6
Letters BIR
Fabulous free event
MY family recently returned from visiting friends in Wirral. On the Monday we all went to Hoylake Lifeboat Open Day. What a great time we all had. We saw the new Lifeboat station, which looks
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state-of-the-art, but the highlight was seeing the Red Arrows and the aerobatic display by two Russian planes. We were amazed and thrilled that there was no charge for admission, and gladly put our donations in the RNLI boxes. What a fantastic free day why don’t other areas do the same? It is over three years since we last visited the area and we were hoping to see an
Wirral News Group ● Wednesday, October 8, 2008 WHAT do you think? Let us know your views by writing to: Letters, Wirral News Group, 76 Hamilton Street, Birkenhead CH41 5AN, fax: 0151 288 7650, or e-mail: newsdesk@wirralnews.co.uk All letters AND e-mails must include the author’s name, address and daytime telephone number, even if a nom-de-plume is to be used
improvement. Apart from some new street furniture and some modern artwork on the roundabout, we saw very little change. What happened to all the millions that the Open brought to Hoylake? Why has that not been re-invested in the area? I do hope that the council will put some money into the area for residents and visitors to enjoy. MR AND MRS IRVING AND FAMILY, POOLE, DORSET
Don’t let our area be spoilt ● Crowds join in the fun of the open day Code ph250808d-2
I WENT to bed very proud to live in a democracy where we consult and agree with changes to our area. Then I had a dream about a group of outsiders instructed by another group of outsiders who intended to foist a set of plans upon us which would change our lovely West Kirby and promenade for ever. By now I was waking up as I realised that our local council, democratically elected, was selling our assets. The promenade is about 18 feet wide with seating in very good condition and two ornate shelters. It is used by the aged and infirm with walking sticks and wheelchairs, family group, walkers, parents with children in pushchairs and running free, dogs on leads, joggers, cyclists of all ages. It is often not wide enough to handle current traffic and some idiots want to narrow it by four feet. Now to the area known as “the ovens” - lovely undercover seating, sheltered from wind and rain, in full sun where, in common with many others taking in the uninterrupted view across the estuary, I sit with flask and sandwiches, book and crossword. Now those outsiders want to completely obstruct our view and poison us with vehicle fumes into the bargain. C BRETT, WEST KIRBY
Store woes
I AM told that the bulldozers are moving in on Neston in January 2009. Apart from being in the Army for my National Service, I have lived in Neston all my 76 years. I know a lot of people, old and young, and I have never yet met anyone who is in favour of yet another supermarket. I wonder who really decided that people would be overjoyed at the prospect of a Sainsburys being built? We certainly live in strange times. GEOFFREY BOSTON, NESTON
Think first
MORE flooding in the
news both nationally and locally but I’m certainly not surprised. Whether or not climate change is to blame for the downpours is almost irrelevant because flooding has been an ever-increasing threat due to people concreting over their gardens and cutting down trees without a care. The more solid surfaces that we create, such as concrete and tarmac, the less land we have in our towns to readily absorb the excess water. Trees remove vast amounts of water from soil via their roots and then transport it up and out of their leaves and into the air above. I’m sure that builders and developers know all of this, or at least they should - but do they care? Council planning departments don’t appear to consider such environmental implications either when they are considering applications. Eventually, if we don’t reverse the current trends, our “green and pleasant land” will become an over-populated grey and very unpleasant land, perpetually prone to flooding and probably much, much worse. D V HALL, IRBY
Role model
REFERRING to your item “Hospital defends MRSA record”, earlier this year I visited the Cheshire and Merseyside NHS Treatment Centre in Runcorn. My treatment was merely injections in my arthritic knees, but nevertheless I was tested for MRSA before the injections were administered. If all patients - even outpatients - can be tested prior to treatment in Runcorn, surely they can be anywhere else. The Runcorn treatment centre is managed by a Canadian company on behalf of the NHS and is a good model of how a hospital can be run with good management; it is clean, tidy, and efficient; appointment times, at least for the four visits which I made, were adhered to punctually. CHRISTOPHER LORD, HESWALL