Your letters - September 4

Praise the decision

THE decision by the Church Commissioners to lift the threat of demolition of St Barnabas' Church is a miraculous tribute to all those throughout Bexhill and beyond who prayed and campaigned for its retention as a major place of worship for the glory of God in the town centre. A very real answer to prayer!

This iconic and beautiful historic church building with Royal connections including Queen Victoria, who frequently worshipped there whenever she stayed locally, can look forward to a new lease of life now this Sword of Damocles has been removed.

Father Roger Crosthwaite, priest-in-charge at St Barnabas, is clearly a man of faith and vision within the Anglo-Catholic tradition.

He is evidently strongly committed to utilising Jesus Christ's healing love to promote genuine unity in the body of Christ. He and his parishioners, together with the Friends of St Barnabas Church certainly deserve the support of all those able to accept the open invitation to a special praise, prayer and healing service at St Barnabas Church on Sunday, October 11 at 6pm to mark the beginning of growth in the mission and worship of St Barnabas Church as it moves to a wonderful, Spirit-filled future.

Keith Standring

Amherst Road

Bexhill

Where's the mandate?

I THINK I have gone senile in the heat of our summer here in glorious Bexhill.

My pension is threatened, my carefully accrued savings have suffered blows of seismic proportions, my spending is reduced and my quality of life is under siege. And yet my elected members, apparently without a care in the world, are spending our reserves on the Next Wave project without even asking us if we want it. This prestigious scheme was conceived in boom time, strangely after the local district council elections! Therefore our elected members have no mandate to spend our reserves on this project.

Surely, such a huge investment, (5.1m), should have been put to all the people of Rother, after all the majority of Rother District Council taxpayers live outside Bexhill and might expect to have a say in such a drain on all our resources.

How is it that the council can afford to inform me about August Bank Holiday recycling and waste collections but not seek a mandate for the Next Wave Project? Like many residents and visitors I enjoyed a wonderful day on our promenade on a recent Sunday, watching the rowing regatta, the sailing and crowds of wonderfully behaved people enjoying our promenade and our special and treasured brand of seaside.

Would it be too much to ask that all council taxpayers should be given the right to vote for or against the spending of our money on this project?

Furthermore, that any money spent on anything other than maintenance be put to the people who use the area for their views.

I am highly suspicious of plans which carry the ringing endorsement of the chairman of the De la Warr Pavilion, who lives in Islington. Perhaps, the scheme is only seen as an extension to the Pavilion?

Finally, I remain deeply concerned that many of our local councillors seem to have scant knowledge of the project and appear to have been excluded from even observing the decision makers at work.

Rachel Hills

Cooden Close

Bexhill

Let's market ourselves

I HAVE been following with great interest the proposals that are being investigated for the regeneration of Bexhill. Whilst I am not sure of the exact procedure that is in place for this project I do question the reasoning behind the instruction to HTA Architects Ltd to put forward its proposals.

I have to reluctantly agree with Cllr Starnes that the potential stainless steel seating would most certainly assist the more mature visitor/resident to Bexhill in as much that sitting on a metal surface in the height of summer would ensure that they got up again in a hurry, conversely, I can think of nothing more pleasant than the thought of sitting on a freezing piece of metal in the middle of winter.

Surely the logical route would be to approach local advertising agencies with local knowledge on a tendering basis with the brief to completely rebrand the town. Armed with comprehensive proposals, we could select a company that represents the true vision of those that live in and visit our town.

If the best that the council can put forward is the removal of perfectly good benches that, to my knowledge, no one has complained about and that I believe are donated at no cost, and replace with stainless steel modern versions, beggars belief.

Why not offer something different. Think Southwold or Aldeburgh in Suffolk '“ both quality towns. Instead of removing perfectly good seating, why not think about replacing the lighting to mirror that installed in Old Town, remove the modern parts of the railings that have crept in with ones that match the original? And officially open up the promenade so that people can cycle at leisure alongside those of us that enjoy a good stroll. One of the positive remarks I hear the most is that people really appreciate the fact that you don't have to pay for parking, so why not go the whole hog and make the town a completely free to park town? Now that would be unique, someone can actually visit a town and not have to pay a penny. They might then feel more inclined to spend some of their money in the town.

We no longer have a tourist office, so how about installing one in the newly opened museum? Again, this could be opened up for free and perhaps a cafe incorporated where people could consider local attractions at leisure.

If we then look to attract businesses into the town centre with a view to offering alternative and interesting outlets that people actually want to come and see, then this could be a good starting point. We already have some specialist shops and restaurants, let's try to expand on these and actively market their presence.

Let's spend money revamping the quality of the town to give it an appearance that we do care about our surroundings. There must be ways that we can encourage local businesses to show an interest in their area and create a partnership that would certainly be a benefit to all.

People need a purpose to come in to towns, so let's try putting on events that they want to come and see. How about teaming up with Eastbourne and seeing if we could extend Airbourne to incorporate Bexhill in the display? And let's think of ways to promote our motoring heritage, maybe put on turn of the century costume-themed weekends where the whole town can take an active role.

In other words, we could start to put together a complete package that can then be heavily marketed. After all, in this current economic climate, we are being told that people are no longer flocking abroad and are looking to spend their holidays closer to home. The likes of Southwold offer a traditional alternative to modern day resorts and people return year on year.

We have a little gem nestling between Hastings and Eastbourne, with careful planning we can make it a town worth visiting. But remember, rip out our heritage now and it will be gone for good. I think Brighton made the right decision when it

decided to refurbish the bandstand rather than replace it with some modern monstrosity that no one wanted.

John Ellis

West Parade

Bexhill

Mess was disgusting

I KNOW that this sort of letter has been in your paper before, but I had to write and say that the other day being sunny and just the day for a walk in the fresh air we decided to go to the wetlands area at Bulverhythe and take a camera.

When we arrived it was a shock to find the path into the site covered in dogs' mess, not by one dog but at least 10 or more and the smell on a hot day was really bad. When we finally got onto the wetlands we discovered half way round at least 20 beer cans and fast food wrappers littering the path.

I know you cannot blame dogs for what they do naturally, but the beach and now the wetlands is covered in this mess.

Clear it up.

R Tompsett

York Road

Bexhill

Thanks for helping

I WOULD like to thank through the Observer, the kind gentleman who came to our assistance on Thursday afternoon, August 13, when my friend Kathy had an horrendous fall in Bedford Avenue.

He called for an ambulance and stayed with us all the time until we were taken to the Conquest Hospital. I would also like to thank the lady and gentleman who were taking their dogs for a walk, but also stayed with us until the ambulance arrived.

I'm sorry that I forgot to ask your names. I would also like to thank the paramedics for their care and attention, also kindness to my friend. God Bless you all.

Mrs Mickey Cruickshank

Trafalgar House

Bedford Avenue

NHS rule is unfair

RECENTLY we heard that NHS staff go sick more than other workers.

The media suggested this was probably due to stress but perhaps there are other underlying reasons several of which emanate from Lord Barnett's NHS Formula, 1978/79 and devolution of the UK resulting in, for instance, car parking in English NHS hospitals being charged whereas Wales have none and in Scotland are being phased out.

Similarly our "British" government, with Scottish Prime Minister and Chancellor, choose to charge us Englanders for prescriptions while relaxing the charge for their own country and Wales. The Barnett Formula means that English patients are underfunded by over 200 per head of our population annually compared to Scotland, Wales and N Ireland and some life-prolonging drugs are also unavailable to Englanders.

The Barnett Formula may have worked in the late 70s but with England now heavily overpopulated with immigrants the formula for dispersal of health funding has become grossly unfair and should be scrapped. Can England scrap it?

Most Observer readers probably don't realise that England is probably the only country in the world not to have its own parliament. Yes, we have a British parliament but we don't have an English parliament.

Not only should this great nation, England, have its own parliament but we should also be independent of rule by foreign powers. We should simply have a trading relationship with the EU, not be ruled by them.

Our gallant men and women in the last two World Wars fought to keep Britain independent and a sovereign nation and yet both successive Labour and Conservative governments over the last few decades have systematically insulted their sacrifices by giving away that for which they died.

On Remembrance Day in November it is sickening to see our politicians standing at the Cenotaph saying, "we will remember them", when in fact they have completely forgotten or disregarded them and what they died for. We are ruled by a bunch of hypocrites that we need to get rid of in the next General Election.

Tony Smith

Ashburnham

Battle

Fantastic car show

I WOULD like to thank with a million cheers to the people of Bexhill for supporting the Bexhill 100 Motoring Club's Classic and Custom Car Show, held at the Polegrove Ground on Bank Holiday Monday.

We had some very special cars (some nearly 100 years old) come from all over the country, and many other local exhibits and fun sideshows.

My thanks are due also to the many months of work undertaken by our club members, in order to raise money for the local charities that we support in Bexhill each year.

In this, our club's 10th anniversary year, we must also remember our sad loss this year of a founder member of The Bexhill 100 Club - Mr Brian Hazell.

With his support and help in the early years, many thousands of pounds for our local charities have been raised, and so much fun and happiness have been enjoyed by so many at every show we have at the Polegrove Ground.

He would have been very proud this year to see the record-breaking crowds at Monday's show, all having fun and keeping the name of Bexhill-on-Sea as the birthplace of british motor racing very much alive today, as it was in 1902. This is the second year that I have been our show event chairman, and I had young and old members of the pubilc coming up to me, thanking our club for the amazing day they were having. I can only thank them for the super support they gave our club, and we can't wait to do it all again next year.

Lee Dunn

Bexhill 100 Motoring Club