Letters - May 18, 2016

Isn’t it time people recognise the savage cuts imposed by central government are hitting local services hard, and it has to be said this service is now a low priority.

Frontline services have to be protected, so something has to give. We read about parents’ concerns about long grass, but what are they doing about the situation? Simply moaning!

It’s about time residents start to realise there is little money available, so why not get together and cut the grass themselves, and then their children can play out this summer? As for dog fouling, it’s a problem caused by their animals – pick it up and bin it!

In a nutshell, get stuck in and don’t moan.

Concerned council taxpayer

via email

ENERGY

Monitoring is needed to ensure safety

The criticism from RAG’s Elizabeth Warner of Cuadrilla’s proposal to drill four groundwater boreholes around our proposed shale gas exploration sites at Preston New Road and Roseacre Wood (Your Say, Gazette, May 12) is misleading and unfair.

The Infrastructure Act 2015 requires there be 12 months’ baseline monitoring of groundwater before fracking can legally commence. The purpose of this is so the water quality can be fully assessed before, during and after operations, so the regulators and the general public can be certain that the process is being carried out safely.

Cuadrilla is not pre-empting the decision of the Planning Inspector and the Secretary of State on our appeals, but merely intending to commence this work, at our own risk, so that in the event of a go-ahead we will be able to reassure the public that the process is safe.

Matt Lambert

Director, Cuadrilla

ENTERTAINMENT

A tribute to the late, great Jack Diamond

I was saddened to learn about the passing of comedian Jack Diamond, who entertained at various nightspots in Blackpool for many years.

Jack was born in 1941 in Ardwick, a working class district of Manchester. At the age of 16 he won a talent contest at Butlins, Filey, in North Yorkshire, and soon he was spotted by a Manchester agent. By the early 1960s, he had become a well-known figure on the cabaret circuit.

In 1971, he opened as the star act of his revue show at The Norbreck Castle. This was a great success, and he established his name in Blackpool.

In the 1970s, Jack opened several of his own clubs in Manchester, before opening a club in Topping Street, Blackpool, called The Ace Of Clubs. Unfortunately, his business ventures were financially less successful, probably due to his colourful antics and his sheer generosity.

He once dated and got engaged to Coronation Street actress Julie Goodyear in the 1970s.

Jack was a very generous entertainer and hosted his talent show Diamond’s Discoveries for more than 25 years at various venues throughout Blackpool.

He was best known as the host and compere at The Talk Of The Coast, Viking Hotel. He had the ability to hold court nightly in his inimitable style. When Jack finally left the Viking in 1988, his successor was comedian George King, who recalls Jack as being his mentor, and how he learned how to develop a warm relationship with the audience from watching Jack. Comedy star Bobby Ball remembers Jack as being one of the finest ad-libbers in the business.

Throughout his career Jack worked alongside the likes of Les Dawson, Diana Doors, Eartha Kitt plus many others.

I can remember, when I first started out as an entertainer in Blackpool in the early 90s, Jack Diamond was the guy to watch. His comic timing, inoffensive delivery and ad-lib ability was just fantastic. You could watch him a million times and still fall about laughing. He was an inspiration.

He married his soulmate, Marie Ashton, a member of The Roly-Polys, in 1992.

He retired due to ill health in 2004 and they both moved to Southport, where he lived until his death. In recent years, Jack did not keep good health and suffered several heart attacks. He sadly passed away in hospital on Thursday, May 12.

RIP Jack Diamond. He was a ‘Blackpool Favourite’ and made a lot of people laugh!

Stephen Pierre

Via email

EUROPE

The EU has been a success for Britain

Absolutely nothing in Mr D Barker’s second paragraph (‘One has only to look at craters in our roads...’ Your Say, Gazette, May 13) has anything to do with the EU.

The situation he describes is entirely the responsibility of our own Conservative dictatorship, and will continue as long as we go on voting for them.

The net cost of participation in the EU is well established. On the assumption that Mr Barker’s “£30billion” is intended to mean per annum (he doesn’t say so) it is not only wrong – even as a gross figure – it is a distortion.

The net figure is less than a quarter of that, and the EU is not “bleeding the country dry”. It has been an extraordinary success for Britain.

Finally we get Boris Johnson comparing the alleged unification aspirations of the EU to Hitler.

But there is a crucial difference – any ‘political unification’ of Europe will come about by intensive negotiation, not by brutal military force.

Mike Turner

Saltcotes Road

Lytham