LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


The experiment has failed Dear Sir – Regarding the problemswith Cas- tle Way, I’m not clear what residents mean when talking about transforming what was, and remains, a main through road for all those wanting to get to the motorway or be- yond from West Malling, into a “truly resi- dential” road. I live in West Malling and, without ex- ception, everyone I’ve discussed thismatter with uses Castle Way, and we object strongly to the use of this throughway being described as a rat run. The alternative is having to negotiate two extra sets of traffic lights and drive nearly twice the distance. There are fewer than 20 houses on Castle Way, and it appears that these selfish resi- dents want to further inconvenience a very much larger number of residents of neigh- bouring towns by attempting to add even more obstructions. It is clear the experiment has failed. The


most sensible thing to do would be to re- move all the chicanes and install a speed camera to enforce a limit of 20 or 30mph. Had this been done in the first place, sev- eral hundred thousand pounds of our money would have been saved. However, that of course, would never have occurred to the kind of people who we allow to de- cide on such matters. JWHurst, High Street,West Malling


East Malling traffic Dear Sir – While I sympathise with the res- idents of Castle Way, Leybourne, most of their properties are not actually on the road – they have long front gardens. Compared to East Malling, they have minor problems. The traffic nightmares in the High Street


in East Malling are muchmore serious, with drivers using it continuously as a rat run, with about half of the motorists not giving any thought to other road users. The houses are virtually on the road, and


the house on the corner opposite the King and Queen pub and the Indian restaurant have had walls knocked down. How there has not been an accident is a miracle. A great deal of effort has already gone in


to solving the problems, but there is a limit to what can be achieved.We struggle on. It affects everyone in the area. Alice Goodsell, East Malling


Why do we need a trust? Dear Sir – Regarding plans to hive off the leisure services into a trust, I see the claim is that a saving of £500,000 per annum can be made. How?


Sheila Rowe BEARSTED’S Sheila Rowe (67) was a noted academic and widely known locally as the wife of Mid Kent MP An- drew Rowe, who repre- sented the seat from 1983 to 1997. The couple moved to Bearsted in 1983, leaving to live in Sutton Va- lence and Detling, but returning to Bearsted after both moves. Born Sheila Finkle in Sun- derland, she enjoyed a high- profile academic career and had daughters Louise and Kathryn with her first husband,


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If either savings or increased profitability


to this amount can be identified now, why do we need a trust to do it? Any savings will come from a reduction


in either the quality or quantity of services, staff wages or an increase in charges. This is yet another example of ideologi-


cally driven privatisation using public re- sources to line corporate pockets. Steve Jackson,West Kent Green Party


Never too late to say sorry Dear Sir – I am a French national who has spent over half my life in Britain. I have a great affection for this country and I feel I owe Britain a great deal. I also love the Eng- lish language, the Brits’ often caustic sense of humour and derision, and this kind of re- straint – call it stiff upper lip – leading to a certain mildness in behaviour. However, last Sunday I was, for the first


time, confronted with racism. This hap- pened onmy doorstep in Snodland, and in- volved young people. While in my front garden with my husband, I heard two teenage girls giggle andmake some sarcastic comments. This was followed by the noise of some-


thing falling in our front garden. My hus- band retrieved a big plastic bottle, which the girls had thrown over our fence. I walked up to the girls and asked them if


they had thrown the bottle into our garden. They answered “So what!”, laughing and not looking apologetic in any way. I asked them to throw the bottle in a bin, but one of the girls violently threw it into the street, and then made abusive comments and told me to go back to the country where I came from! I find it very sad that someone so young – perhaps 14 or 15 – would have no sense of right and wrong, allowing herself to openly insult neighbours and throw rubbish into their garden. Even worse, that shewould be able to display such a xenophobic attitude. What is happening to this country? In the


light of the recent local election results in Kent, in which UKIP obtained 17 seats on our county council, I amnow quiteworried that everything I have always appreciated in Britain is threatened, because of a lack of education, and a misunderstanding of the world in our youth. This is exacerbated by the distorted views about foreign cultures displayed by some newspapers and what our youth can watch in themedia, and hear from adults. If these girls can recognise themselves in my story, I would say it is never too late to


We will remember


HansjrgWirz. Sheila’s academic career was conducted mainly under the name of Sheila Wirz; she held an emeritus professorship of disability studies at the Institute of ChildHealth, associated with University College London, and was a recognised expert on dis- ability education and commu- nity disability services. Previous posts included di-


rector of teaching and learning at the Institute of Child Health until December 2007. Sheila chaired the management com- mittee, overseeing short courses and supervised PhD research in


her area of expertise. Widowed in 2008, Sheila leaves her daughters and step- son, Nicholas Rowe.


Georgie Rayment GEORGE “Georgie” Rayment (83) lived in Barming for 42 years, having moved from Essex with wife of 57 years, Gloria, when he began working for Redlands in Gravesend. Originally from London, he


had served in the forces and taken part in the Berlin airlift before starting a career as an ac- countant. During his life locally he


apologise for something you have done wrong – even years later. By doing so we are able to learn about hu-


mility, but also it enables us to retain a sense of righteousness as human beings. I also very much hope that they will one day understand the importance of being open- minded towards foreign people, and that, British, French or other, we are all part of the human “race”.


Name and address withheld


Part of me is gone Dear Sir – I would just like to thank Mr G Judge for his comments on Cobtree Park in last month’s Downs Mail. At last, someone who agrees with me! I have been walking in the park on a reg-


ular basis since 1984. I used to enjoy the peace and quiet, and the wildlife was a treat to watch.A fox ate out of my hand and a robin met me every morning for his food. Now the fox has gone and my seed feeders have been pulled to bits and stuck on a branch. It breaks my heart to see such a lovely


park ruined. All you see now is human rub- bish at every turn. The families turn up at weekends and are only interested in break- ing the trees. Everyone moans about dog poo, which I


find hard to find, but on several occasions I have taken my dogs home covered in human waste. I am afraid I don’t go as often now, and it


feels like part of me is gone. Linda Rochester, by email


Help was at hand Dear Sir – I am nearly 85 years of age and I would like to tell you about the help I re- ceived when I fell off my scooter while I was on my way home from Snodland. I got to the corner of the road and there


was a dip so I went down the other part of the road. As I started to turn, my bike top- pled over with me in it. I was very, very lucky that I was not seriously injured. After it happened, twomen stopped, they


got me up and put the batteries back in my scooter and asked if they could take me home. A woman and a young girl also stopped. The woman had a car and took my shopping home for me. Imanaged to restartmy scooter and get all


the way home. I would like to thank the two men and


two girls. They all arrived so quickly and helped me so much. Pauline Cornerford, Snodland


spent three years commuting to Saudi Arabia to work for Red- lands in that country. Georgie was father to daugh-


ters Jo and Lisa. Gloria Rayment said: “I’ve been overwhelmed with cards and messages of sympathy, many saying what a warm and intelligent man George was. He was an old fashioned gentleman, attentive and always ready to listen. “He had a lifelong love of fishing and belonged to a local angling club; he had fished all over the local area. He also played snooker with his friend at a social club in Ditton but macular degeneration meant he had to give that up later in life.” Georgie leaves his wife, daughters and four grandsons.


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