Your Letters

Ridiculous castigation

In the spirit of this season of goodwill to all men, could I congratulate the Royal British Legion on such a magnificent own goal (Standard, December 15)?

To castigate two such generous-hearted of their volunteers for mistakenly donating a bequest to Henley Sea Cadets was brilliant.

Roddy and David Young quite brazenly did their best to carry out the donor’s wishes and give his bequest to a local cause they felt he’d support. After all, they’d only known him for many decades.

How ridiculous to think the sea cadets would be compatible with the aims of Legion. Maybe the money should have gone to a non-binary cats charity?

Never mind, there are other good military charities to support, the Poppy Factory to name but one.

At least without the Kidmore End branch, the Legion won’t have the problem of deciding how to spend the £5,000 it raised each year.

Thank goodness Elwyn Pickering volunteered to override common sense and nit-pick his way through such gross misconduct and throw out two such terrible crooks... a freedom our military fought many wars to keep.

Happy Christmas. — Yours faithfully,

Jon Hatt

Goring Heath

Just lofty rhetoric

Sir, — In the May local election campaigns, the Liberal Democrats and Greens campaigned on a promise to reverse the South Oxfordshire local plan that their own administration passed in 2020.

They’ve claimed they are the ones who’ll protect the green belt.

Work underway at South Oxfordshire District Council on the new local plan gave the Lib-Dems and Greens, who run the council, the opportunity to do that.

But they’ve made the active decision to press ahead with all the schemes in the green belt and to remove only Chalgrove Airfield, the one strategic site that is not in the green belt and the only one classified as brown- field.

The Lib-Dems and Greens are finding that, despite their lofty rhetoric, there are no easy choices when it comes to deciding where to build the homes we need.

But when they next claim they’re the ones to be trusted as the guardians of the green belt and the countryside, remember they had the chance to act on that and they bottled it. — Yours faithfully,

Andrew Collins

Chairman, Henley and Thame Conservative
Association

Inculcating children

Sir, — Although reported in the media, it may not be generally known that the ruling Liberal Democrat/Green Alliance group on Oxfordshire County Council has spent nearly £10,000 on a colouring/activity book (20’s Plenty) that has been sent to many primary schools in the county.

Its whole purpose is to indoctrinate the children with the value of the council’s new 20mph speed limit over areas of Oxfordshire.

Councillor Andrew Gant has been reported as saying: “Engaging with children can often be an effective way of reaching parents on issues of health, safety and amenity.”

Quite apart from the waste of public money, which would be better spent on filling potholes, this approach by the ruling group is deeply concerning.

The 20mph policy is politically and practically controversial on a number of levels, yet susceptible young children are being used to promote it.

It must be disgracefully wrong to use our children in this way by presenting them with a one-sided, politically decided viewpoint in the expectation that they will work on their parents.

How many primary school headteachers have, rightly, refused to pass on this material?

One can only hope that the crass insensitivity and danger of this decision will now be recognised by the councillors involved and appropriate apologies made.

One wonders what would happen if people of a similar mindset ever became key players in government.

Using young children as an aid to promote political decisions — where would this end?

It is even more worrying that the three areas Cllr Gant believes children can be exploited in this way are open to wide interpretation.

How is it that the silent majority has allowed all this to be regarded as acceptable? — Yours faithfully,

Douglas Kedge

Lea Road, Sonning Common

An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman responds: “Road safety education and training is one of the strands of our Vision Zero commitment — our ambition to eliminate deaths and serious injuries from road traffic accidents in Oxfordshire by 2050.

“These activity packs are a way of engaging with thousands of primary school children on the issues of road safety, including the introduction of 20mph speed limits in areas where communities have requested it, and the promotion of active travel.

“The campaign has proved popular so far and includes a competition to design posters which will be used to promote the benefits of 20mph areas, especially for children.

“While the council has been working alongside the police on 20mph schemes, the emphasis is on drivers adhering to the new limits through a change of mindset rather than enforcement.

“It is hoped that as 20mph areas become more common, breaking the limit will become socially unacceptable for drivers.”

Ineffective government

Editor, — The Ministry of Defence used to go by its proper name, the Ministry of War. War is what it is really all about — we went to war in Afghanistan and we were not defending our shores.

Our crippled National Health Service is in truth the National Illness Service. The Home Office, with its thousands of asylum seekers, is in fact the Homeless Office.

What was once the Ministry of Housing is rather woollily called the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs staffed by leaderless jobsworths who don’t know what they are about, hence the slum housing on a national scale and thousands of young couples with no homes.

The list is as endless as the multiplicity of government departments.

On the other hand, the Civil Service, with all the partying at No 10 and elsewhere over recent years, could be renamed the Very Jolly Service.

I am sure they will have a very merry Christmas. — Yours faithfully,

Douglas Wright

Caversham

Shaken to the bone...

Sir, — I am not the complaining sort but I’m afraid if I had a tether, the end of it has surely been reached.

I must therefore express my deepest disgruntlement with the state of the roads in and around our wonderful town.

Like many of your readers, I’m sure, I was taking in some of the bountiful local vistas on my penny farthing last weekend.

Regrettably, while making my way along the Stonor Valley, the road surface became so dishevelled, my silver pocket watch bounced out of its handlebar bracket and landed in a puddle.

I dismounted my machine and retrieved the timepiece from its watery fate but, although the glass was miraculously preserved, the back of the watch had fallen off, exposing the mechanism which was immersed in muddy water.

Your readers will be thrilled to know that my horologist was able to renovate the watch, which has now been returned to me in good working order.

Nevertheless, the point is that enough is simply enough. One can put up with regular punctures to one’s motor car tyres but, when a chap can’t take a jaunt atop his high-wheeler of a Sunday morning without his pocket watch launching itself to oblivion, frankly it’s a national disgrace.

Has there ever been clearer evidence that the country is going to hell in a handbasket? — Yours faithfully (and irritatedly),

Matt Richardson

Henley

Thanks for generosity

Editor, — I would like to say a huge thank-you to the wonderful Henley community this Christmas.

Reading Family Aid is a charity which provides gifts at Christmas to children from 0-16 years in the Reading area who would otherwise not receive a gift at Christmas. This year, with the help of the Henley community, we provided gifts to 2,480 children.

I am grateful to so many people in the Henley area who supported the campaign this year and gave so generously — Anita Pearce and Lucille Perkins at the Christ Church Centre, who co-ordinated the public donation point, Amanda Gosby at Higgs Group, who helped with posters, Henley Standard reporter Alexa Phillips and Jo Saunders, who massively supported and helped with the toy collection.

It was lovely to see local schools getting involved with St Mary’s Prep in Henley and Moulsford and Cranford Schools holding their own toy collections.

I would also like to thank the staff in the post office, Tesco, Boots and Waitrose for their help when I purchased a large amount of gift cards for the teenagers and for the kindness of the people who patiently waited in the queue behind me.

It is heartwarming at Christmas to know that we live in such a kind and generous community and that we came together to support others who are less fortunate than ourselves. Thank you and Merry Christmas. — Yours faithfully,

Celia Mullins

Henley

Thank you for concert

Sir, — On Saturday evening I was at St Mary’s Church in Henley, to attend the sell-out Henley Choral Society’s festive concert.

On this occasion, I wasn’t there just to enjoy the music — glorious though that was — but also to represent Riverside Counselling Service, chosen by the society as its charity to receive the retiring collection.

After a wonderful concert, which combined top-class professional musical talent, the gorgeous voices of children from Henley Youth Choir and the choral society, the very generous audience donated more than £1,000.

We were also lucky to be the society’s chosen charity for its first Henley Big Sing event in October, which was such a success in bringing people together for a free community event and raised more than £1,200.

I would like to say a huge thank-you to everyone in the audience who contributed at either of these events and also to Henley Choral Society for choosing Riverside.

The money raised will be such a help in enabling us to continue to combat the growing mental health crisis by providing high-quality affordable counselling in the local community.

Last year, we supported about 500 individuals in this way as well as many more through informal drop-in sessions.

If any of your readers feel that their own wellbeing could do with a boost, I highly recommend going along to any of the society’s performances, or even joining the choir (no auditions is required).

On Saturday, the singers were obviously having fun and choir singing has been shown in scientific studies to reduce anxiety and boost the immune system.

Thank you again, Henley Choral Society, for your amazing support and a very Merry Christmas to you all. — Yours faithfully,

Adrian Marsh

Chair, Riverside
Counselling Service