Letters, Wednesday, March 10, 2010
PENNYWELL Hayseed's letter of Feb 19 referred to me swimming in milk. Here's waht happened.
It was the winter of 1953. I was working at Silksworth Creameries for a month before enlistment into the Royal Navy. My job entailed emptying and steam-cleaning the dozens of milk churns that arrived daily from local farms.
The open-air gantry which ran along one side of the old drill hall, now old folk's home, was a dangerous place. Working conditions atrocious.
Clad in many layers of warm clothing topped with oilskins, rubber apron and sea-boots, I tripped over the hand-held hogger (hosepipe) and toppled head-first into the large open-topped holding tank. The milk churn I was handling at the time accompanied me on the journey. A very frightening experience.
Many years later I was regaling my sister-in-law, Norma, with this memory. She inquired of me "What happened to the milk? Was it pasteurised?" she asked. Being hard of hearing, my reply was: "It was way over the top of my head!"
Concerning the recent Echo photograph of the painter on Wearmouth Bridge. He was not on a rope swing! He was using a bo'sun's chair (boatswain), normally used aboard Royal Navy ships for various tasks, over the ship-side or up the rigging.
These enable the occupant to lower himself to the correct height of the task in hand by feeding the rope through a simple half-hitch.
The "Elf 'n' Safety" people would not allow them to be used on the bridge nowadays.
Jack Coates (The Admiral),
Tunstall Hills,
Sunderland
Judge and jury
RECENTLY my wife and I had reason to try to park our car in the disabled car park adjacent to Sainsbury's in The Galleries. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances I omitted to display our Blue Identity Badge in the car windscreen.
On returning to my car later I found a notice on the window which informed me of my error and that my fine for same would be 100. If paid within 14 days the fine would be reduced to 50. The company who placed the notice on my car were A/Covert Services Ltd of Morpeth, Northumberland.
I wrote to this company the same day and explained the circumstances which had resulted in omitting to show the Invalid Badge in the car windscreen, only to be informed by return my appeal had been unsuccessful.
I'm writing this letter to inquire where these private profit-making companies obtain their authority to enforce their fines on motorists? My second query is why is a profit-making firm allowed to handle appeals? Surely this should be handled by a neutral body in a similar manner as council parking fines are.
Please do not misunderstand my motives, I am more than pleased to see that a check is being carried out on invalid parking spaces in private car parks, but surely the aim is to catch genuine offenders using the spaces illegally, not those such as myself who are genuine invalid drivers.
Any constructive comments will be appreciated.
Eric Brittain,
St Georges Estate,
Washington
Thieves lose rights
IN the news of late there have been quite a few people charged with going over the top when protecting their family, themselves and their property. Why?
The cry of thieves and thugs who get injured is that their human rights have been jeopardised. In my view, and anyone else with common sense, these people lose their human rights when they commit the crime.
One example is car crime. How often have we read of the anger of parents and do-gooders? They argue that the injury, or god forbid the death of youngsters, due to a police chase is wrong and the police should not have chased them.
My heart goes out to anyone who loses a loved one but when these people steal a car, whether as joyriders or for profit, the idea that they ought to be given cart-blanche to get away with the crime is ridiculous.
Colin S Wasey,
Wayman Street,
Monkwearmouth
Underage drinkers
REGARDING the recent letter about the underage drinkers in Houghton pubs, I have actually pointed out the underage drinkers to the bar staff in one pub, but was told to shut up they are spending money!
These kids all go to school as I have seen them in Houghton on a dinner time. Check Facebook and you will see all the pictures with evidence of them being under age and asking where they can get fake ID.
Do the police actually look for underage drinkers now or do they just patrol parks and streets for the kids drinking on the streets?
Name and address supplied
Abuse of dogs
ON Saturday, February 20, I was walking my dog behind the Plains Farm Club, Sunderland, near the pigeon crees, when I noticed a young man abusing a long-haired German shepherd dog and a black and white collie dog.
This bloke was about 25 years old with a tattoo of a name on the back of one of his hands. He was a really nasty bit of work.
I spoke to this chap about his behaviour to his dogs and he turned nasty on myself.
When I next walk my dog behind the club and pigeon crees I will make sure that I have my mobile phone with me and I will take photos of this nasty person.
Dog Lover
Working hard to help families and addicts
I FEEL that Free The Way in Church Street, Seaham should be congratulated on the hard work and dedication they give to their work assisting families and people who are drug or alcohol addicts.
They have a marvellous group of young people from 5-14 named We Live Here 2, teaching young people not to deal or take drugs, plus many courses like first aid and resuscitation.
Seaham can be proud of these hard-working people who are trying so hard to help families and addicts.
Grateful Resident
I can't believe it!
I CAN'T believe that Sunderland Council would let The City of Adelaide be broken up or go to Australia.
Could you really see Newcastle/Gateshead letting this situation happen? Sunderland Council you are a disgace! No imaganation.
We want leaders with vision. Just look at the quaysides and riversides at Newcastle, Hartlepool even Tessside.
I think the councillors after the next election will be in for a shock. They have really under-estermated the feelings of the Sunderland people if there is not a positive outcome regarding the Adelaide's return to the Wear.
Why should we vote for you, if you can't get right something that is so fundamentally the obvious thing to do.
There are more people in the city of Sunderland than in Newcastle, so there is more revenue for the council than in Newcastle. Do we really look richer than Newcastle? Why are their council plans and ambitions grander than ours – and they usually get built!
Sunderland Council, surprise us all and just do something! I did like the light projections around the city recently. What a shame it wasn't publicised till the last minute.
Tony Wardle,
Barleycorn Place,
Sunderland
MY very grateful thanks to the two ladies and the chap who phoned for an ambulance when I had a very bad fall in Cleveland Road on January 25. They were really caring and helpful.
Mrs Bell,
Sunderland
A GREAT big heartfelt thank-you to all at the Jolly Potter, South Hylton, for raising another staggering 1,022, for Peter's Trust Fund. This amazing amount was raised when, again, the Potters emptied their Penny Bottle, then held a fantastic fund-raising night. Special thanks to my dear friends Anne and Els for all their help and commitment to Peter's Fund and of course all their generous customers, friends and family. Your continued support is very much appeciated. Big thank-yous to all who donated raffle prizes and Scott for the entertainment. Proceeds were donated to the Brothers In Arms Memorial Wall.
Julie Reay,
Roker Avenue,
Sunderland
http://peter-lane.memory-of.com
http://www.peterstrustfund.co.uk
I HAD to laugh at the Brit Awards presented by the old Spice Girls. Today in the poultry trade they would be classed as "spent hens", or years ago, "old boilers", but when the much-hyped Lady GaGa made her appearance, things went from bad to worse. What a clip! A rough plucked Christmas turkey came to mind. We got better turns at Pallion Club years ago and better still at South Hylton.
William Ward,
Pennywell,
Sunderland
Thank goodness we have the press
COUN Paul Watson, leader of the controlling Labour Group on Sunderland City Council, seems to be head of some sort of secret society at the Civic Centre.
It is outrageous that he tried to exclude the press and public while the hush-hush 20m plan to buy the Vaux site from Tesco was being debated. Such an important subject should be open to public scutiny and comment.
It is suggested that the Civic Centre will be vacated and new accommodation built on the Vaux site. Why?
A forthcoming election could see a change of Government and a drastic reduction in the number of council "non-jobs", so the present accommodation should be perfectly adequate.
As for Coun Watson's threat to report Coun Lee Martin, leader of the Conservative Group, to the Standards Board surely the boot should be on the other foot!
Thank goodness we have the press to keep us informed of the jiggery-pokery which seems to go on unabated behind closed doors at the Civic Centre.
Vedra
They'll cut as before
AS a retired teacher and past school governor, I am astonished that Lee Martin has the temerity to boast of "Conservative plans for better schools".
I remember all too well the lack of investment in education by the Conservative Governments of the 1980s and 1990s.
I remember the shortage of funds for new books and equipment and essential repairs. I remember visiting schools with buckets in the corridors on rainy days to catch the water from leaking roofs.
Since Labour came to power, new schools with advances in new technology embedded in their structure have been built throughout the city.
Lee says that "shockingly no new secondary school has been built in Sunderland Central." This is indeed misleading.
It ignores all the new primary and nursery schools built in the constituency and also ignores the fact that this is a new constituency created by arbitrary lines drawn on a map by the Boundary Commissioners. No Berlin Wall is planned and children will continue to cross this invisible boundary line to attend the new secondary schools and academies they attend now. Indeed the new Venerable Bede School at Ryhope must sit almost exactly on the boundary line itself!
Lee also chooses to ignore the plans announced in the next phase of the Building Schools for the Future programme, under which transformations will take place at Southmoor, Thornhill, Monkwearmouth, St Anthony's and St Aidan's, all within the Central constituency.
Presumably to cover this error, the Conservatives are now saying that there is no guarantee that these plans will be carried out. How true those words would be if a Conservative Government came to power!
They have already announced that they would scrap the Sure Start Children's Centres introduced by Labour to help very young families and give children as level a playing field as possible to start their young lives.
This persuades me that these are the same Conservatives as ever. They would cut services to the bone, just as they did in the past.
M Barnes,
Sunderland
I AM writing regarding tracing an old friend of mine, old in time not in age (16 or 17). He's called Jordan Bell and lives or lived somewhere in the Sunderland area. He was a resident in CentrePoint at one stage. Please phone me on 07564 087785.
Craig Brown
I AM trying to make contact with any descendants of my grandparents Edith (nee Walt) and Thomas Connor, who lived in Grange Street South. Thomas died prematurely in 1925 and Edith lived on in Grangetown until around 1960. They had four daughters and a son, some of whose relations may still live in the Sunderland area.
Bryan Clark,
39 Montague Avenue,
Sanderstead,
Surrey CR2 9NL
Email: bryanclark@talktalk.net
Tel: 02086575300
CALLING the Paleys and Horns. We are travelling from British Columbia in Canada to the UK in July and hope to re-establish long lost links with family members from the Sunderland area. We are grandson and great-grandson of Margaret Paley nee Horn. Are you a descendant or relation of Margaret? If so, please contact David Horn at allwood@telus.net and Paul Horn at bootstrapconsulting@telus.net
Paul Horn
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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