Remembering rubbish lorries

I have just been reading Peggotty’s tale about the rubbish lorries of the 1950s. Very interesting.

Our collectors had Scammel mechanical horses in the north of the town. A three wheel tractor unit with a large trailer. This had a step on the back and the collectors would tip the householders bins into a bath tub then transfer it into the trailer.

Clouds of dust would rise into the air, as it was mostly ashes from coal fires.

I think after the destructor was bombed during the war, the refuse was taken to where the pitch and putt course, built on top of the old tip.

I remember some years ago when the Beaconsfield recreation ground was being revamped, the top surface was taken off and below there was quite a lot of rubbish, bike frames etc. So this might have been a rubbish tip in the past as well.

I can remember collecting loads of old lemonade, beer, medicine and Bovril bottles at the side of Tar Works Road. Still have them

PETER DAVIS

Beechwood Road

Hemsby

When are these homes appearing?

The Mercury regularly prints news articles about planning permission for housing being applied for or given in the town. When it announces that the much-needed houses and flats have been built or adapted at Crown House, the Claydon School site, the old petrol station site on Acle New Road, Riverside Road and part of the Northgate Hospital site, that really would be news.

Penny Bailey

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James Paget staff were fantastic

I was recently admitted to the James Paget Hospital to have a replacement hip operation. I just wanted to say what a lovely experience it was whilst staying on ward 7.

The staff were all fantastic and very welcoming and should be praised. I would also like to mention Jenny in recovery, she was lovely. The food was good too! Thank you to all of you,

DANIEL DURRANT

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Thanks to all who helped after fall

May I through the Mercury give a very big thank you to paramedics Sam and Andrew in an ambulance from the James Paget who looked after me after I had a fall on the old Gorleston railway bridge.

They tended to my injured head and hand and checked my pulse, heart, blood pressure etc in the back of the ambulance. They were excellent, professional, friendly. Than they took my son and I home when they considered it was alright to do so. Well done, you can be proud of your yourselves.

Also a very big thanks to two young ladies, Rebecca and Emily, who stayed with me until the ambulance came. Rebecca insisted I keep still, making sure I was comfortable, put a scarf under my head where it was bleeding to keep my head off the pavement and kept talking to me ensuring I was still conscious and lucid.

A real credit to them both and to St Edmund’s care home where they work. It is wonderful to see young people so caring.

DON BULLARD

Elm Avenue,

Gorleston

Store has ripped out our village heart

I am writing about the report in the Mercury on Co-op plans for store in Hemsby taking over the very successful Spar shop. The store located in the heart of the community, Co-op is always looking for new sites where they can be at the heart of local life.

It is a pity they didn’t think that way when they moved their heart of local life from the centre of Acle and replaced it with a large funeral parlour.

Now they are offering to rent out part of the building and Acle Parish Council are hoping to rent it to make a “hub” to bring life back to the village, but that would have to be paid for by residents paying for it via their precept, not fair.

Sorry if Co-op realise they didn’t need so much room, they ought to do the decent thing and open a small convenience shop and pay for it. They knew what the people wanted before they moved. Sorry they have killed the heart of our village.

P WATSON

Acle

Thanks for help after we fell

I would like to give a public “thank you” to the staff of the Sea Life Centre in Great Yarmouth. On Wednesday, October 4 my husband and I, (both over 80) were not far from the entrance when we both fell over after my husband tripped on something.

Two kind strangers picked us up, blood streaming from my husband’s nose and myself very shaken. When we went into the centre the staff could not have been more kind. “Daz” administered first aid and we were rested and given tea.

Happily we recovered and were able to enjoy this excellent attraction. I think that the staff of the centre are a real advertisement for Yarmouth and deserve congratulations.

We look forward to visiting next year.

HILARY JAMES Leicester

Crass obsession about Tory coups

I suspect Brandon Lewis filed his copy to this paper before the disaster of the Prime Minister’s much vaunted and long awaited conference speech.

I had sympathy with her irritating cough.

But as to the prankster who got so close, this is a surely a very serious matter of security and needs addressing at the highest level. Also the falling letters scenario was indeed a metaphor for this lack lustre conference.

I fully appreciate that Mr Lewis is singing from the Tory hymn sheet and is writing all the right words but not necessarily in the right order.

This Government appears to be lurching from one personality crisis to another and this crass obsession about future coups, leadership bids is becoming increasingly abhorrent to the general public. This is not to say that there are not some very talented and committed Conservative MP’s in the back benches and the Prime Minister would do well to shuffle her present pack of members and go for a much needed change to the current coterie of ‘talking heads’. Heidi Allen is a fine example and has called on the necessary pausing and halting of Universal Credit which is now being rolled out in many areas. In this town we know all about the inherent problems concerning this benefit and no Mr Lewis offering claimants advance payments is not the way to go. It immediately places them in a debt situation and the necessity to play catch-up all the time. David Gauke the Secretary of State for Works and Pensions should have said ‘I have listened to your concerns and have now halted this rollout until all the flaws have been ironed out’.

The fact that he decided not to is an indictment on the desire for a fair and equitable society that Theresa May states is at the heart and soul of her party.

JUDITH A DANIELS

Winifred Gardens,

Cobholm

Complaints about greens actioned

We would like to convey our thanks to the council for listening to, and acting upon, our concerns regarding the state of the Gorleston Cliffs bowls greens.

We raised our concerns to the council in summer 2016 following complaints about our substandard greens from clubs throughout the whole of Norfolk. Some of these complaints were taken directly to County level. As a result County contacted us warning that we could possibly lose our EBA status if nothing was done to improve them.

An important part of our outdoor season is spent participating in EBA leagues and EBA County competitions, and also competitions through Bowls England, all of these would have been denied to the club if EBA status was withdrawn.

As a result of GYBC inspections and discussions between our representatives and the council, a schedule of work was planned. This work took place during the winter months.

The south green has greatly improved and was a pleasure to play on this year. This season we received a lot of positive feed back regarding the improvements made. Instead of listening to complaints from other clubs and county players and having to apologise to them about the state of the green, we were able to hold our heads up high.

Complaints turned into compliments which we feel GYBC should be made aware of.

The sports pavilion now has a more pleasant and brighter appearance, thanks to the council agreeing to our request to update this facility. During the winter months GYBC carried out kitchen alterations and our members redecorated the interior with materials kindly donated by members and sponsors.

Well done GYBC, we look forward to your continued investment in bringing the north green up to the same standard as the south green.

GORLESTON LINKS BOWLS CLUB

Email

Big thank you to Minster organist

I would like to say a big thank you to John Stephens, who for many years has given much pleasure at Great Yarmouth Minster with his lunchtime recitals, also as organist at the Minster and his involvement with numerous other musical events.

He has worked so hard and has an approach that makes people feel welcome and involved. I would like to wish him and his lovely wife Melody and beautiful daughter all the very best.

The Minster will not be the same without him.

SHIRLEY FRANCIS

Marine Parade,

Gorleston

Impressed by the community fight

I am somewhat surprised to read two contrasting pieces by Mick Castle last week.

First, an ambiguous and half-hearted apology from him regarding his attitude towards parents at the Swindell School consultation evening, only to be followed by a letter intended to vilify those same people.

Throughout these proceedings Mr Castle has been dismissive of the community’s views and ignorant of the due process that these procedures are supposed to adhere to.

If this closure goes ahead, there will no longer be any choice for parents and the Inspiration Trust will soon monopolise all education in our town.

Mr Castle is so fixated on having a new school that he chooses to ignore what a community school means to children and parents.

Furthermore, he promotes North Denes as an Ofsted rated ‘Good’ when in actual fact it is a ‘Coasting’ school.

The money allocated could easily be used to improve facilities at both schools without the need for any closure.

What is even more concerning is the lack of assurances of the future use of the Swindell site. Vague language about what they would prefer it to be is just that - vague and misleading.

The suggestion of it becoming an SEN school is merely pie in the sky and there is a likelihood of the land being sold for housing.

As a local resident I am incredibly impressed with their spirit and determination of parents and the community to stop the closure and to keep this terrific school in the heart of its community for generations to come.

Long live Alderman Swindell!

JENNY BARTH

Pupils plunged into a turmoil

I find it astounding that within days of each other four schools/academies in Great Yarmouth have been plunged into turmoil – no doubt affecting the work and education of pupils attending these schools.

These proposals, to unite the new and much heralded Trafalgar College in Southtown with the former Great Yarmouth High School – now an Academy; and then for Alderman Swindell and North Denes Primary Schools to merge, were not planned in a matter of days. It must have been weeks and months.

So why did the people who run these establishments wait until the start of the new school year to make the announcements? How can the uncertainty over the future be good for children as young as four?

All the children affected will have heard their parents, guardians or carers as well as family members discuss the proposals; how must they be feeling?

This is bad and astonishing. The people making these proposals should be ashamed – more so the Inspiration Trust which opened its Trafalgar College to great acclaim, encouraging local parents to sign up their children, buying uniforms, and buying into the academy as an educational establishment where their young could be educated locally instead of having to travel to Gorleston in most cases.

I am angry on their behalf.

Mrs ELLEN WILLIAMSON

Email

Is Gorleston beach levelling?

During a recent visit to Gorleston beach, my young memory was roused to a letter I wrote on January 14, 2011 concerning beach levelling which has now reached this critical stage where riverlets are beginning to appear.

Heralding, as I say, the decay of Gorleston beach due to this sand levelling by natural current action or sand levelling by diggers.

For years I have been concerned with the decay from the southern end, but now with this happening at the breakwater end, I am afraid it is going to speed up the action of flat-basing.

JACK DYE

Gonville Road,

Gorleston

My medical care was excellent

I have just recently spent some time in the James Paget University Hospital. I would like to say a big thank you to the two ambulance ladies who came to my house and took me to hospital.

They were excellent. I want to thank all the staff in A&E who work hard very hard and all the staff on ward four who looked after me. Everyone of you including the doctors work so hard under pressure.

My stay was very comfortable. Thank you so much.

C A BALLS

Bradwell

Shame to see bus service ceasing

As from November 13, Anglian Bus service 61 will no longer operate from Kessingland via Lowestoft into Great Yarmouth via Gorleston. Instead it will terminate at the James Paget Hospital.

Eight journeys will operate the whole route, with two lunchtime journeys operating between Lowestoft and Kessingland only.

It was only in 2014 that Anglian Bus operated eight buses an hour into Great Yarmouth from various places around Norfolk and Suffolk, in future this means they will just touch the very edge of the borough!

ENTUA feels it is a great shame that Anglian Bus are virtually going to be absent from the town, leaving First as the only major operator in the area, apart from some services provide by Our Bus and Sanders Coaches.

We believe in competition within the bus industry and what we have now is almost a monopoly.

STEVE HEWITT

East Norfolk Transport Users Association

We loved family holidays here

Do you remember…? The caravans on South Denes, the camp shops where you bought your milk, bread, bacon and sausage in the mornings, while on holiday for a week, Saturday to Saturday.

Things to do: book the shows, Jimmy Clitheroe, Joe Brown, Dickie Henderson and Ken Dodd to name a few.

Things to remember: send saucy cards home, sometimes you got home before the cards! Send box of bloaters home.

The hub for my family was The Nelson pub, Red Barrel beer and you got a free Red Barrel keyring, can’t remember any food being served we always had crisps and nuts.

Midweek the gas bottle at the caravan ran out and you had to walk to the camp office to order a replacement. Mr Smith ran this Service. Remember the gas lights in the caravan and going to get water from the communal tap, announcements over the tannoys asking campers to phone home urgently.

What a week. We loved it. The last job was to clean the caravan and we had to sit in the car, a Black Austin A30.

Just after that the package holiday abroad arrived, we didn’t go, we came back to Great Yarmouth.

I met my wife on the beach in 1973. I was 19 years old and still going to Great Yarmouth with mum and dad. My wife and I have just celebrated 42 years of marriage and have a lovely family.

We live here now! Much has changed but we still love it.

BRENDON WALKER

Bradwell

Charity awarded accreditation

DIAL Great Yarmouth has been working over recent months to move from a Disability Confident Employer to a Disability Confident Leader. We are pleased to announce that this has now been achieved with the accreditation having been awarded until August 2020.

As a Disability Confident Leader DIAL has been subjected to a self-assessment which has then been subject to external challenge and validation. We are now taking an active leadership role in encouraging and helping other employers on their journey to becoming Disability Confident.

Employers wishing to find out more about becoming Disability Confident within their workplace can contact myself on 01493 856900 or by email to johowes@dial-greatyarmouth.org.uk

JO HOWES

email

Order the clean up of Pontins site

I so agree with P Turner in last week’s Mercury regarding the site of the old Pontin’s holiday centre in Hemsby. Yes, it is a disgrace.

What is the borough council doing about it? Indeed what are our borough councillors doing about it – they must pass it in their cars on their travels? Are they comfortable with how it looks and what a horrible impression it is to holidaymakers?

It is not acceptable to leave it in the state it is and the owners of the land must be forced to tidy it up, level all the buildings and make it a clean-to-the-eye site, and not the eyesore it has become.

G HAMILTON

Email

A covert day to remove identity

Altiero Spinelli (1907-1986) was a former Italian communist who was imprisoned for 12 years on Ventotene off the west coast of Italy, following which he was interned for six more.

With co-author Ernesto Rossi, he wrote the Ventotene Manifesto for a federal Europe controlled by a supra-national government.

He was a committed, relentless advocate of a federal Europe super-state who climbed rapidly through Europe’s organisational system by covertly driving strategic elements of the EU “project” to where it is today. He is revered by Brussels Eurocrats as the founding father of the EU following the introduction of his Spinelli Plan in 1984.

Such was his influence that the largest EU parliament building is named after him.

Those who seek to dismiss Boris Johnson’s companion of failed attempts by dictators of the past to create a European superstate should heed these words of the Ventotene Manifesto: “The problem which must first be solved is the final abolition of the division of Europe into Sovereign national states. Without this, any progress will be appearance only.”

What could be clearer? The final abolition of sovereign nation states and with it every vestige of national identity, this was the covert goal from day one in the 1920s of what eventually became known as the “project”, set in train by three people, Jean Monnet, Arthur Salter and Paul Henry Spaak, held to be sacrosanct by successive and unelected and unaccountable cabalistic technocrats in Brussels it is treacherous in the extreme.

I hope your readers who argue about Brexit will be careful what they wish for.

P ECCLESTONE

Well Street, Great Yarmouth