The Champion l Wednesday 26 June 2019
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LETTERS to the Editor
Send your letters to: The Editor, Champion Newspapers, Clare House, 166 Lord Street, Southport PR9 0QA tel 01704 392 400 email editor@champnews.com
I can see both sides of Classic FM debate County council’s highways department deserve praise but where have all the singers gone? RE: Jim Sharpe’s column (June 12) regarding Classic FM veering away from the ‘old masters’ and including more modern film themes, followed by him receiving a ‘rap on the knuckles ‘ from another letter-writer (Champion, June 19) I can sympathise with both views. Yes, I do enjoy the lighter type of music i.e. John Dunbar theme, Out of Africa, Ladies in Lavender, Schindler ‘s List, Band of Brothers etc. - but will these stand the test of time like Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Shostakovich etc, or, like a meteor, just gradually fade away? Having sung for most of my life and been an avid listener to Classic FM since its inception in1992 (when I was wooed by the dulcet tones of Nick Bailey, sadly now
retired) and greatly enjoyed their rich and varied presentations of composers and soloists, my grouse with the programme now, seemingly since Global took over, is the absence of solo voices. I feel that they are doing us - old and young - a disservice and although I have contacted various presenters, via text, I have yet to receive one reply to my question: ‘Where have all the singers gone?’ We have had such a wealth of wonderful voice down the years. i.e. Callas, Ferrier, Sutherland, Caballe etc. and more recently Fleming, Jenkins, Garrett, Westernra etc., not forgetting the male contingent. Why, when youth choirs and young singers are so enthusiastic, are the hierarchy of
Classic FM not encouraging the solo voices anymore? And to my mind ‘missing a trick’. Is it due to the fact that lots of their presenters now are ex-TV (probably due to the fact that their looks have aged a little for TV !) or is it down to ‘royalties’? I would love an answer because I now find their programmes a little monotonous and rather boring. I’ve challenged Aled Jones, ex boy treble, to give me a reason but without response. So I wonder if Jim Sharpe (whom I see not as a grumpy old man but showing sanity, balance and just plain nous in these rather ‘crazy ’days!) could look into my complaint, please? Ruth Barraclough, Aughton.
PICTURE of the week
for a job excellently done
DURING the course of the last week one of the gullies in Crabtree Lane, Burscough became blocked. This flooded the driveways of two houses and came close to entering one of the homes. The county council’s highways department were contacted and they had someone on site within 90 minutes with a gulley wagon. It turned out that this was not an easy fix and so they returned later with a jetter but were still unable to locate the source of the problem. In the following days they returned with a digger to find out where the problem was. It would appear that whilst the telegraph pole was being inserted into the ground as far back as 10 years ago, it pierced a 12-inch drainage pipe and gradually over the years it has blocked the system up entirely. They managed to get the water running again but the telegraph pole will most probably need relocating. This should be addressed in the near future. Since having been flooded myself in recent years I have taken a keen interest in flooding issues and became a member of Burscough Flood Group. The group and myself would wish to highlight and praise the quick response and excellent work of the highways department. The crew that came did a fantastic job. If you have to call them out, then please remember they did not cause your problem, they came to fix it. Treat them well and maybe offer them a cup of tea. Bernie W., by email.
Many over-75s can afford to pay for TV licences
READER Phil Hope from Skelmersdale submitted this picture of a Satin Moth which he took during a visit to Ainsdale Discovery Centre with the Beacon Photographic Club. If you would like to submit a photo to be considered for our Picture of the Week slot, you can simply email it to editorial@ champnews.com. And please remember to include your name, the area you live in and brief caption details to go with the photo.
I REALLY can’t understand the uproar over the taking away of free licences from all those over-75s not receiving Pension Credit. At the moment I am in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee which means I am on a low income but I am paying for my licence the same as everyone else and will have to continue to do so for another two years. Now if I can afford the £13.20 a month I’m pretty sure those on higher pensions can too! As we age we have less things to spend our money on - our cars do less miles so last longer and we tend not to spend on clothes as much. The Government increases our pensions yearly so stop moaning and making political mischief. They are not taking the licences off poor people but off those who can well afford to pay. If I can afford to pay up until I am 75 so can most pensioners pay from 75 onwards Mr J. E. Marshall, by email.
Bypass is the only real solution to traffic problem
160,000 members of the Conservative Drop us a line... Party deciding the country’s next Prime IF you’ve got a view on a topic of local or national interest which you would like to Minister is unfair and undemocratic share with the readers of the Champion, why
not drop us a line? Letters can be posted or emailed to the respective addresses listed on this page. They should be concise, preferably no more than 350 words, and include the sender’s name, address and contact details, although not necessarily for publication. Correspondents preferring not to have their name and/or their address published may provide a suitable nom de plume. The editor reserves the right to edit all items submitted for favour of publication. n PLEASE note: All views and opinions expressed in letters to the editor are solely those of the authors.
AS the Conservative leadership contest draws to its climax, one burning question comes to mind. For the past two-and-a-half years, we have heard those supporting a hard Brexit, soft Brexit, Theresa May’s deal - well, any sort of Brexit you can think of, really - demand that we respect the result of the referendum as that, they say, is how democracy works. That is all very well but how, then, do they think, it is ‘democratic’ that our next Prime
Minister will be chosen not by the British public but by 160,000 members? This is a man who will be the most powerful person in our nation and ordinary British people will not get a say in who it is. I find none of the remaining candidates in the leadership contest palatable or acceptable because none of them represent my values. Nor, I imagine, do they represent the majority of this Labour-voting constituency.
The runaway favourite, Boris Johnson, has clearly stated his intentions for a No-Deal Brexit, something which most agree would have disastrous consequences for the UK economy and the futures of so many young people such as myself. How is it fair, then, that our fates are decided by 0.2% of the population, the majority of whom are over the age of 55? This is arrogant, autocratic and destructive. The one thing it’s not, however, is democratic. Joseph Caygill, Ormskirk.
WITH regard to David Johnson’s ‘solution’ (Champion, June 19)of fining lorries who cross the 18-ton weight limit on the Derby Street railway bridge, the reason why it is hard to police it is lorries are still allowed to cross provided they don’t exceed that limit. A lorry with six axles (max weight 44-ton) in total will weigh roughly 15 ton unladen. Unless there is a traffic officer/police with a mobile weighbridge and an area to weigh the lorries there is no true way to control it. Only real solution with the lorries is a bypass, which won’t happen in our lifetime due to lack of funds, short-term planning, political pointscoring or planning restrictions - take your pick. One way to relieve congestion would be to put up cameras, as suggested by Mr Johnson, but place them at the yellow box junction on St Helens Road and Park Road. Quite often cars stop in the box (even councillors) driving around the one-way system. This stops traffic coming from the university as they are blocked, causing frustration and long delays. That’s where funding for projects can come from. Leon Graham, Burscough.