| Your Letters |
The magic of music
Sir, — Having been the initiator on behalf of Henley Lions, for getting a music system installed in the Royal Berkshire Hospital oncology unit, it has taken almost a year from the purchase of the equipment to having it installed. I must add that there must be many priorities which outweighed having this equipment fitted sooner.
I saw the need for this equipment when my wife had to attend the oncology unit for radiotherapy treatment following a hysterectomy. We initially attended the clinic to have the treatment explained to us.
This was quite a traumatic experience, just sitting in a waiting room, alongside people undergoing the same or similar ordeals, feeling nervous and trying one’s utmost to act relaxed and controlled until your name is finally called, but hoping it will not be. Every magazine dropped on the table, or chair, and hearing every page turned hearing every page being turned by others in the waiting room, and the frequent nervous cough. It is hard to imagine unless you have been there, in a cancer diagnostic clinic.
When you finally see the oncology specialist and you are told that your wife requires 25 daily treatments at the hospital you both go numb from head to toe, and wonder how her body will react to the treatment and how she will cope with this over five weeks, not to mention driving to the hospital every weekday and struggling to find a parking space.
Surprisingly, after the first week or two, you become aware of the other patients undergoing treatment, and sitting with you in the waiting room. Ladies and men are undergoing similar treatments, and in the main they generally do not say too much to others in the waiting room, but they do appear to be quite positive. They just want to get on with it and get back to a normal life. There is a small selection of magazines available, and the waiting time can frequently be over 30 minutes, or even one hour past your appointment time, due to regular failure of the equipment.
When I walked into the oncology waiting room this week and heard the soft music playing, I really felt something good had come out of my wife’s need to have radiotherapy treatment. This was in addition to her treatment being successful. — Yours faithfully,
Name supplied, A Henley Lion
Success of silent auction
Sir, — You kindly reported on the fun had by all attending the Children’s Big Tea Party with Paul Clerehugh and Colin Smith.
During the afternoon we held a silent auction and I would like to thank all the local business people who kindly donated items to this event. Colin kindly auctioned off the top prizes which were a champagne dinner for two at the Crooked Billet, dinner for four at the Spice Merchant and a champagne dinner for two at the London Street Brasserie.
I would like to thank all those in our community who supported the event. — Yours faithfully,
Karen Washbourn, Blandy Road, Henley.
Miserable proposal
Sir, — Councillor Barry Wood’s attempt to defend the proposal to impose charges at Mill Lane car park is fundamentally flawed and like much that has emerged from the town council in the last few weeks, lacks credibility.
As with the so called congestion, he offers not a shred of evidence that the currently uncharged car park is or might become disorderly (whatever that means) or indeed fails to comply with health and safety standards.
Even if, by some miracle, evidence could be produced to substantiate these deficiencies, the proposal to impose parking charges as a remedy to cure them has been virtually neutered.
This is because the majority party, fearful of a backlash, has decided that of the total car park users, those that are voters (being an estimated 77 per cent) will not be charged, thus substantially negating the purported end result of the charge.
The council will no doubt be aware that they will not see much change out of £5,000 for a state of the art parking meter together with installation and testing. To that has to be added running costs, including further regular testing, paper replacement, clock adjustment, cleaning of the solar panel and general maintenance.
Added to these will be daily cash removal combined with at least four daily visits to check the cars of the unfortunate remaining 23 per cent of users required to pay and to issue parking tickets where appropriate.
Finally, to cap it all, we are now asked to bear with the council “while they try to resolve this thorny problem.” Such forbearance is ill deserved. The problem is entirely of their own making and the solution to it has been staring them in the face for the past eight weeks. It is about time they opened their eyes. — Yours faithfully,
Michael van Brugen, Badgers Walk, Shiplake
Will car park users pay up?
Sir, — I believe that Henley Town Council’s estimated annual revenue (in excess of £20,000) based on current usage of the Mill Lane car park is unrealistic.
From my observations of the short-term casual car parking at Mill Lane, I suggest that the figure is likely to be less than £10,000 per annum This figure makes no allowance for the fact that many current users will refuse to use this as a ‘pay and display’ car park.
Given the initial set-up costs (approximately £7,000), on-going maintenance, parking supervision, plus the potential loss of business to shops/cafes in the town, the payback in the first year is minimal.
Subsequent years may generate a slightly larger surplus, but this ignores the likely reduction of visitors to the town and does not include the more personal loss of enjoyment by many locals using the riverside.
This proposal does nothing to reduce congestion in the town, it increases the search for free parking in side streets and encourages potentially dangerous parking in Mill Lane (policing of the indistinct yellow line parking regulations, which is not under the control of the town council, has never been evident).
Part of the justification for this proposal seems to suggest that this parking charge will contribute to the collection of litter left by users of Mill Lane car park. This is totally without any supporting evidence. The overflowing bins by the river are due mainly to boat users and elsewhere by users of the main Mill Meadows car park.
During most of the year Mill Lane is a quiet, fairly empty car park, used by Henley residents and local visitors who wish to enjoy the Meadows and use shopping facilities in the town.
In the overall context of the town council’s annual budget this proposal to raise income is small-minded and petty. If increased revenues need to be generated for general maintenance then why not charge appropriate fees to the owners of the cafes and restaurants that use the Market Square who, at the close of business, leave bags of rubbish outside their premises with cigarette stubs and other detritus spread over the lovely stone pavement?
Another alternative option for the proposed modest revenue from Mill Lane is simply to raise the parking charge at the main Mill Meadow car park.
At this rate, if all users of Mill Meadows are required to make a direct contribution for its maintenance, why not install turnstiles and charge an entry fee for all pedestrians? This would reflect the council’s current thinking. — Yours faithfully,
Christopher Nash, Lower Shiplake.
Ragwort is a costly curse
Sir, — I regret I do not concur with the benign ecological saviour view of Ragwort.
From the moment it first pops up on grazing land in spring you know the nightmare of another unwinnable battle of digging and burning until autumn has begun.
Then you lean back in smug satisfaction, knowing there isn’t a yellow flower in sight — but not for long because at your feet is a seedling from its autumn show.
Five years ago we had no ragwort. It has spread here from elsewhere. I believe it has a 60 per cent germination success rate (I am sure there is a botanist out there who knows the correct figure). This means that those few roadside plants can replicate themselves in the hundreds given the right conditions.
One of the serious consequences of this can be seen in the equine press, which reports the suffering caused to more than 2,000 horses who die each year in this country through ragwort poisoning, often from contaminated hay.
The choice seems to be pay less to pull up a few plants at the roadside or more for your shopping because farmers who face ragwort infestation on an agricultural scale have to spray with herbicides, increasing their overheads and probably destroying more wildlife habitat than is saved by allowing ragwort to flourish. — Yours faithfully,
J Belcher, Mount View, Henley.
Apathy to climate change
Sir, — Will the implications of climate change be a surprise to the people of Henley and South Oxfordshire?
Judging from the apathy of those at the Henley Show to the stall in the countryside tent, climate change is well down the list of their priorities. Top quality speakers were ignored and the debate we expected to generate did not take place.
Will we understand the issues when the Government proposes carbon rationing or carbon taxation? The current legislation for new builds is increasingly stringent. What will be done about existing property? Will it be mandatory to make it zero carbon at a point in the future? If so how will you make your house zero carbon? Is it worth looking at your options before it is too late?
Perhaps we take our bottles to the bank and think that will be sufficient. The depth of cuts which scientists now think are necessary will only be achieved through stringent legislation in the next 100 months. Will this make life difficult, or impossible because it takes you unawares?
Children are often more active than adults and the open day at Badgemore School is an example of their interest. What kind of world will they inherit? — Yours faithfully,
Malcolm Crocker, Brill Road, Horton-come-Studley.
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