Readers’s letters, June 9 2017

I was very interested to see pictures and read the letter from Bill Bentley in the Mercury concerning the 1953 floods, particularly as one of the men on the Jewsons timber drug was Arthur Jarmey, who was a neighbour of mine for a number of years.

At the time he lived on Stafford Road and worked for Jewsons for almost 40 years. Also in the picture is his brother Bert Jarmey as well as a driver who together rescued a considerable number of flooded residents over the disastrous weekend.

Arthur and his brother changed vessels the following day and used one of the boats from the seafront waterways, again helping a number of people to a safer and drier situation.

I recall going to the seafront with my father only to see the tennis courts between Wellington Pier and the Jetty devastated and the glass shelter at the entrance to Jetty smashed beyond recognition.

We were also advised by a police man to be careful where we went because many of the manhole covers had been lifted by the force of the flood water.

At the time I was junior clerk at the council’s publicity department at Elizabethan House, 4 South Quay.

We opened the doors to find water covering the hallway entrance to the ground floor and found hundreds of letters floating in the muddy water, these of course were from prospective holidaymakers who had responded to our advertisements.

A junior colleague and I had the unenviable task of hanging out to dry all the letters and sixpenny postal orders on strings.

Later that week the chief publicity and entertainments officer John Kinnersley was put in charge of using the town hall as a reception centre for aid being donated.

I can recall one large van load of pairs of shoes donated by the Quick Service Boot and Shoe Repair Company and another local store sent a small number of fur coats.

TONY KING

I will not be voting for Theresa

Theresa May, my my, what a caring lady and prime minister showing strong and stable leadership in ordering Amber Rudd to go on to the BBC’s live election debate only two days after the death of Amber Rudd’s father. Mrs May is hiding from the public debate unless she has a tame audience or knows the questions in advance such as PMQ.

If as Mrs May says Jeremy Corbyn is so useless then why is she too scared to face the man in a live debate? But then what can we expect from a prime minister who is now attacking pensioners and school children as well as the disabled and sick. Well its only fair. We must all take part in the Tory austerity, well except the right honourable members of parliament.

Well if The haughty Mrs May cannot be bothered to turn up for us, the general public, then I can not be bothered to vote for this caring prime minister.

PAUL APOSTOLI

Email

Trafficking must be tackled

It was heartening to read that the police are a multi-agency working to combat people trafficking.

People trafficking is a pernicious crime and yet many agencies fail to recognise the importance of training staff to recognise the telltale signs.

People trafficking and modern slavery are thriving in the UK. The number of people being brought into Britain as unpaid slaves has risen by nearly 250pc in the past 5 years according to official figures. Efforts to eradicate modern slavery in the UK are failing.

Many people see cannabis as a mild recreational drug, but most of it produced in the UK, and is in the care of trafficked Vietnamese children.

Farms are discovered every week, and ironically, it is often the trafficked victims who are imprisoned while the farm owners escape detection due to a failure to fully investigate.

The farms are often small units in suburban areas, to minimize the risk of loss if detected, where one enslaved child works in isolation with no communication to the outside world.

These victims are afraid and often don’t speak English.

Common clues include a terraced house with windows permanently blacked out or shuttered; a property seldom visited should be reported to the police or victim hotline.

A lock on the ‘outside’ of a door suggests those inside do not have a choice in being there.

Anecdotal sources suggest there are trafficked people in every town in Britain.

To date, not a single trafficker for cannabis production in the whole of the UK has ever been prosecuted.

How many people must be trafficked before ordinary folk begin to say ‘enough is enough?’

It is indeed heartening to read that the police are taking modern slavery seriously and thank the Great Yarmouth Mercury editors for reporting on it.

ROGER HAYES

Email

I remember village Cub group

I have just spotted Julian Moore’s letter in the Great Yarmouth Mercury last week paying tribute to Roger Ditcham.

I went to school with Julian and was also a member of the same Cub group, run by Roger and Gillian Mays, standing next to him.

A very strange coincidence, as Gillian just happened to pop into our shop today at Wroxham Barns, The Scrummy Pig Produce Shop.

I am the Cub Scout standing next to Julian (to his right, second from the left front row).

From memory, I believe this was the Cantley Cub Scout Group attending the Great Yarmouth St George’s Parade.

My mother, Colleen Fish, was a Cub Scout leader for the 1st Acle Cub Scout Group for over 40 years and still gets involved in Scouting whenever she gets the chance. She thought it best I attend an alternative Scout Group, hence how I ended up being a Cantley Cub Scout.

I saw the news that Roger had passed but did not recognise him. It’s only seeing this photo that I recall him being part of my early days. The face in the photo being the Roger I remember.

MICHAEL FISH

East Somerton

Bring in order on seafront building

I have read with interest about what is to be done to the Hollywood Cinema.

Am I right that Mr Jay also owns the Empire Cinema? If so can not an order of some kind be made for this “eye sore” to be tidied up by whoever owns it. It has stood like this for years now and it deteriorating more every year now.

So come on local councillors get it tided up, or get out an order for the owners to do it.

Name and Address withheld

Carriers were very easy to drive

It was interesting to read your Mercury letters about Jewsons and Ross Carriers as I drove one on these carriers from 1962 until Jewsons closed in the very early 1980s.

They had front and rear steering and could go as quick in reverse as they did forward.

On one trip while empty I had a motor cyclist and a pillion passenger ride right through.

B ARTHUR

Lark Way,

Bradwell

Well done to high street chain

Through your letters page I would like to congratulate WH Smith celebrating 225 years in the high street. Before I saw them in the high street I saw them at railway stations as newsagents. I wish them all the best for the future.

P TURNER,

St Margaret’s Way,

Fleggburgh

Deport threats to our society

Since my letter last Friday where I advocated the establishment of internment camps (not concentration camps), some comments were made to me that Human Rights would be breached.

Once again the political correct crowd are putting potential killers before British residents.

Then on wakening Sunday morning we hear about the latest atrocity.

Those people that shake their heads and make “tutting” sounds cannot class themselves as British if they still spout on about “human rights”.

Any elected government that is trying to contain those suspected of being radicalised with a chance they may terrorise, should not have to fight in law courts to deport someone.

In my view multi-culturalism is a prime reason the terrorists can get away with murder because of the human right laws that come out of Brussels.

M15 and security services are we are told monitoring some 3,000 probable suspects, but it seems to us none PC crowd, nothing is done until after the event and innocent people killed.

If religious groups are aware of people in their flock that are planning an atrocity they should report it keeping quiet is openly condoning the act.

The party that wins the election will have the difficult job of making Britain safe.

Last year’s referendum was based on immigration the removal of certain immigrants.

Our prime minister advocates change, well to do that people should not be placed in a situation where they fear litigation if they speak the views that they think.

Those 3,000 people should be given a diplomatic offer either deportation, or internment. Let the PM take a hard line.

The word “extremism” means fanaticism if certain cultures disagree with British way of life and our security services are aware of them, deport them or intern them, let us Brits be just as fanatic.

JOHN L COOPER

Burnt Lane

Gorleston

Music has the power to overcome

Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, thus wrote William Congreve and no words seem more appropriate to sum up the evenings of June 3 and 4.

With the Great Yarmouth Arts Festival underway and the Minster filled with young orchestral delight, Gorleston too was having one its finest musical hours - a debut performance from a new singing group recently risen from the ashes of the old Gilbert and Sullivan Society and reformed under its new name of The G & S Singers.

The occasion was a celebratory concert for 60 years of the Methodist church on Magdalen Way. The choir of about 24 ladies and gentleman delighted the full house of an appreciative audience, leaving an air of expectancy for their next offering at St Andrew’s Church on July 29.

And then not so many miles from Gorleston the music stopped as the bars and music venues in London were laid low, but not for long.

They were encouraged by the fact that soon Manchester would be singing its heart out in solidarity, 50,000 people standing beside them in solidarity.

In the aftermath of such senseless violence and savagery, perhaps we should renew our resolve to indulge in the “food of love” and wherever and whenever, let the wonderful gift of music play on as we dance defiantly on to the march of time.

DUSTY MILLER Links Road, Gorleston