Straight Talking

The Grumpy Old man asked in this moths article about some recent decisions of the Stoke Ferry Parish Council and then heaps prais on the Village Hall Committee for making the Hall such a great place for the village residents.

I have been totally surprised by the reaction to my ramblings last month; so many people came up to me or my wife and commented on my article, and I am even more pleased to say that the comments I made have caused quite a bit of a debate. Many people agreed entirely with my views, others were highly critical of what I had to say, some even accusing me of being grossly unfair towards certain individuals. I welcome all comments.

This month I wanted to say so much about the parish council. I had every intention of giving them equal measures of praise and criticism. I was going to go into detail about the huge mistake the parish council were making by putting a bottle bank on The Hill; not because I am anti environment, I always recycle, where facilities exist. It's not even that I find the rusting scratched bottle banks offensive on the eye, which I do. No my problem with putting a bottle bank on The Hill is that we would be providing the more unruly children in the village with missiles for them to throw. Lets face it, broken glass obviously appeals to these children. How many times were the windows on the Old Dukes Head broken? How many times was the glass on the phone box kicked in? I wonder if the Parish Council has thought this through.

I wanted to mention why, in the minutes of the last Parish Council meeting published in the Village Pump, was there no mention of any of the councillors leaving the room whilst a discussion on the 4 youths who had been "apprehended" at the youth club for anti social behaviour when one of the youths involved was the son of a councillor. A little search on the internet and it turns out this is called "prejudicial interest". I wanted to say all that and more, but then I was reminded that the 3rd May is local Election Day. It's the time when we, the voter, get to choose who will represent our interests. So in the interests of remaining politically neutral I will defer my comments for publication at a later date. However I urge you all to vote, if you don't vote you lose you entitlement to moan about what is going on around you.

Many of you will be starting to think that I have nothing positive to say about Stoke Ferry, far from it. There are groups and organisations that do a fantastic job, they seek no praise for what they do - they just get on with it and do it. The Village Hall has never looked better and I know that a lot of hard work went into the improvements. The playing field has been transformed into a great family friendly place to either watch the football or watch the kids blow off some steam on the play equipment. I think it's great to see families out together enjoying themselves. What a shame that some children think its fun to try and vandalise the equipment or in the case of one child even urinate over the play equipment; I bet his mother is so proud. And let's not forget those who provide their time and talents to keeping the Village Pump in circulation; their dedication has enabled me to moan to a lot wider audience and for that I am eternally grateful.

April 23rd was St George's day. This day is not celebrated much, which I find a shame. England has a proud heritage that should be celebrated. I don't believe it is nationalistic to celebrate St George's day I believe it is a day to celebrate all that is good about England; these days there is so much Americanism about everything we do. When I was younger we went to the pictures not the movies, insects weren't bugs, and a cheque is not spelt check! Please take note Residents' Association.

Well I think I have said enough this month. I welcome all correspondence from Pump readers. However, please address them for publication in the Village Pump, that's what its there for.

Anonymous