A Monthly Publication

WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THOSE PIER COMPANY SHARES?

 
After years of wondering how the Lynn News reported the Pier fire seventy years ago, I finally tracked down a comprehensive report in Lynn Library dated June 13th 1939. I can now tell future audiences of my presentations on the History of Hunstanton Pier that the most likely cause of the blaze was a discarded cigarette and that the Pier was fully insured at that time. I can also report that the two ladies, who had to jump into the sea in order to save their lives, objected to being described in the national press as "middle aged" because they were, in fact, only in their mid- thirties! In fairness, they may not have looked at their best as they waded ashore to face the cameras after being  singed and then soaked in equal measure.

   However, more significantly, the Lynn News report also provided details of the Hunstanton Pier Company as follows: "Directors of the Pier Co. are Messrs. WR Coe, FA Bush, SH Barkham, and WH Brooke, with Mr FGW Hayes (sec). The majority of the larger shareholders are local residents." Needless to say, I would like to know when and how the directors and shareholders disposed of their shares, so if any reader can shed light on this mystery please contact me via the Newsletter address, or by telephone on 01485 572195.

   A gentleman by the name of Henry Moreton, describing himself as the owner of a 'Pier' Company, is currently asking to be permanently relieved of the duty to build and maintain Hunstanton Pier, which is imposed by a condition in the 'Pier' Lease, under which he benefits from paying an annual rent for the Pier site of just £1. Since the unexpired term of the lease is 858 years, it would seem reasonable to expect the Borough Council, in its capacity as Pier Landlord, to be conducting an investigation into the transfer of shares in the Hunstanton Pier Company over the past seventy years.

   Alternatively, perhaps it is time for the freehold of Hunstanton Pier to be transferred to a more responsible landlord, such as English Heritage or the National Trust. What do readers think about that idea?

John Maiden  

 

APPEAL FROM LAVENDER HILL MOB THEATRE COMPANY

 

Do you know of anyone who might be able to help us with finding funds and grants and then applying for them please?  Someone (mature) who may have some spare time on their hands who has internet access and maybe a knowledge of finding out where to obtain funds from (they could be told if necessary).  Our person has sadly had to call it a day for personal reasons, so we really need someone on board who might like a challenge and who may have knowledge which can be shared to our advantage.

Sandra Hohol 01485 534827 or 07777650128

 

A PEACEFUL SOLUTION

 

Noisy, nasty microlight,

How I wonder why your flight

Always takes you over me.

Like some great big buzzing bee.

 

Although it's fun for you to fly

Up above the roof tops high,

Don't you realise that your sound

Ruins the peace here on the ground !

 

Why should we suffer just so you

Can enjoy a lovely view ?

Flying up and flying down.

Disturbing everyone in Town.

 

The modern term is “noise pollution”.

For which there is a quiet solution.

Ironically from a bygone age -

A 1940's balloon barrage.

 

Edward Wheatley

 

SMALL PEOPLE AND BIG QUESTIONS

 

One of the things I like about living here is that grandchildren like to visit, so we see them reasonably often.  My eight year old granddaughter came to stay recently and we took her everywhere she wanted to go, and on Sunday she came with us to church.  Being curious she wanted to know all about it and I told her that it was God’s house, and God of course made everything.  She surprised me by asking, “Who made God?”

Putting my brain into top gear, something I rarely do now, I asked her, “How long did it take to make your breakfast?”  Quick as a flash came the reply, “About one minute”.  So I asked her if she had to leave quickly to catch a bus, or something, what would happen about breakfast.  She said she wouldn’t have any.  I then asked if the reason was because there was no time for it, and she replied yes.

She knew all about the big bang, so I said that Prof. Stephen Hawking has said that before the big bang there was nothing, no space, no matter, no time.  So if there was no time, no one could have made God.  After a while she agreed.

Asking who made God is associated with the great thinker Lord Bertrand Russell, but what many people do not realise is why he would have said that.  He and Sir Fred Hoyle, the astronomer, believed in the steady state universe, a theory that is largely discredited now.  If time was infinite then one could have asked “Who made God?” because there would be time.  One cannot blame Russell for this remark, but one can wonder why it is still quoted.  It is rather like saying regarding Global Warming that one should not travel by plane because you might fall off the edge of the world.

David Whight

 

 

ROOM WITH A VIEW

 

If I were a planning officer, I would be very disappointed with the article in last month’s Newsletter; an “incompetent and intellectually corrupt planning system” is strong criticism.  Planning matters are often controversial with conflicting interests that are difficult to reconcile (which is why we need a planning system).  Neither do I accept that our government is cynical in trying to draft regulations that allow sufficient new development to satisfy the demands of the population and, at the same time, protect our privacy, outlooks and heritage.

In the case of the Green Shutters development, Mr Watson is blaming the system and professionals for the errors of our elected District Councillors (who are not often viewed as lackeys of this government).  I attended the Development Control Board meeting where the Green Shutters development was being considered.  The councillors did not give me the confidence that they had either read the accompanying documents or had listened to, and understood, the arguments put forward at the meeting.  The level of debate was “they look quite nice, really, like a big house” and the councillors seemed anxious to move on to the next case and get to the end of the meeting as soon as possible.  I don’t think anyone on the panel had been to see the site, or appreciated its position in the town (I can’t remember any of the councillors for our ward being present).  In my experience this is typical of the District Council Development Control Board.  We will not get satisfactory planning decisions until we have a process that is truly local, or the views of local people are given proper regard by our elected District Councillors.

Richard Webb

 

BOUNDARY COMMITTEE STATEMENT

 

Further to being granted leave to appeal against the judicial review judgment on the local government review in Suffolk, which was handed down on 10 July 2009, the independent Boundary Committee for England has confirmed that it has begun appeal proceedings.

The Committee believes that an appeal is necessary in order to achieve clarity on the way forward for its local government review, and will be pressing for the appeal to be heard as quickly as possible.

 

SEEDS OF CHANGE

 

Not for the first time, Mr Joe Parker deserves praise for his article on genetically modified foods.  As he points out, they can perform a most useful role in the struggle against widespread hunger – much more so than the much hyped answer to alleged global warming.  Also, I had no idea that the amount of growing land affected by salt excess is so large and the hopeful prospect of dealing with it.

Now, another obstacle to sensible means of providing vital food supplies comes from well meaning environmentalists who are urging farmers to keep the wasteful set-aside areas out of use and continuing to leave them fallow for the benefit of wildlife.  Well, I like wildlife too, but a much better solution would be the return of the control of raptor numbers, by shooting (preferably by professionals who know how to use their weapons responsibly).  This would result in the return of the song birds and others which were so numerous in days gone by, without set-aside or any other wasteful gimmick enforced by non-elected bureaucrats.

E. Piggott  

 

ROOM WITH A VIEW –Further thoughts.

 

In response to Mr. Ivor Watson’s thought provoking piece in the August edition of this Newsletter, I would like to add some thoughts of my own (just as a Council Tax Paying Resident, and not wearing my ‘Town Councillor’ hat).

  Whilst I understand his puzzlement in attempting to identify the beneficiaries of the decisions made by our ‘Planners’, I would suggest that he is making the same mistake that I made (for quite some time) in the past.  That is to say, he has tried to follow the logical thought processes that applied when he considered the actions taken by the “Learned Professions” he mentions, -who advise and operate in the unforgiving worlds of commerce, industry, science, medicine, and so on.  In those harsh environments, job security, financial reward, promotion, retirement pension, etc. will always depend on producing satisfied Clients.

  Life on Planet Planning is very different indeed, and the same natural laws do not seem to apply.  Having spent much time pondering this (to me) new environment I have come to the conclusion that, together with all the other functionaries in Central and Local Government, they are individually and collectively their own Clients!! 

How else can their decisions be understood?  Consider, for example, Mr. Watson’s reference to the changed legislation emanating from John Prescott’s office.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) churns out many and varied “Planning Policy Guidance” documents (PPG’s) for our Planners to follow; but note the use of the word “guidance”.  In the event of a disastrous planning decision, this appears to enable the ODPM to say “Ah well, it was only guidance to the Planners, they should apply their own skills and local knowledge” but the Planners can say “We acted strictly in accordance with the guidance from the ODPM”.   So, no chickens will come home to roost, and any subsequent, time-consuming, enquiry (by yet another Government department) can safely conclude that nobody acted improperly -and all the well-paid, superannuated, jobs everywhere will remain secure.  (This explains my comment that the  “satisfied Clients” can only be the people in the ‘system’).

The PPG at the root of Mr. Watson’s changed “view from his room” was the one from the ODPM which re-classified “gardens and grounds” as “previously developed land”; thus putting our suburban gardens into the same category as a “brown field” site, such as an old gas works in an inner city.  That this PPG had to be later modified shows just how much our Planners (who could not see the difference) need “guidance”!

  Another PPG sets out the number of dwellings per unit area recommended by the ODPM for different environments such as rural, urban and suburban.  Bearing in mind that this PPG is meant to cover urban areas in deprived inner cities as well as towns like ours, it will allow the high densities that can be achieved by, for example, construction of flats in tower blocks.  Once again, did our Planners not spot the difference between Hunstanton and, say, inner city Birmingham?  

That our Planners could even contemplate ten dwellings on a site previously taken by just one in this town causes me much concern about their competence and intellect (as questioned by Mr. Watson in his first paragraph).  It would seem, to me, that the intellectual input required from the Planners of our environment has now been reduced to just ticking the right boxes on the “one size fits all” questionnaires, handed down from on high, which have taken the place of considered judgement by people who understand local conditions and concerns.  (A job requiring little or no training or basic intelligence).

Hunstanton is a multi-purpose town, and the area outside Mr. Watson’s windows is the part of the town having properties of some ‘quality’, with gardens, open spaces, trees etc. and which is attractive to the year-round residents who take part in the town’s activities, who use the local shops, who run businesses providing local jobs and join local organisations etc.  It is not part of the transient, seasonal, economy -however much that may contribute to the overall success of the town. For this reason alone, that area should be seen as a vital, year-round, asset to the town.  Any ‘seasonal’ occupation of properties in this area, leaving them derelict for most of the year, will make it less attractive to an essential group of residents and disturb the delicate and proven balance of the town’s economy, much to the overall detriment of Hunstanton. 

This simple philosophy was part of the considerations of the Town Council when it, unanimously, rejected the Planning application for demolition of one perfectly good property to make space for the ludicrously inappropriate, high density and seasonally occupied, development subsequently approved by our ‘Planners’.  

Perhaps their rejection of the initial proposal also reflected the Town Council’s ability to read the drawings provided with the application, and to recognise that the Mickey Mouse flats proposed were totally impractical under any circumstances.

Our Planners, however, seemed to have had difficulty in reading those same drawings and recognising the total foolishness of the whole project before them.  Instead, they appear to have relied on a hilarious “artist’s impression” of the finished project that was submitted to them, which showed one sedate block of flats, well back from the road and behind some landscaping, with one corner of the second block just visible in the far distance behind a leafy bower of some description!

It is interesting to note that this misleading “artist’s impression” was also displayed on the contractor’s advertising board at the security fence during the demolition period, but even the brass-necked developer did not have the gall to maintain this fiction, and it was tactfully removed once a few bricks were ready to be laid!

As a footnote to these comments, it is also interesting to note that the open, residential, nature of this part of the town was always the intention from the outset, as evidenced by the fact that the building plot in question was one conveyed by a deed from the Trustees of the le Strange Estate in 1925 that stipulated a minimum first cost for any house erected on it, and that “Not more than one house with the necessary stable garage and outbuildings is to be erected on each plot”.

Q.E.D.

The writer is a retired engineering consultant, with a wide experience of working with architects and other professionals for major companies in the U.K., Scandinavia, Europe and (with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) around the world.  He has had a home in Hunstanton since 1967.

Clive Dellino

 

THE PIER

 

I was surprised and pleased to receive two replies to my letter concerning the possibility of a new pier.  One was from the no lesser person than the Chair of the Hunstanton Civic Society and another from a committee member.  Neither of these letter writers, however, attempted to answer my question of who would pay for the construction and upkeep of a pier in this the 21^st Century instead both writers chose to promote the achievements they have made.

Achievement?  What achievement? Apart from a few pictures in the Coal Shed and  plaques in buildings around the town this seems to be a poor return for an awful lot of discussion at so many meetings!

As a resident of ‘Downtown Hunstanton’ or as one member of the Society called it, “South of Harlequin House”, I attended Council meetings when the regeneration of the town was to be discussed.  Unfortunately some Civic society members were determined that only matters concerning The Green and the areas to the north merited the attention of Council members present.  The much needed tidying of the Kit-Kat site was achieved without the intervention of the Society.

I would suggest that the Hunstanton Civic Society (H.C.S.) should not have the monopoly in advising the Council on what is best for the town and it is for this reason that I declined their offer to join them.

I shall, instead, attend as many open meetings as possible and try to promote my area of this lovely town.  If I thought that people would vote for me, I would gladly put myself forward as a councillor and if elected would try to rectify the real problem of the pier building which is the ridiculous peppercorn rent that is charged to the occupants.  I have never set foot in the building but sitting on The Green listening to the band on a Summer Sunday afternoon I can see how popular it is, particularly with younger visitors.  Whether we like it or not, the building is here and unless or until there is another ‘mysterious fire’, or someone is motivated enough to detonate a suicide bomb and destroy it, it must remain.

I promise that this is my very last letter on the subject of the Pier, or Green and I hope that Mr Maiden and his followers will try to emulate the excellent contributions of Dick Melton, Clive James, Joe Parker, Robin Sainty and Michael Prince all of whom write interestingly with no hint of self interest.

As a comparative newcomer (six years) to Hunstanton, I confess to having some moans about the town, but within a few minutes walk from my home, my wife and I can really enjoy Hunstanton in Bloom and the lovely beaches towards Holme.  Friends and family who visit from Cambridge and Swindon constantly remind us how lucky we are to live in a town free from (almost) gangs and drunken yobs, vandalism and street crime.  If the HCS wish to take the credit for this, good luck to them !

David Newman

 

HUNSTANTON CEMETERY

 

In the August edition of the Newsletter, Mrs Lawrence says that the Hunstanton Cemetery is in an appalling state.  Most people would agree with her, but not the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk!  I asked them why the hedges and bushes had not been cut and the answer was that cutting could not take place until the birds had finished nesting.

The hedges and bushes in the Esplanade Gardens are cut and trimmed every two weeks, so can I take it then that there are no birds in the Esplanade gardens?

Dick Melton

 

LETTER WRITING

 

Someone commented, during a conversation, that the art of personal letter writing is being lost in this age of e-mails, mobiles and text messaging.  Nowadays most of the mail which comes through our letter boxes is ‘junk – mail’, but it is good to know that someone has taken the time to write personally when a hand written letter is put through the letter box.

The greatest letter that has ever been written is God’s letter to each one of us – The Bible.  In it He tells us how much He loves us, ‘Herein is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us’ – 1John 4 v10 - and He longs for us to have a personal relationship with Him, but our sins have separated us from Him.  However, because of His great love for us we are told (also in 1John 4) that ‘He sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’

Christ came to bear the punishment we deserve for all our wrongdoing by dying on the cross, but God raised Him from the dead to become our loving Saviour.

If we are willing to acknowledge our sin, asking God to forgive us and allowing Jesus into our lives, we can have that relationship with God, now and forever when our earthly journey is done, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave us his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting Life’ (John 3 v16)

Miriam Hodson

 
PILLBOXES AND MISTAKES

 

I eagerly await my copy of the Hunstanton Newsletter each month ad the first thing that I normally read is Dick Melton’s piece and enjoy spotting what I think are his deliberate mistakes!! The August issue (page 42) is no exception.

              Firstly I believe that ‘dragon’s teeth’ are large concrete blocks with tapering sides and flat top and used as anti-tank obstacles and not scaffolding with barbed wire attached.

              Next, there were only two gun emplacements on the cliffs and these were on the south side of the lighthouse, not the north side. These were 6” naval guns and have long since been dismantled or fallen into the sea.

  I would very much like Dick to show me where ‘pillboxes’ were sited near the lifeboat house, St Mary’s Church and the Le Strange Arms hotel car park.

  Lastly, I fear that Dick has missed the very prominent location of a ‘pillbox’ in Hunstanton which perhaps older natives will recall. Where was it Dick?

Trevor Bell