IT has always been my view that flouting parking regulations is anti-social behaviour. It shows total disregard for the safety of other road-users and pedestrians.

IT has always been my view that flouting parking regulations is anti-social behaviour. It shows total disregard for the safety of other road-users and pedestrians. Vehicles parked on the pavement, or on yellow lines, make it dangerous for mothers with pushchairs, the elderly, children and the disabled.

As we drive around the borough, we all see vehicles that park illegally. More often than not they are the same vehicles continuously. I live within the residents' parking zone and most vehicles that park on yellow lines in this area do not have a pass to park in the zone. If that vehicle is owned by a resident, then they are cheating the council, and therefore the rate-payer, out of money.

Law abiding citizens are happy to see the police and traffic wardens do their job. I for one would be happy for the council to have parking wardens.

DAVID WOODS

North Market Road

Great Yarmouth

CLEARLY I'm unlikely to be alone in complaining of the traffic chaos that the town has been experiencing this week. It has been truly ridiculous.

However, I feel that a far more serious issue has been highlighted. If the outer harbour ever does become operational, and let's be honest, in the current economic climate this does seem somewhat unlikely, the proposed volume of additional traffic would ensure that the town is in a constant state of gridlock.

Dozens, if not scores, of articulated lorries trying to weave their way along the quay would make the chaos of the last week seem a fond memory.

I can only imagine the negative effect that this, first of many, week of log jam must be having on small businesses throughout the borough. Is it really worth risking the last of Yarmouth's industry on what may turn out to be nothing more than a pipe dream?

It should now be obvious to everyone that the infrastructure on the Yarmouth side of the river is totally incapable of supporting an outer harbour of any kind.

Of course the number of illegally-parked vehicles on the roads has only exacerbated the problems.

SHAUN LAYTON

Trafalgar Court

Great Yarmouth

I HATE inefficiency and waste, probably because I am not that efficient myself and therefore yearn to see things done better. I hate inefficiency more at a time when we are all, due to the credit squeeze, trying to be more efficient and productive than we have been before.

I loathe inefficiency when it affects me and looks as though someone has not bothered to do their job.

So perhaps somebody could explain why the work on the river pilings has bought Great Yarmouth to a standstill at peak hours with traffic queues on the A47 to rival the M25, and thousands of productive work hours being lost to local businesses because someone hasn't thought through the impact of the local diversion now in place.

I heard someone say “that you would think that people and business were not welcome in the town and that this was a way of discouraging them from coming”, can you believe that. What does it say about the growth economy that we all want to see for the town?

My understanding is we could be looking at this fiasco for five to eight weeks which for my business I find totally unacceptable and will make my views known to the borough council, I hope many of you will too.

Then just to add insult to injury I read that funding for a third river crossing is now not likely to be available until 2016, again unacceptable, yet I haven't heard or seen a voice of disagreement from the town hall.

This week, along with a few other resilient interested parties, I went along to the Gapton Hall roundabout task force meeting. Another fiasco, with three public agencies presiding over a pile of information they can't seem to share with each other in order to decide what improvements should be carried out in the short and long term for the biggest bottleneck we have in Yarmouth.

A task force is clearly a misnomer; more like blind man's buff, come on borough council, get your act together.

You might detect I am a little tetchy as I write this, I am, and rightly so with the level of inefficiency I have witnessed over the last 24 hours.

PETER BARRY

Pasta Foods, and

President, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce

THE paint wasn't dry on Garibaldi Place before the residents were up in arms. It's subsidised housing. They were told there's no parking. What gives these people the right to their own parking?

A large number of people are in the same situation including myself. What's wrong with the coach station or Sainsbury parking. The workers and holidaymakers who park in that area have contributed through taxes to put a roof over their heads.

Mr Mick Castle, representing the tenants, should also represent the people of Jury, Wells, Tottenham, Audley and St Nicholas Roads. I am sure after suffering years of parking problems these people would welcome their own parking spaces.

If the tenants of Garibaldi Place are dissatisfied, then hand the keys back, there is plenty of rented accommodation with parking, advertised in the press.

Name and Address withheld

I AM writing with regard to thearticle in last week's Mercury regarding the lack of parking on Factory Road and the petition by the Garibaldi Place residents for permit parking.

I would like to point out that the residents of Jury, Well, Tottenham and Audley Streets also have the same problem, as we do not all have off-street parking and some people have to have two vehicles. Permit parking here would be a good idea, so long as it extends to our roads as well. After all, we have lived here a lot longer than the two months of the Garibaldi residents, and have put up with this for years.

When the flats were built, locals already here were wondering if they would have their own parking, and this would have been possible if not so many flats were crammed into such a small area. Fortunately I am not disabled and can walk the 10 minute walk to the next nearest parking on Kitchener Road, but this is not really the point after a 12-hour shift at work.

We should all be entitled to park within a reasonable distance of our properties.

Name and Address withheld

WITH reference to Fred Kruber's letter regarding the history of Edward Worlledge School, I don't know the exact date of the closure of this school, but I think it was much later than May 31, 1940.

I went to the Technical High from 1947 to 1952, and if my memory serves me, the two schools were running in conjunction with each other during part of these years. What makes me remember this is the fact that the large playground was divided by a brick wall with a central door for students to pass through.

Playtimes were separate for each school and “tech” students were not allowed to enter into the Worlledge playground during their playtime. If you did, you would get six of the best from “the punishment man.”

DAVID LEAK

Wolseley Road

Great Yarmouth

I AM sure that all old Worlledgers will be grateful to Mr Robin Parkinson for his letter to reassure them that part of the original school building will remain and be refurbished, with the war memorial there, and that there will be a formal opening ceremony, to which we can all attend.

CECILIA EBBAGE

Lovewell Road

Gorleston

PLEASE, can someone explain to me why these major roadworks are being done? Surely the powers that be should have considered the third river crossing or the dualling of the Acle Straight first.

I don't confess in knowing everything about industry etc, but I do know that you need the infrastructure first.

Surely if they think back to the 1970s and 1980s they will know that all the large companies such as Norfolk Line etc moved away to better towns where they could get their lorries etc through to the ports.

The roadworks are supposed to last five weeks at different phases but have they considered weather etc.

The impact on business is going to be catastrophic. Why can't they leave just one lane over the Haven Bridge to Gorleston that would relieve some of the traffic problems to Gorleston?

They are plenty of community police who could direct the traffic over the bridge.

L A GRIMMER

North Denes Road

Great Yarmouth

SEEING Darby's Hard mentioned in the Mercury brought back memories of my school holidays (I am 93 now).

My friends and I spent hours down there, playing on the sand, catching crabs and watching boats go up and down the river. What fun we had hanging onto the water cart as it washed the roads. Another time we would walk with a pail to the gasworks on Southtown Road (no longer there) and pick out coke from the clinkers.

Does anyone remember Rorky Leak, the rag and bone man? His yard was in Bells Marsh Road. We would spend all day looking for bits of old metal and old rags to get a few pence. This we would spend on gobstoppers. Then there were the sand competitions on Gorleston beach, climbing up the broken cliffs before the parade was extended, skipping to Burgh Castle.

On Saturdays we always went to the Coliseum to see Tom Mix or Pearl White on the screen. One Saturday each year we paid to get in with an egg. These were collected and given to the local hospital.

If it was wet, we would pay the blacksmith a visit and watch him knock pieces of metal into shape; if we were good he would let us pump the bellows until the coals were red hot. The days were never long enough.

Bouncer the Bobby kept an eye on us to see we didn't get into trouble.

L BLYTH

Long Lane

Bradwell

I WRITE in response to the article in the Mercury recently regarding the closure of the cemetery gates in both the new and old cemeteries of Great Yarmouth.

I would like to say that Labour Leader Mick Castle has not given one ounce of thought to the people who have suffered as a result of mindless vandalism in the cemetery. It may be a nice walk way for residents on a summer's afternoon but they do not have a right to walk through. It is not a public highway and certainly not a place for people of the town to congregate and drink alcohol which I have seen on many occasions.

In May, my mother-in-law's grave was among the many that were trashed along with my husband's stepfather's and step-grandparents. My brother-in-law has had to spend several hundreds of pounds repairing his father's and his grandparents' graves. Luckily, the permanent memorial stone had not been laid on my mother-in-law's grave at the time. But now having had it laid we worry this will happen again and damage will occur.

Will Mr Castle pick up the repair bill to our grave which cost £2,500? I think not.

Mick Castle has not considered the upset and stress this has caused our family and the families whose loved ones are buried in the churchyard.

He called the council's decision to close the gates “something of a knee-jerk reaction”. I find that insulting to the memory of not just my husband's family but to all the families who have a relative buried in the cemetery.

He doesn't mention the fact that on several occasions we have had homeless immigrants camping in the cemetery or the fact that residents still disregard the by-laws and walk their dogs and use it as a play area for exercising dogs.

The borough council has every right to close and lock the gates every evening to deter vandals. If it helps to stop the mindless vandalism then at least it is a step forward. With the gates closed the council will then have the right to prosecute anyone found in the cemetery for trespassing.

Mr Castle would be better supporting the council bereavement services and make some suitable suggestions on how they can obtain funding to replace iron fencing taken away during the war to make ammunition; making suggestions on how we are going to deal with the town's vandals; supporting the Church and advising them to close their gates at night to stop graffiti and vandalism in St Nicholas' churchyard. He should also be supporting the police and ensuring the people of this town are safe.

YVONNE ELLIS

Great Yarmouth

RE your write up about the Kiosk Girls; I was very pleased to see them in the Mercury and remember them all. Sandy, I see occasionally, and Brenda more frequently, also at times, Gloria.

I had three kiosks, one at the Majestic Amusements, my father's business, and another at St John's Garage on Regent Road.

It never was Barkers; my father and I formed the company Majestic Tobacco Co Ltd and I always signed my cheques Joan B Ghigi. In fact when I had my daughter at Great Yarmouth Hospital although I was married I signed for gas and air in my maiden name and was asked who was that.

I had the kiosks for nearly 14 years then moved on and joined my husband's firm of Barkers and am still acting as a gofer for my son in Gorleston at Kodak Express, although I would rather say Girl Friday.

There were many more girls who worked for me, including Anne Millar, Anne Browne, Susan Greatrex, Joan Rolfe, Tonia and Tricia Thorpe, Julie, Pat and Anne Eaglen and Jennifer Renwick. These are all maiden names and as many as I can remember at the moment.

JOAN B BARKER

Alexandra Avenue

Great Yarmouth

I HAD the necessity to use my bus pass for the very first time. I had an an appointment at the opticians in Great Yarmouth for some vital eye drops and was told not to drive for six hours or more.

Waiting for a short while in Yarmouth Road, Hemsby, feeling very cold, the bus arrived quite full downstairs already, but I managed to get a seat. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was very dirty, very old, noisy, draughty, and the windows could hardly be seen through. It hit all the overgrown hedges making quite a noise on the side of the bus.

We picked up so many passengers on the way as it was market day, Wednesday. People were standing, and most of all, the majority were OAPs, so standing for them was not good.

The return journey was no picnic either, waiting for nearly half an hour in the cold. There were so many people waiting for No 1 or 1A, so again there were people standing on our return journey. This bus was in the same condition, I even heard the driver talking to a colleague, saying what a bone-shaker it was.

The whole experience was one not to be repeated. Hopefully my car will never let me down, or I don't need to be told I can't drive for a short time. How is it they want us to all use pubic transport, when this is what we have to suffer. And couldn't they put on more buses on market days to stop this cattle run.

Mrs B CLEMENTS

Yarmouth Road

Hemsby

CONGRATULATIONS. What a fabulous achievement for Winterton and Hemsby in winning six awards in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston in Bloom competition.

Winterton won four awards, what a marvellous result. Winterton in Bloom group have worked so hard in keeping the village in pristine condition. For the Best Village they won Silver Gilt and then won overall winners getting the Cup. For the Community Project Silver Gilt was won by Winterton in Bloom for Duffields Pond, this was with the help of the Marine Cadets keeping the pond clean, so a big thank you needs to be given to them.

For the Best Small Garden Silver Gilt was won by Mrs Neve who lives in The Lane at Winterton.

Hemsby won two awards; this was due to the hard work of Moira Burrage the warden and the residents in St Mary's Close. The close has been a picture; flower tubs in front gardens, hanging baskets and the community vegetable garden. For the Best Street they won Silver Gilt, for the Community Project they won Silver Gilt.

We are all so proud of both villages for what they have achieved, a big well done and we thank you all for your hard work.

A real big thank you to Sue Hacon and the committee of Great Yarmouth and Gorleston in Bloom for all their hard work.

SHIRLEY A WEYMOUTH

Pedlars Croft

Hemsby

On Saturday, I was going through Yarmouth to Lowestoft - a journey I had done several times this week. Unfortunately, although I know my way through, I don't really know my way around, and so had the misfortune of getting stuck in the “delays possible”. Partly this was my fault because I was too impatient to queue at the lights to go over at Lawn Avenue, as were others in front of me, so like a sheep I turned left into Northgate Street, thinking those I followed must know a quicker route.

They were obviously not going to the same place as me, and I found myself then in an even longer queue trying to turn left along South Quay. I was quite frustrated, but would like to thank the men in fluorescent jackets, who kept me and my daughter entertained (unknowingly, I suspect). One initially wandered down Yarmouth Way, moving cones inwards about a centimetre, then picked one up, which he bounced occasionally on the road. The best was to come when he held the thin end to his mouth and pretended it was a loud hailer!

Fortunately for the workmen, some sneaky drivers came down Yarmouth Way on the left side of the road, which didn't have traffic lights, on to South Quay, and turned right (naughty, but I don't blame them!). The workmen jumped into action and madly waved, indicating this to be an illegal action.

I was even more frustrated when I found I couldn't go over the Haven Bridge. Okay, there have been bits in the paper about the road works and signs up, but unfortunately, and sorry, but as a woman, I don't/can't read maps, and road signs have too much information on them for me to read as I drive past.

I would, however, like to genuinely thank the taxi driver who, in his cab, held the traffic up coming from my right on the Staples roundabout so several of us could turn left. I don't suppose many drivers will be as courteous, so why don't they put temporary traffic lights on this roundabout to keep an even flow of traffic?

Fortunately I got to my destination on time and have learnt my lesson to be more patient - well until the next time anyway.

VAL EVERETT

Stalham Green

Stalham

I READ that the council is going to make people put their wheelie bins away; at last something is going to be done. I live on Beach Road in Gorleston and they look disgusting. I cannot understand anybody wanting to leave those unsightly things outside their home. They are on the road and now all on the pavements as well. It makes the road look so scruffy and untidy.

These people have yards where they can be put. I haven't seen bins left out anywhere else as bad as this road, so please councillors, sort it out once and for all.

Also the subject of dog mess. I own a dog but am shocked at the amount of mess everywhere on the cliffs and the beach. Why can't the council put dog wardens walking along the front and when they see people letting their dogs mess and then not clearing it up they should fine them on the spot, and double it every time after that. The money they collect in fines will more than pay their wages. It's about time something was done with the community tax which people pay, I don't see much of it spent in Gorleston.

Name and Address withheld