Your letters - September 10

Memories of Pavilion

I FIRST came to Bexhill in the early 1920s.I used to spend my school summer holidays here with my aunt and well remember the De La Warr Pavilion being built.

Before that there was a theatre company, managed by Philip Yorke, which performed in a small building where the rowing club is now.

The Pavilion was a great thing for the town: it really was the People's Palace. So many shows and celebrations were held there.

I produced a show for the Royal Air Force Association, which started with a wartime camp concert by members of the Albatross Club and featured the Janice Blake dancers.

Janice, like my husband, was an actor with the resident repertory company, the Penguins, headed by Richard Burnett and which for many years gave us some wonderful plays and super summer shows.

I acted with the Bexhill Amateur Theatrical Society, the BATS, which started in 1935, and with the LCB Players, headed by Philip Elms.

These societies, including the Bexhill Light Operatic and Dramatic Society (BLODS), had large and enthusiastic audiences.

There was also a thriving lecture society, dances, annual dinners, antique and crafts shows, as well as a very good restaurant, keep-fit classes, talks and children's activities that took place in the smaller rooms.

During the summer there were frequent band concerts on the terrace, where people sat in deck-chairs protected from the wind by glass screens.

We enjoyed the 75th anniversary celebrations on Bank Holiday Monday, but it made so many of us remember the lovely times we Bexhillians enjoyed at our Pavilion in the past.

PAT BRUCE

Shepherds Close

Bexhill-on-Sea

Concern over dogs

AFTER reading last week about the cyclist who had such a lucky escape from serious injury when she was knocked off her bike by an uncontrolled dog, I was appalled to observe the behaviour of two dog walkers with a couple of dogs similar to the one illustrated in your report.

There were a fair number of people enjoying the sunny Sunday afternoon on the promenade at South Cliff including two very small children learning to ride their new fairy-cycles.

The two men threw a ball along the promenade, well beyond the children, so that their fierce looking dogs tore past the two children and others at great speed, causing much concern and a potentially dangerous incident.

Living where we do we see a lot of aggravation and worse, caused by uncontrolled dogs, where everyone should be able to relax and enjoy themselves.

J Morrey

South Cliff

Bexhill

Creating carnival ideas

THANK you once again to our two correspondents on the subject of Bexhill Carnival for their further suggestions.

Firstly, to answer PJ Watson about the carnival day collection being used to defray the shortfall on the Friday evening - NEVER!

Every penny in the tins collected along the carnival route goes to the nominated charities, details of which were listed in the Bexhill Observer prior to Carnival Week.

Primarily, Carnival is there to raise money for charity, whilst giving the town an event to look forward to and enjoy.

Maybe the week will have to be condensed; that is something the committee will have to discuss.

Secondly, to Clarissa Davis, thank you for your well-balanced letter.

The main problem with reducing gate fees, and thus possibly increasing crowd numbers, is that it equals roughly the same amount of money on the gate, which, to come back to the start of this series of correspondence, is not enough to cover the cost of the evening's entertainment.

The idea of asking new young bands to play was tried some years ago, but unfortunately was not successful in terms of gate numbers.

Fund-raising events during the year have included jumble sales, race nights, and a quiz, amongst others, but there's always room for more!

Clarissa, I appreciate that your college work will take up a fair bit of your time, but probably no more than that of the working members of the commitee, and as you show an interest in the fun of fundraising, might it be possible for you to organise a fundraiser for Carnival at college, once you get settled in?

Perhaps you could even persuade your fellow students to enter a float of some sort in next year's procession. Your arty mates could really go to town on that.

You sound like a girl with some good ideas, and we'd love to harness some of them!

Mrs Chris Cox

Spokesperson for Bexhill Carnival

Arthur Road

Bexhill-on-Sea

Some observations

THE letters page of September 3 provoked some observations.

Firstly, I hesitate to disagree with Blessed Jackie (Survey on Colonnade) but I have to take issue with her uncritical acceptance of the plans for Bexhill Rowing Club.

Whilst I am happy that they should get a better clubhouse, I fail to see why it has to be built on the only part of the promenade which will entail the excavation of thousands of tons of earth.

Move it half a mile to east or west and a magnificent clubhouse, fully equipped, could be built for a fraction of the cost, thus obviating the need for the club to raise additional capital (Rowing club's 70k funding plea: what we are up against).

It would also be far more accessible from the road.

I move on. I applaud John Hodson for identifying yet another "carbuncle" that is to be foisted on us (Suggestions, please) in spite of the many objections put forward by the people who are ultimately going to have to pay for it.

However, I am disappointed that his suggestion for a name for Son of Boulevard - Five Metre Service Road - lacks his usual flair.

On its completion we could have an official naming event. The responsible members of the council, together with those from Next Wave, could attend and perhaps some Modernism-obsessed members of the Arts Council could be invited.

FRANK WOODS

Collington Lane East

Bexhill-on-Sea

Supervision order

YOUR report of an 18-year-old jailed for six weeks for threatening a ticket inspector sums up the futility of short term jail sentences.

Having worked for several decades in the public transport industry I am fully aware of how badly staff can be affected by unruly customers.

However,this young man has an alcohol addiction which cannot possibly be addressed during a six-week prison sentence.

Locking him in a cell for this time will only serve to alienate him from society and make re-offending more likely.

He needs a supervision order and assistance with his addiction.

Imprisonment will only cost taxpayers a fortune and ensure he continues to be a menace to society,

DAVID BARRY

Terminus Road

Bexhill-on-Sea

The value of nothing...

"A MONEY-MAKING scheme," said the man on the radio the other day. How appropriate, I thought. Because that's the kind of society we've created over the last 30 years. Corporate society has ousted civil society.

We know the price of everything and the value of nothing, although you wouldn't believe it from the way the government drones on about value for money, sustainability and other cant which they have set up as judge and jury over us.

Up and down the country, councils and other public bodies are laying off and sacking staff in droves, with similarly high casualty knock-on in the private sector, which also has its own problems.

"Progressive austerity" it's called. Another catch-all phrase that means everything the government wants it to mean except the reality that people are getting progressively poorer.

And it's the result of a lunatic, dogmatic scheme to deal with a budget deficit which has been blown out of all proportion to the facts.

But you won't see any screaming headlines about it, And vociferous council leaders and councillors who have made a career out of denouncing central government, particularly over the past 13 years, have suddenly been struck dumb. No prizes for guessing why. They have failed us already.

And this is just the beginning.

STEPHEN JACKSON

Second Avenue

Bexhill-on-Sea

Questions over figure

THE attendance figures for the Tomako Takahashi exhibition are quoted by the management to be in excess of 10,000 over the holiday weekend.

May I ask how they arrive at this figure? Assuming the Pavilion was open for the three days and 11 hours per day this would equate to 303 people per hour passing through the doors.

As the exhibition hall floor was 75 per cent covered in rubbish, (part of the exhibit) there was not enough space left to hold 300 people at any one time.

This would mean large queues at the door and I saw no evidence of this on my various visits, neither did I see any member of staff keeping count.

Presumably this figure was quoted to make this exhibit sound more popular than it actually is, as listening to people's remarks, many were there out of curiosity and not lovers of this type of so-called art.

Perhaps for future exhibitions the management could put on proper art that the majority of Bexhill would wish to see and understand, ie brush painting and sculptors.

M COLEMAN

Cranston Rise.

Bexhill-on-Sea

Rumours premature

AFTER 30 years as an estate agent in Little Common, the recent article in the Observer about the anniversary of my 20 very happy years at Abbott and Abbott was somewhat misleading.

Contrary to rumour, I have no plans to retire!

Why would I wish to when I have the best job in Bexhill?

So I'm afraid I must disappoint our competitors for the moment and assure them that I am still very much here in Little Common and loving every minute of it.

ROBIN ADAMS

Abbott and Abbott

Little Common

BMX Burners are not yobs

I AM writing to you with reference to the recent article, Bexhill Best Seaside Town. It is great to see that Bexhill is getting some recognition for something, but whenever something good comes someone takes the chance to put another group of people down, using stereotypes. I'm refering to the comments David Trueluck made about the BMX track in the article.

As a member of the Bexhill Burners I found this very offensive as members of the club and other people who travel from all over the south east to ride the track are refered to as yobs.

On a Wednesday and Saturday I help out with coaching and the running of gates and I can assure you that there is no antisocial behaviour around the track, because as a club we take a very dim view on it. Because we take riders from all over the south east and country to compete, in a way they are ambassadors of the town and club, and as a club we have competed and had a very successful year, with four riders qualifying to compete in the British Championships this month.

I'm not saying that there isnt any anti-social behaviour on the BMX track outside of club sessions but the Bexhill Burners as a club are trying there hardest to reduce it. The Bexhill Burners even as a club asked whether a CCTV camera could be installed on the recreation ground to reduce some of the anti-social behaviour. But to be honest rather than wingeing and complaining about the young people we should be giving them something to do. As I said we run training sessions on Wednesdays and Saturdays off our own backs. The club has had minimal help from the council. To complete the regeneration of the track in May this year, it was paid for by the club raising funds and getting grants. As a lance corporal in the British Army I would like to say I am proud of what the members of the club have achieved this year and hope to achieve in many years to come, even though the older generation in the town keep putting the youger generation down.

Adrian Rumsey

Mount Idol View

Bexhill

Thanks for dignified kindness

IN the early hours of Tuesday, August 22, Victor Lee, much- loved husband and father, passed away peacefully whilst in the care of Copper Beech Nursing Home, Little Common.

The family would like to publicly thank the staff at Copper Beech for their kindness, respect and professionalism that meant so much to us during his final days. Similarly, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to Arthur C Towner Ltd Funeral Directors, for the sensitive and dignified manner in which they carried out every detail of the family's wishes.

Thank you to all who attended the requiem mass at St Peter's, Bexhill.

The Lee Family

Bexhill and Little Common

Club should be compensated

ROWING Club's 70k Appeal to Refit New Home" shouted the front page headline of the Bexhill Observer (August 27). "Interior works must be funded by the club and supporters" followed in the sub headline.

Funny ... that 70,000 figure rings a bell somewhere. Yes, of course, that's much the same figure that has been mooted for the seven so-called flower beds that are being planned for the controversial West Parade frontage of the Next Wave scheme. That price covers not just the many new plants but manufacturing each bed and the contractor's expenses including planting, watering etc, during the first few months of the scheme. In reality, the cost is much more likely to be nearer 20,000 a flower bed.

Anyone who has tried to grow plants in this locality (apart from grass) will know that this narrow strip of land, so close to the sea's breakers, cannot satisfactorily sustain plants for any length of time in the salt spray and it will, after a relatively short period of time, produce nothing but a botanical necropolis ... except, that is, for a few sheltered specimens that may have been hidden behind the architectural masonry that is currently being installed.

But what is being planned for Bexhill's highly successful Rowing Club that has occasioned that dramatic front page headline? Believe it or not, but the existing normal boat house is being replaced by an almost windowless concrete "Fuhrerbunker" which has been seriously criticised by the neighbours of the Rowing Club who are seeing their daylight curtailed. There is surely an obligation for the council to compensate the Rowing Club fully for the enormous disruption to its activities, by fitting out the boat house interior and those compensations could be funded from economies and cost savings elsewhere in the project, like scrapping unsustainable planting projects. Surely this would be strongly supported by local residents and taxpayers who are paying (and will continue to pay) for this unwanted and unnecessary seafront vanity project? Even now we still haven't seen what the council is planning for the new so called "shelters" which are meant to replace the very effective timber structures which they have just demolished... brilliant ! Alas, there is still an awful lot of mileage yet to come in this terrible story of more than 5million worth of sheer incompetence.

AP Hamilton

Southcourt Avenue

Bexhill