth Sarah nee Miller, a silk mill worker, was married to Isaac Sutton. Sadly, Isaac, a fisherman, was drowned at sea before my grandmother’s birth was registered. As he was drowned and no body was found there is no death certificate so I cannot find out when, where or how his drowning occurred. The event, I believe, would have taken place somewhere between April 1878 and February 1879 and presumably somewhere off the Yarmouth coast. Can anyone help me fill in these gaps?

I also would love to find out if Elizabeth Sarah remarried. It is possible she may have taken up with a William Clark who was registered at the above address at the time of the 1881 census.

If anyone can help please write to me c/o the Mercury, 169 King Street, Great Yarmouth NR30 2PA. Thank you.

A REDNALL

Freethorpe

Minster Church is a great venue

THE beautiful Assembly Room of Great Yarmouth’s Town Hall is undergoing a facelift and will not be available for events until later in the year, so where to hold the Inner Wheel of Great Yarmouth Annual Easter Fair?

Where better than our new Minster Church of St. Nicholas, situated as it is in the centre of the town at the end of the Market Place? On Friday 30th March, a grand charity Easter Fair will take place between 10.30am and 3pm. A chance to admire this magnificent building as entrance is free. Councillor Barry Coleman, the Mayor of Great Yarmouth, will officially open the fair at 11am.

The event is raising money for the East Coast Hospice, Rotary International’s Polio Plus and Help for Heroes supported by other charity stalls such as the Stroke Association, Save the Children, Sue Ryder and St. Mary’s Church, Martham.

There will be jewellery, tapestries, glass painting, miniatures, cards, second-hand books and Easter eggs to help with buying Easter presents but there will also be the usual tom bola, �1 stall, cakes and raffle. Why not leave your shops, offices, banks and join us for lunch, coffee, or just a chat with friends? Take this golden opportunity to visit your Minster and at the same time support all these worthy causes.

MARY COLEMAN

Inner Wheel of Great Yarmouth

Great idea for naming centre

WHAT a great idea to invite the people who have worked together in the community of Great Yarmouth and Waveney, to put forward names for the wonderful Palliative Care East project.

I have been actively part of a fundraising team since 2006 working hard and often tirelessly to do my part and it is with this in mind that I feel I want to share my thoughts with all regarding the naming of the Palliative Care East centre. First of all, my whole focus on the raising of the money to set up this unique resource to our community has always been palliative care. I am now in a caring role myself, and have become acutely aware of the need for such a centre, and it is with this in mind that I feel passionately about keeping the words “Palliative Care East” in the title name of the new building.

I would also like to remind us all of the first seed planted in the very beginning of this project, especially when the panel sit to choose the name of the building. This very much needed resource was born out of the passion of one lady whose daughter passed away, and this will be my inspiration when I submit my suggestion for the name of the centre.

However, my main point for this letter is to raise the importance of the building and its mission and value to the community. It is for all end of life illnesses. To add to this, I will continue to fundraise for this remarkable charity, as when the building is built we still need to remember that there are many great things that can be done and achieved within the centre that will still need funds.

So, from me, I want to thank all the donors and fundraisers in our communities, because participation is what makes it grow, and I pray the centre’s name will still hold the title we have raised all this money for, and will continue to raise for.

JULIA KNIGHTS

Email

Did you see the

Beatles here?

I AM researching the Beatles’ appearances throughout the United Kingdom in 1963 and am particularly interested in hearing from anyone who encountered them and/or saw them in concert when they visited Great Yarmouth on June 30 and July 28 that year.

I would love to hear from anyone who would like to share their memories and can be contacted at dafydd@original-media.net.

DAFYDD REES