Letters - Friday February 5, 2021

I moved on to Grange Park estate in 1994, and at first I lived in the flats at Boundary Court, then on February 18 1996 I moved to my present address just around the corner from Horsebridge Road.

I then became aware that there is a shortcut to Normoss and the shops there. This route is used regularly by pensioners on their mobility scooters and by mums with children in pushchairs. This shortcut (pictured) has one major drawback as can be seen, when it rains it floods. I have complained about this many times.

However, the people who decide what gets done on one of Blackpool’s most deprived areas do not live here - they live in the least deprived areas.

They do not use this path; and we do not matter.

On February 18 it will be 25 years with no action, just ignoring us.

This path is a lifeline during the day, we can access things that we no longer have on the estate.

A traditional family butchers, a post office, a fish and chip shop, a pub, three hairdressers, all things long gone from the estate and there is a small hardware store.

I feel sure that these businesses appreciate the amount of trade that they do get from the estate, however, when it rains the way is barred.

Pedestrians can get through the staggered railings on to Ledbury road, turn left at Evesham then left again on to Ravenswood leading to Dobso Road and the shops an extra half mile but doable for a reasonably fi person.

What about the Pensioners on mobility scooters or the young mums with pushchairs?

Will it take another 25 years to get action?

On Tuesday February 2 I rang repairs to tell them that I have a very loose hot water tap and I am very worried that it might come apart and spray water everywhere I already have water in the sink cupboard. I can’t do the repairs, I am 78 years old and I also do not have the tools. I was told its emergency repairs only.

I told them it is an emergency it could separate at any time and spray water all over the place.

I was told when that happens we will come out. On their present form I might not live to see it. I cannot afford to wait 25 years.

Terry Bennett

Blackpool

virus

Letter was warped and full of errors

M Tipper (Your Say, February 2) has again written a letter full of errors of fact and warped ideological opinion.

He bemoans having to wait 12 weeks for his second jab when instead he ought to be grateful that he has had the first.

He is a prime example of those for whom facts don’t matter. Instead he relies on third-rate left-wing biased sources That is as far as his so-called ‘research’ goes.

There are very good and simple reasons for concentrating on maximising the number of people receiving the first jab before concentrating on the second. It is far better to have the majority vaccinated with one jab than a minority with two. Clearly, Tripper cannot understand this.

His comments about Israel and the vaccine are risible and plain wrong. The Astra vaccine has been said by the WHO to be over 60 per cent effective. Note: the efficacy of the flu jab is only 50 per cent.

He is also wrong about the 12-week gap before the booster jab. Studies show this increases your immunity.

His biased and unwarranted attack on the government’s handling of the pandemic reveals a gross ignorance of the complexity of the pandemic, the virus and its many mutations. Every government in the world has made errors because all have been faced by a crisis replete with the unknown.

He also demonstrates his apparent lack of knowledge about the complexity of governance. He seems to think that the government has only the pandemic to deal with.

Some states like China, Russia and North Korea have made horrendous errors, as Professor Jenkins, a renowned specialist, has revealed in a recent article in the Far Eastern Review. These authoritarian states do not of course allow any public criticism. Their lies and errors are kept under wraps. Open your mouth and iron bars await you.

Tripper should perhaps turn his criticisms on those many states in Europe whose vaccination programmes so far have been desultory, and begin praising our government’s efforts. Now that would be a day to relish.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys

Nostalgia

Photo definitely not from the ‘80s

What is the true date of the old photo of the Opera House (Looking Back, Tuesday) wrongly stated on the back to be 1989?

There are three clues on the photograph (pictured). First, the frontage is prior to the building of the present Opera House in 1939.

Second, Bertini was leader of the Tower Band in the early 1930s.

Third, the Opera House canopy announces a 7.30 performance of Dangerous Corner, the first stage play by J.B. Priestley, which opened at London’s Lyric Theatre on May 17, 1932.

There are Talkies boards on the canopy but a fixed performance time suggests it was the stage play, not the movie, which was made in 1934.

My guess of the date of the photo is early 1932 on the prior-to-London tour of the play.

Barry Band

Gazette Memory Lane