Others fighting to wear medal

Aug 8 2007 by Kevin Core, Birkenhead News

ARNIE Steel, a veteran of the Malayan emergency may be interested to know he is not alone in his fight to wear The Pingat Jasa Malaysian medal.

A group of veterans from The King’s own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) were invited to Malaysia last year and presented with The Pingat Jasa by a grateful Malaysia government, but the British government won’t let them wear it!

2,500 Commonwealth soldiers died in this ten year plus conflict that eventually lead to Malaysian independence.

The Pingat Jasa medal was also presented to the Australian and New Zealand troops who fought in the conflict, but their governments allow them to wear it.

Our MOD say the Malaysian medal can’t be worn because a British version has already been presented, and medals from foreign countries should not be worn in this case.

“If you are awarded two medals for the same service, it waters down the significance of receiving the medal.”

What a load of nonsense, what about getting The VC, or The MM etc, isn’t that a second medal for the same service?

On a lighter note, most of the KOSB’s who attended the presentation in Malaysia last year, were given a badge to wear on their blazers, the embroidered badge contains a copy of the medal as a centre piece.

And you can wear your blazer any time!

R CARRIBINE,

WIRRAL

Very fond memories of school

HOW sorry I was to read in the Wirral News letters column that my very first school Poulton Primary was to close after nearly 100 years of educating many of Wirral's future citizens - unfortunately two world wars deprived some of attaining this goal.

I attended Poulton Primary from 1929 to 1935, the teaching staff were most excellent, their names I recall were the sisters Eccles, Miss Mason, Miss Tomlinson, Mr Hampshire, Mr Middleton, the headmaster was Mr Hughes who I am led to believe had a glass eye.

Maybe some readers can recall some of those teachers names - also the caretakers name was a Mr Burrows.

School days were my most ‘happy’ days, especially at Poulton Primary.

KEN FUGE

THORNTON HOUGH

Complete eyesore

THE sculpture destined to be the gateway to Wirral (Aug 1st), looks like something from another planet and at £300,000, a whopping cost.

Surely this substantial amount of money could have been put to better use than such an awful eyesore.

As usual those in power spend other people’s money without any thought whatsoever.

I think the council are from another planet, one called 'You Are Gullible'.

NATASHA MINNS

LEASOWE

Save Green Belt

THERE appears to be considerable confusion about Wirral Borough Council who are under some political pressure to allow the building of a controversial medical centre on what is at present accepted as Green Belt Land.

The land in question is less than one mile from a major hospital packed with all the facilities to assist, treat, and deal with medical and surgical necessities.

Arrowe Park Hospital in itself has already expanded well into what was formerly Green Belt Park Land.

The new medical centre appears to want be able to carry out extra services like minor surgery, X-rays, blood tests, and a host of other treatments normal to a GP surgery - in effect duplicating the nearby hospital, why?

Evidence shows the total population of Wirral is in decline, and ageing.

The closing of present GP practices will in effect mean many patients will be further removed from GP surgeries and centres of treatment, there is little evidence that the village populations as a whole have been properly consulted.

What has happened to the notion of “patient choice”?

It is a fact that removing a GP practice from the heart of a small village will in some way be detrimental to the life of that particular community, similar to removing post offices and branch banks.

Patients will need to travel to the new Medical Centre thereby increasing pollution and the infamous carbon footprint - and the ageing or incapacitated people who will be the most affected.

As a nation, even a person who lives on this planet, the Green Belt must be protected and not abused under the guise of economics.

We owe this to not only ourselves but to countless generations to come, politicians must be made to realise, the Green Belt is important.

Leave it alone while alternatives exist.

H S CAMERON

LOWER HESWALL

PM must act now

THE challenges facing Gordon Brown as he takes over the reins of premiership are many but without doubt, the most daunting of these must be tackling climate change.

When a decade ago, Tony Blair took on the same job, New Labour promised to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.

However, these were promises without teeth, for the government did not reinforce them with the necessary policies.

Consequently, Ministers now admit they will fail to meet targets included in three of their election manifestos.

Though our new Prime Minister must take his share of the blame for this, he now has a very real chance to make amends.

All the major parties frequently speak of the need to act, and many companies, from Virgin to Marks and Spencer, are falling over themselves to support green solutions.

This, together with clamour from individuals eager to participate in these solutions, means that we need the Government’s help by making it cheaper and easier to act.

Against the backdrop of this huge corporate and public support, Mr Brown will assume responsibility for a proposed new law, the Climate Change Bill, already placed before Parliament.

To manifest his seriousness about climate change, he must ensure that this law is up to the job, which, plainly, the Bill isn’t, lacking as it does, the requisite toughness.

Targets are too low to prevent dangerous climate change and it includes emissions from most aeroplane flights.

Worse still, the current proposal is to monitor targets every five years which will almost always span more than one term of Government, and thereby make it easier for politicians in subsequent ones to blame their predecessors for failing to achieve published targets.

For the sake of present and future generations, Mr Brown really has to be Mr Green and to do this, he must start by ensuring the Climate Change Bill leads to cuts in all carbon dioxide emissions by at least three percent each year.

CHARLES E BURROUGH

Why complain?

I WAS in Vale Park today, as I am every day, and was very disappointed that Joytime was asked to lower their music down, because of so-called complaints from eight people!

My two sons and I use the park everyday, and it is a lifeline children enjoy all the fantastic facilities that this award winning park offers.

From holiday clubs to internet services, fantastically clean and well kept gardens, it offers everything a family could wish for.

Aaron and Steve at Joytime do a fantastic job, bringing entertainment to around 150 + people a day.

They both work so hard keeping the kids (and parents) dancing and singing, no matter the weather, and they are a joy to watch.

Yet again, it is disappointing the minority are hell bent on ruining it for the masses, at least while the kids are in the park being entertained and joining in the fun they are not out vandalising the neighbourhood.

The audience ranges from very young to teenagers to OAPs and I haven't heard anyone complain that it is too loud.

I wonder if they will tell the brass bands to “turn it down” on Sundays throughout the summer, in fact I would be surprise if there are any complaints about them, even though they are definitely louder than Joytime.

I know because my family and I listen to them as well.

I live very close to the fairground in New Brighton and sometimes the noise from this can be a little intrusive, but I do not complain.

Sometimes it is nice to sit and watch people enjoying themselves and would ask that those who have complained be a little more tolerant of the younger generation.

ANGELA KELLY

NEW BRIGHTON

Wirral looks closed

WHEN the ferry terminal closed a few months ago I contacted the tourist office head voicing my concerns of the wisdom of this closure.

I was advised that visitor numbers had dropped severely over the previous twelve months and that it was no longer economic to keep Woodside open, and anyway visitors could pick up an internal phone to the One Stop Shop for questions or visit it.

These days if you can spot a bus at Woodside, you are lucky, never mind find one going past the One Stop Shop.

However, the reason visitors had declined was because the Ferries Terminal at Pier Head Liverpool had sunk, and therefore ferry services had severely been disrupted for a long period of time.

I think Wirral Borough Council are very shortsighted, a tourist office should not be considered a commercial operation in its own right, but as an advertising tool for the region and local attraction and businesses.

We all know that only 50 pc of advertising works, the problem being no knows which 50 pc does the trick.

I cannot comment on the Cafê side of things but assume its decline is linked to the closure of the tourist office, which was a very good one I might add.

Visitors coming from Liverpool on a ferry and seeing the current “closed” state of Birkenhead will be put off purely by the sight before their eyes.

IAN WILSON

BROMBOROUGH