Private property

THE Management Committee of Bradwell Community Centre is pleased that the Post Office are staying in the South of Bradwell but are concerned over the new site. The major argument for not relocating to the Premier store on Lord's Lane has been the lack of parking facilities.

Comments from both Bradwell residents and Mr Patel of the Premier store have said that the Community Centre's car park can be used for parking.

At no point have any of the parties involved in the relocating of the Post Office asked for our comments on the parking situation or asked permission to use the car park. It would appear they have just assumed it would be fine to use it.

The Committee would like to state that the car park is private property and should only be used by those using the Centre.

When (If?) the Post Office is opened at the Premier store we will be monitoring the situation carefully. Should any of the Centre's users find it difficult to park at certain times of the day then we may have to restrict access to the car park (and this includes access to those who park there when dropping off or picking up their children from school).

Maybe Mr Patel would be prepared to pay a percentage of his takings to the Centre for the upkeep of the car park? After all, we are a charity and surely it is not right for him to make money out of the Post Office and shop whilst his nearest charity is having to scrimp and save to repair the damage to a car park that his customers are using?

Another thought, would the Post Office have agreed to this relocation if our car park had not been there?

We will be contacting Mr Patel and the Post Office with our comments.

STEPHANIE BECKETT-MOORE

Chairman

Bradwell Community Centre

I WAS disappointed to see the comments in last week's Mercury from Mr Patel of the Premier store in Bradwell regarding parking facilities at the proposed new Post Office site in Bradwell.

He suggested that customers could use Bradwell Community Centre's car park when visiting the Post Office. I am very concerned about this as I run a mother and toddler group on Monday mornings at the Centre. The car park is often full with parent's cars and those visiting the Adult Learning Centre at Bradwell Community Library.

As Mondays are often very busy at Post Offices with people collecting pensions I would not like to find my parents and children in a situation where they have to park on Lord's Lane itself because Post Office customers are taking up their places in the car park. After all, it is a private car park meant for use by those at the Centre only.

In September, the Centre will be used most mornings by different children's groups. Bradwell Tots start back again on September 14. I would not like to see any child hurt because of thoughtless parking in the area.

VENETIA SPINK

Bradwell Tots

SHOULD the puppet man be lambasted for plying his trade outside the market gates shopping centre? The gentleman clearly has a degree of talent and I have been a great fan of his for years. I have often enjoyed his routine following his successful tour of the Haymarket in Norwich. They haven't managed to replace him yet and my visits to Starbucks in Norwich (no relation) are sadly missing that X-Factor provided by the puppet man. It seems to me that the problem with shopping in Yarmouth is the increasing number of �1 and 99p shops popping up all over the place and not the ad hoc entertainment.

The other great entrepreneur in Yarmouth should take a leaf out of the puppet man's notebook and provide his own generator. This lack of forethought necessitated the cancellation of two no doubt sold out performances due to the unfortunate power failings on the seafront but in Regent Road the show still went on.

Can you imagine how pleased the Norfolk rail services; the post office and the Labour party would be with 90pc customer delight service record. Not only is Mr Perry talented he has the good business sense to conduct his own customer surveys.

How long will it be before Mr Perry gets to appear in the Great Yarmouth publicity guide? I can see it now: two piers, the Golden Mile, the outer harbour and the puppet man. Who knows we could even get the A47 duelled and a third river crossing.

TIM STARBUCK

Beach road

Scratby

MAY I through your paper say how ludicrous it is that the puppet man is being hounded by "local businesses" who claim he is preventing customers entering their premises. What complete twaddle. I have enjoyed the antics of this gentleman for several years and at no time have I seen him within 10ft of any shop entrance. It was not so long ago that this very paper was singing the puppet mans praises when 300 well behaved people descended upon him recently, most of whom probably shopped in the very shops that are now trying to stop a simple guy bringing a little pleasure to people as they go about their daily business.

Surely at a time when there are soldiers dying on a daily basis and some MPs fiddling their expenses, a guy who goes out of his way to bring pleasure to people should be allowed to do so. It's people like him who make me proud to be British.

RICHARD McSWEENEY

Northgate Street

Greatt Yarmouth

RE your recent article on the Puppet Man who has, in recent times, decanted from Norwich city centre to Great Yarmouth. I am no killjoy and certainly not averse to street entertainers per se, but I am surely not alone in finding this particular one a blot on the town landscape? His act is noisy, embarrassing and, in my view, totally lacking in talent. Is it not possible to enact any appropriate legislation to remove him from our street scene? Norwich's gain is our loss, I think!

IAN HOLMAN

Burnt Lane,

Gorleston

THE retailers of Great Yarmouth have my sympathy regarding the unsociable noise created by Puppet Man Davie Perry. Mr Perry, considered by many an eccentric has no discernible talent other than being an embarrassment. Being at full volume, Mr Perry's inexpensive cassette player manages to transform hits from the sixties and seventies into distorted noise. For many years his pitch was outside Primark in Norwich, now he has moved to Yarmouth and I suspect that the people of Norwich can't believe their luck. I was under the impression that begging was against the law. If that is the situation, then surely an injunction can be taken out to stop his public nuisance.

RON NICHOLSON

Amethyst Close

Gorleston

I WAS very sorry to hear that another young person has lost there life on Great Yarmouth beach. I used to work on Yarmouth beach as a beach lifeguard for a number of years in the summer season. When the borough council handed the beaches over to the RNLI, myself and a number of lifeguards were ask to attend a meeting with the RNLI representative.

At this meeting myself and some of the lifeguards asked what equipment would be supplied when the hand over took place in 2008; we stressed that Yarmouth needed a fast rescue boat stationed on the beach near the water's edge ready for launch for incidents of the nature that have just occurred. We were told no rescue boat would be supplied but there would be paddle boards.

There had been a fast rescue boat on Yarmouth beach for 25 years; no lives had been lost and many were saved. I attended a number of similar incidents at the Britannia Pier south and north side.

There are records kept by beach lifeguards after an incident and all these are stored in the RNLI archive for statistical purposes and can be accessed to prove my point.

I would also like to pass on that the council have a fast rescue boat on a trailer which cost �10,000 and it was serviced in 2006 but has been stored away. This boat could be used on Yarmouth beach now; the public paid for it so they should have the use of it.

I have also talked to a person who witnessed the incident on Yarmouth beach and they said it took over 10 minutes for a lifeboat to arrive at the incident. Seconds are vital when someone is drowning and a fast rescue boat would have improved this poor person's chances of surviving.

I have no axe to grind other than public safety as a beach user and keen swimmer but I feel the public are being short changed by the borough council.

Name and Address withheld

I AM sending this email in the hope Mercury readers will be able to help me find a photo of my late father, Mr G T Walden, also known as Sonny. The photo was taken sometime between 1950 and 1960 and is of my dad in a small open fishing boat full to the gunwhales of herring. I can remember the heading in the newspaper: Fisherman hides his head under a bushel. I would love to locate this photo from the family history point of view. There was a reason for him hiding from the camera but nothing bad; he just did not like all the fuss. If anyone can shed light on this mystery I can be contacted at 1 Ivy Green, Shrublands Estate, Gorleston NR31 8LB.

P G WALDEN

AFTER reading the letters concerning the chance of catching swine flu from dirty shopping trolleys and magazines in NHS waiting rooms, I'm wondering if the current practice of booking yourself in at the doctors by touching a computer screen is also a dangerous practice, given that the doctor's surgery is full of sick people, or am I just developing a Howard Hughes complex?

PAULINE LYNCH

Mill Lane

Bradwell

I AM writing regarding the article in this week's Mercury, NHS chiefs defend GP's �300k wages”, although it was pointed out that the average wage for a practitioner here is �111,000. I have nothing but admiration for my own doctor, she is worth her weight in gold. Would someone please remind me how much a premiership Division footballer earns in a week?

Mrs J WARDROP

Marine Parade,

Gorleston

FOLLOWING a recent illness whilst on holiday in Hemsby we would like to express our thanks to all the NHS services involved in our care. Thank you to the quick response of paramedics and ambulance staff and the care and attention at the James Paget University hospital admission unit. The care and attention of the doctors, nursing staff and diabetic nurses was excellent during my 10-day stay. The menu for the choice of meals was very good. An excellent NHS service.

Thanks also to the pharmacy at Hemsby for providing us with additional medication at this time.

DAVID & JOAN BROWN

Blackthorn Close

Lutterworth

DID you ever serve on board any of the light fleet carriers, HMS Bulwark, HMS Albion or HMS Centaur? Our association, the HMS Bulwark Albion Centaur Association - is open to anyone who served at any time on these ships. We send a magazine three times per year plus events including AGM/socials, seadays with our new ships, HMS Albion and Bulwark, and anniversary commemorations at home and abroad. Whilst our “home port” is Portsmouth, this year's AGM was at Sand Bay, Weston Super Mare on May 30. We also sponsor sea cadets from our affiliated SCCs on the Training Ship Royalist. Membership is all of �8 per annum. Enquires to Leigh Easton, Glenmoray, Hayford Pl, Cambusbarron, Stirling FK7 9JX or email at ngsfo@tiscali.co.uk or visit our website at www.bulwarkassoc.plus.com

LEIGH EASTON

THE Denes High School, formerly known as Lowestoft Grammar School is celebrating its centenary between now and next April. There are several events planned. According to local historians several people from the Bradwell area attended the school in the years towards the end of and after the second world war. Is there anyone out there with any connection to the school, has anyone any photos that we could borrow or memories that we could record? There are two reunions planned for late September so if you would like more details on anything to do with the Denes Centenary please get in touch with Justin Smith at the Aspire Centre, Denes High School, Lowestoft. The Aspires phone number is 01502 533520. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

JANE WEBSTER

Centenary Committee,

Denes High School

AS we move into the final stages of the outer harbour there comes with it a final sting in the tail.

With the arrival of the containers bringing with them a cacophony of sound such as drumming and crash, bang, wallop, day and night which would be heard inland as far as Belton and the surrounding area. As activity builds up this would become more persistent. Perhaps not! With the onslaught of the shifting sand bringing on the coastal reclamation which I feel sure will eventually outstrip Lowestoft as being the furthest point east.

J DYE

Gonville Road

Gorleston

BREYDON Water. A magnificent stretch of clean clear fresh water. Roughly four miles long and over half a mile wide. Supplying the needs of the local agricultural community, as ever, the most important industry in East Anglia. The mud-flats reduced in area, but increased in height. Non-tidal still water, wonderful for sailing.

The foregoing paragraph does not describe Breydon as it is, but as it could be. A dam would need to be constructed just north of the Haven Bridge. The river traffic in that area would cease. That's of no consequence. It's unimportant and insignificant. I expect an Act of Parliament would have to be repealed to allow this to happen. Between the Haven Bridge and the river mouth a great change would take place. Currents in the inner harbour would be weak and almost unnoticeable. This would benefit shipping without any doubt. This leads on to something else. Easier shipping handling means that the width of the river could be reduced very considerably. I'm not proposing that the whole of the river be reduced in width of course, just enough to accommodate a bridge. The river being much narrower at this point means the bridge would be smaller, lighter and far less costly to construct. A bascule bridge built in the area currently proposed would eliminate any need to demolish local housing.

To be honest, I don't expect any of this to come to fruition. A very great deal of money would be needed. On the other hand, it would give employment to many people. That's no bad thing.

JOHN NICHOLS

Emmanuel Avenue

Gorleston

MANY years ago, dock work involved hard manual labour for very low pay. Anyone could get a job on the docks, but many chose not to because of the very hard labour and pay. This is when my father started work on the quay. In time, modernisation led to the introduction of containers and machinery, making the job less labour intensive. At the same time, the dockers fought for better pay. They also looked after their family, as many families do across all kinds of companies and jobs.

When the back-breaking work and low pay was taken out of the job, suddenly many more people wanted a job as a docker. As for the employers, they used the dockers to keep their own pay high (if the dockers were given pay rises then consquently their pay rose as well). However, currently the employers find it hard to get any more money from the big multi-nationals.

As for the dockers who are looking for your support. 90pc of the present dockers have nothing to do with the older generation of dock workers' families. The National Dock Labour Scheme finished in 1989, 20 years ago; some of the present port workers weren't even born then!

So, support the port workers fight against casualisation and low pay, for a better future for all Great Yarmouth's current port workers and the potential for jobs in the future.

Name and Address withheld