YOUR VIEWS

I REMEMBER WINSTON VISIT

I WAS very interested with Linda Duckworth’s letter (‘Why was Winston Churchill here?’ January 5).

I found it was June 27, 1945 and I was about 17 years old.

When Winston Churchill visited West End, Oswaldtwistle, by car, I watched him drive by at West End. He was stood up in the open car, his hand kept up all the time in a waving position. It was very moving. Mrs G Fawcett Richmond Street Accrington

CHEEK TO ASK FOR TAX CASH

AS a retired police officer I feel Clive Grunshaw has a barefaced cheek in inviting council tax payers to support an inflation busting rise of 13 per cent in the police precept.

I was against the introduction of the post of Crime Commissioner in November 2012 with its £85,000 salary as I was perfectly satisfied with the role of the former Police Committee.

I ask Mr Grunshaw precisely what he and his staff have achieved since his election.

Sadly the comforting sight of the blue lamp has been extinguished as he has closed the public counter at ten of our local police stations, including my home town.

Accrington remains operating from former retail premises at reduced opening hours.

As a result it is almost impossible to make a complaint of crime and should you manage to achieve it just what kind of a delay and investigation will follow.

I would ask if anyone has had any success in dialling the faceless 101 because from my experience it will remain unanswered, concluding in a recorded message advising the caller to go online.

Mr Grunshaw’s excuse is the same as the one offered for the disappearance of preventative foot patrols a lack of resources, yet the police are never short of money for the bumper pay and perks of chief officers, the majority of whom have more degrees under their belts than arrests!

I am a champion of rank and file dedicated officers who do not always receive the recognition their hard work at the coal face of operational policing deserves but if we are not careful the frustrated general public will start taking the law into their own hands, forming vigilante groups and reclaiming the streets and taking control in their own fashion, which is a scenario fraught with dangers and the last thing anyone should want. Retired Detective Inspector Jim Oldcorn Ridgeway Great Harwood

ARE NEWSROOM STAFF AROUND?

ARE you out there Moira and all the other former friends and colleagues of mine at the Accrington Observer during the golden period of 1965-68?!

I was already a trainee reporter at Edgar Street when Mervyn Kay joined the news room in 1967. Frank Kitchener was editor and the inimitable Rowland Johnson chief reporter. The journalists included David Allin (alas now passed on), John Armstrong, the legendary Arnold Collins, Linda (from Darwin), Eddie and Clodagh, Jim Gill, Jean Maxwell and several more.

But I would also (at 71!) love to regain contact with the girls in the general office: The lovely Moira, who prior to her marriage entered a number of beauty contests (and won one thanks to Acker Bilk!), Pat, Elaine, Eileen and others. If any of you are still out there and reading this, PLEASE get in touch with me via the Observer office so that they can email me.

The 60s were truly the greatest fun and although I have worked at many places, at home and abroad, the Edgar Street period is an outstanding memory. Geoff Smith (long ago writer of Teenage Topics!) via email

PROPOSALS ARE PIE IN THE SKY

I READ with interest Coun Tony Dobson’s political column on January 12, in which I came under fire for criticising the Conservative proposals for Accrington town centre.

When and where wasn’t specified but since I regularly ridicule the pie-in-the-sky ideas they come up with it could be on any number of occasions. My main problem is always the same: how much will it cost and how will you pay for it? Those are the two questions any resident needs to ask of any proposal and if you can’t get a clear response then something isn’t right.

The Hyndburn Conservatives have suffered from the same malaise for as long as I’ve been in politics insofar as they promise the Earth but couldn’t deliver pizza.

It also makes it very hard to get away from the stigma that ‘all politicians lie’ when you’ve got councillors making somewhat unrealistic statements in the run-up to elections, such as the provision of a new road sweeping machine or the implied death of spouse.

Offering nonexistent money to residents who shop in Accrington is just another fantasy idea dreamt up in the Tory bunker. I imagine it was either that or free kittens.

HBC is a serious multi-million pound business and councillors are entrusted to make sure the books balance - you can’t play at it. When the Hyndburn Conservatives can give proper costings for their promises I may be less scathing of their financial abilities but since we haven’t seen a budget proposal since 2011. Coun Ken Moss Rishton