Soapbox

The Silent Killer or Nature's Harvest?

Last week we dismantled our canvas Gazebo; a sure sign that in the Thompson household it had been accepted that our long hot summer was over! The Gazebo had served us well over the warm summer days; providing us with essential protection from the sun and offering a focal point for family gatherings. It was a chastening experience to pack it away for the winter.

The dismantling process was inordinately simple. The canvas was easily removed with its' Velcro fastenings and each metal piece easily slipped out of its' matching joint to be packed away in the specially provided canvas bag. However, what took the time was the cleaning!

When we removed the canvas awning, the roof was thick with the accumulated fall out of almost three months of Stoke Ferry pollution. By far the most significant deposit was the same brown wax-like splodges that we in the Oxborough Road area are forever removing from our cars. We recently had new garage doors fitted; their pristine white coverings remained pristine for less than a day. When we first arrived in Stoke Ferry we were warned to always wash locally grown fruit to remove the inevitable wax coating acquired during the growing season, and nothing has changed in the last four years.

One of my elderly neighbours was so concerned at the Stoke Ferry fall-out that he reported the matter to the Environmental Health Officer at King's Lynn and West Norfolk borough council. After, at best, a cursory inspection, the EHO declared that the fall out was caused by bees! It was pointed out to him that for bees to make so much mess over such a wide area would require continual swarms of the most gigantic bees ever known to man. He agreed to review his findings. An EHO from another area, who was a guest in my home, declared without hesitation that the fall out was the result of a manufacturing process!

In the article by Purfleet, reproduced from a recent Lynn News, he makes reference to the dust and fall out that originates from the Favor Parker factory. This dust, which can be seen at times falling like rain in Furlong Road, seems to remain somewhat localised around the factory area. The wax-like fall out seems to concentrate in areas to the south and east of the factory. It is also noticeably more intense immediately prior to the filter-cleaning schedule.

In Ron Watts' absence (he is resting in a West Country hospital after breaking his leg!) I want to use the Village Soap Box forum to seek some assurance that this continuing pollution is being addressed! Perhaps the Parish Council or the Favor Parker Liaison Committee, which seems to have been in abeyance over the past few months, can assure my neighbours and me that this fall out is harmless. Surely the high dust levels and the wax-like substance cannot be an ideal atmosphere for inhalation by children and adults alike. Lets bring the debate into the open and set up a forum where the concerns of local residents can be discussed with both parish and business executives before there is untold damage to the health of Stoke Ferry residents.

Ray Thompson