LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Give cricket a chance Dear Sir - I read with great dismay the arti- cle in Downs Mail (East, January) on the predicament of continuing to play cricket on the village green in Bearsted. The article confirms that cricket has been played on The Green since 1749. Although I have not carried out a great deal of re- search, I am unaware of any serious inci- dents of injury or death to people as a result. I am not aware of any significant rule changes in the 250 years and, in particular, in more recent times that would increase the risk of injury. I therefore wonder why we are having to consider the expensive steps to appease res- idents who purchased their properties in the full knowledge of the activities under- taken on The Green. If we are to continue in this vein it will


not be long before children are unable to play ball on The Green and we completely lose the heart of the village that it provides. Why can't people live harmoniously within the surroundings that, no doubt, at- tracted them to the location in the first place, rather than destroy a facility that has been enjoyed by many thousands of people every year for centuries? Perhaps it is a personal pride that has


gone beyond the ability of those involved to recognise the longer-term damage that their actions could cause? Mark Rowe, by email


Sport has a long history Dear Sir-Iamwriting regarding your article concerning cricket being played on Bearsted village green. I would just like to say that Eylesden


Court, both as a house and school, has been close to The Green for many, many years. Cricket was probably played on The


Green before it was built. Also, the houses near The Green have been there for years and cricket has been played on there during all this time. What's the problem? If you buy a house near a church, you ex-


pect the sound of bells; don't complain if they disturb you on Sunday morning or wake your children on bell practice nights. If you buy a house near a coal yard, expect


coal dust. Likewise, if you buy a house near a cricket or football pitch, you should ex- pect flying balls. How about the house owners who are


doing the complaining erecting suitable fencing, at their expense, on match days? Maybe they would stop complaining then. What will be complained about next - children playing on The Green? And then there's the pond; that could be dangerous, you know. I have lived in Bearsted for 41 years. During this time many changes have been made – some for the better and some not. Why should people be allowed to come into a place like this and then try to change everything?


Jean Murdoch, by email


Dangerous yellow lines Dear Sir – I was most concerned to read Ms Jung’s letter entitled “Still waiting for yel- low lines” (East, January). She asserts that residents are begging for double yellow lines to be installed in Tudor Avenue, but we are not. Further, her state- ment that double yellow lines will make Tudor Avenue safer is also erroneous and the exact opposite of their likely effect. I have lived in Tudor Avenue since early


1978. For the first few years there were nu- merous crashes and near misses on the bend, which is the junction with Park Av- enue. These varied from minor dents and scrapes to vehicles crashing into garden


34 East


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walls, street signs, and lampposts, crashing head on and, on one occasion, a car over- turning. This was all due to drivers travelling too


fast and losing control coming down the hill and entering this rather sharp bend. How- ever, as the road has become more of a car park these incidents have ceased. Tudor Avenue is a steep, windy, narrow


hill and is not suitable for the high volumes of traffic that it suffers at peak times due to “rat runners” avoiding heavy traffic on the Sittingbourne Road. The parked cars act as chicanes and dramatically slow the traffic flow. The removal of these chicanes will vastly increase traffic speeds and flows, making Tudor Avenue a dangerous road once again. A much better solution to the traffic prob-


lems in Tudor Avenue would be to close it at its junction with Sittingbourne Road. This would dramatically reduce traffic in Tudor Avenue since it would stop all of the through traffic. I recently conducted a sur- vey of traffic using Tudor Avenue and it re- vealed that at peak times over 90% of this was through traffic. I also cannot understandMs Jung’s asser-


tions that themajority of vehicles parked in TudorAvenue belong to council employees. This is blatantly untrue. I do have the ad- vantage of actually living in Tudor Avenue and the parked vehicles are amixture of res- idents, commuters, prison workers and shoppers’ vehicles together with the occa- sional trade vehicle. I know this because I see the majority ar-


riving between 6.30am and 7.30am, way be- fore the council offices open and when I occasionally walk down to the station to travel to London I often walk with some of these people. So please let us hear no more of this ex- tremely dangerous plan to install yellow lines in Tudor Avenue and take more sensi- ble and safe measures to control traffic. John Critchell, Tudor Avenue,Maidstone


Rotate street darkness Dear Sir - With respect to your piece con- cerning the debate whether street lights should be switched off to save money (Town, Christmas); yes, perhaps it may be necessary to do this, but let me personally point out a couple of things. Themost likely streets to have their lights turned off are the side streets and cul-de- sacs, where there is not as much traffic movement. That is all well and good, but I do think that the type of crimes committed late evenings and early mornings in those areas will increase because the perpetrator can carry out their offences under the cover of complete darkness, whereas perhaps strategically-placed street lights would deter them to a degree. Therefore, let the council take note, if they


are thinking of turning street lights off down side streets/cul-de-sacs, then I advise them to do it on a rotating basis, so that criminals cannot get used to certain streets having their lights out every night at the same time. If there is no actual pattern of the lights


being switched off it will not make it so easy for them to commit crime under cover of darkness. Name and address supplied


Castle is jewel in the crown Dear Sir - I was sorry to read David Wool- cock’s letter about the closure of the aviary here at Leeds Castle (December). I am afraid, like many enthusiasts, his perspective is clouded by his own passion for keeping birds.


The jewel in the Leeds Castle crown is not


the aviary – it is, and always will be, the castle. It is that which requires our invest- ment, our care and our protection. The charity’s trustees took the decision to


close the aviary because they are legally obliged to preserve and maintain the castle andtheyhavetoensuretheyhavethe wherewithal to do so. Aviculture is not one of their charitable objects. It is an area of expertise our fantas- tic team has developed, but isn’twhy we are here. With a major multi-million pound stonework programme under way, the trustees have some difficult choices. The place looks well kept, because it is; but that is, in fact, a very difficult balancing act, re- quiring significant effort each year. The money spent on maintaining the


aviary – some £200,000 a year, nearly twice our entire overall budgeted profit – could be supporting that work. The £2,000 raised over two years from the aviary’s visitors to support overseas conservation efforts pales into insignificance in this context. The decision to close followed consider-


able customer research. Only 4%of our vis- itors cite the aviary as a reason to visit the castle; and when we asked whether they would pay to go into attractions, an over- whelming 90% said no. We don’t doubt that many visitors, once


here, enjoy the aviary. We believe we will be able to insert other attractions that will provide equal enjoyment, without the huge financial obligations. The half-a-million visitors a year suggests


there is no problem marketing the place. Ul- timately, though, for the charity every penny spent on the birds is one that cannot be used to maintain the castle. I hope local people understand that and can sympathise with the decision, even if we would all pre- fer it otherwise. If Mr Woolcock would like to help, per-


haps he should consider whether his park could offer some of the birds a long-term home.


VictoriaWallace, chief executive, Leeds Castle


Impressed with hospital Dear Sir -I was recently discharged from Maidstone Hospital after a five-day stay in theMedical Assessment Unit. As an ex-nurse I would like to reassure people that the hospital is exceptional on all counts. The cleanliness was better than I remember when I was nursing. Each patient received their own box of tissues and pack of hand wipes and another hand wipe was supplied on each meal tray. The food was hot, nicely presented and


each daywehad avariedchoiceoffour dishes for lunch and supper and biscuits or cake with each hot drink during the day. I cannot speak highly enough of the nurses.We were all treated with respect and love. There were many elderly and con- fused people on the ward and they were never left with un-reachable drinks and were often fed by the nurses however busy they were. Every step of our treatment was carefully explained to us by both doctors and nurses and personally I have received an excellent follow-up over the weekend having left on a Friday. You need not fear entering Maidstone Hospital if you receive treatment like I did. Except for not having a private room, I felt as if I was treated as well, if not better, than a private patient.Well done MaidstoneHos- pital.


Alison Perryman, Otford Visit Downs Mail’s website — downsmail.co.uk


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