Letters

Oh, the joys of having a garden...

I thought you might like to see these photos taken in my garden. — Yours faithfully, Sheila Ferris Shiplake

10/08/20

Visiting butterfly

This picture of a meadow brown butterfly was taken by my daughter, Holly, who is nine years old. — Yours faithfully, Sue Williams Woodcote

10/08/20

Disgraceful state of roads Sir, — I fell off my bike last week, right at the bottom of Chalk Hill, just outside Henley. I was rounding the bend when suddenly the bike started going in one direction while I was going in another. I landed on my front, skidding across the road for a couple of feet with my arms out in front of me like some drunken superhero. It is the first time in many years that I ...

10/08/20

I’ve got this one right

I am sorry for mistakenly identifying the small tortoiseshell in my photograph (Standard, July 24). Thank you to Melanie White for correcting my mistake. Here is a picture of Jersey tiger moth, which are scarce nationally, — Yours faithfully, Charlotte Narula Wargrave

10/08/20

Your letters...

Damaging vehicles Sir, — I am writing to highlight the damage being caused to the houses and road surface in New Street, Henley, by the large numbers of heavy goods vehicles thundering along it (Standard, July 24). My house is more than 200 years old and is a relatively youthful property compared with some more than twice its age in the street. None was designed to endure the dangerous shaking ...

03/08/20

Please help pollinators

Editor, — Please can your readers plant buddleja and lavender to feed bees and other vegetable pollinators in the drier summers to come? — Yours faithfully, Peter Woolsey Binfield Heath

03/08/20

Golden days

Golden days: Ron White, of Milton Close, Henley, took the picture above and says: “Summertime grain ripening.” The other picture of wheat was taken by Terry Allsop, from Ewelme

03/08/20

Here’s red admiral

Sir, — Charlotte Narula’s picture of a butterfly (Standard, July 24) showed a small tortoiseshell, not a red admiral. This is a red admiral. — Yours faithfully, Melanie White Burnham Rise, Emmer Green,

03/08/20

At last, I got picture of busy bee

This picture was taken in our garden on Thursday last week. After many attempts to capture the busy bees on our verbenas, with the wind buffeting them and me around, it was a eureka moment. — Yours faithfully, Sandra Williams Beech Rise, Sonning Common

03/08/20

July ‘Buck’ moon rising

Here is my photograph of the full “buck” moon rising over Chalkhouse Green on the night of Sunday, July 5. — Yours faithfully, Chris Brook Kidmore End

27/07/20

Your letters...

Deceived on the numbers Dear Sir, — Unfortunately, I owe those of your readers who read my letter “Whatever went wrong?” a sincere apology. I suggested then that Public Health England (PHE), the Government and the NHS were merely unprepared and incompetent because I could not put my finger on actual barefaced lies or deceptions. Now, thanks to the work of Professors Yoon K Loke and Carl Heneghan ...

27/07/20

Supporting my club

Sir, — The last away game of Reading Football Club’s season is always a beach party — the club calls it inflatables day. Supporters take along inflatables like beach balls, sun beds and bananas and we throw them around our stand before the game. This year is different so I “dressed” the outside of my house for the occasion. — Yours faithfully, Tony Taylor Knappe Close, Henley

27/07/20

Have you seen taller?

Dear Henley Standard, is this the tallest Hollyhock in the world? It’s 13ft. — Yours faithfully, V Powell Watlington

27/07/20

New surface is simply stunning

Dear Sir, — Simply stunning. The completion of the row of bollards by the Oxfordshire County Council, closely followed by the great job the contractors made of re-surfacing the River Terrace tow path is to be applauded. There is so much misery in the news and in your letters page at the moment but this is a ray of sunshine to report about the upkeep of our beautiful town by the powers-that-be. A ...

27/07/20

Funny and weird sign

Sir, — This daft sign by the riverside at Sonning, to the rear of Sonning Court is obviously a joke courtesy of Uri Geller before he moved back to Israel. I found it both funny and weird. — Yours faithfully, Vincent Ruane Henley Road, Caversham

20/07/20

Kestrels raising young with golfers

Two kestrels are nesting in a dead tree on Henley golf course. They have raised three chicks, which have just started to fly. This picture shows one of the chicks peering out of the nest hole. — Yours faithfully, J M Ducker The Hamlet, Gallowstree Common

20/07/20

Your letters...

Climate lobby scare stories Sir, — Extinction Rebellion’s claim that wind power could subsidise other energy is preposterous. Whatever figures given for the example sale price of power, they bear no resemblance to the true costs of so-called renewable energy. Perversely, they prove my point. Renewable subsidies already cost consumers more than £10 billion a year. According to data from the Office ...

20/07/20

School reunion put back to 2021

We have decided to defer this year’s Henley Grammar School reunion until Saturday, July 17, 2021. It just wasn’t going to work this year for obvious reasons. The upside is that we have another 12 months to find more former pupils and plan an even bigger, better reunion. As before, we have made arrangements with The Henley College for the reunion to be held at the Rotherfield Building. It will be ...

20/07/20

See brightest comet this century

I would just like to inform readers of the spectacular comet Neowise currently visible with the naked eye on a clear night towards the north west. It is the brightest comet visible in the northern hemisphere so far this century, so I strongly recommend having a look over the next week or so before it fades away. Best viewed just after sunset or in the early hours of the morning. — Yours ...

20/07/20