WHISPERING SMITH: Post offices new setting counters expectations

So it was, with a not entirely unbiased attitude, that I paid my first and subsequent second and third visits to the new facility in High Street, expecting to find as much wrong as I possibly could.

Not quite the way it worked out. I did not have to wait long to be served, there was ample room for queuing, several familiar and surprisingly cheerful faces behind the counters and a general feeling of goodwill from the customers.

I worry about the future of our arcade, but if we had to lose our Crown post office, this is a very acceptable replacement and, oh yes, I was given a toffee, a fruit pastel and a liquorice allsort while I waited…

I GATHER that the ceiling price for the new ‘bandstand’ is around £100,000. I hope some of that money will go towards some sort of comfortable seating in the shelter half of the construction.

I also understand, at the time of writing, there is reluctance on the part of Arun District Council to close Banjo Road for the opening ceremony in April. This begs the question as to how Arun is going to handle the expected multiple requests for summer road closures in order for Littlehampton Town Council to put on the many performances needed to justify the original expense?

I do not criticise, I merely ask the questions in the forlorn hope that others will provide honest answers…

MY recent column concerning the seemingly forgotten burial ground in Rustington garnered a great deal of comment on social media, especially from followers of the excellent Rustington, Past and Present group.

My thanks to all for the varying and often conflicting comments from residents, some amusing and some quite sad. The truth is somewhere out there and local historians, the church and the council are seeking answers.

Currently the plot is not the responsibility of the Rustington Parish Council but that fact is not hindering its considerable efforts in finding out who is.