U-Boat is lesson for our young

Apr 1 2009 Birkenhead News

I HAVE just finished reading M Talbot’s letter stating that he/she thinks the displaying of U534 on Wirral is a 'gross and painfully tactless mistake'.

Are our children and future generations meant to learn nothing!

With all our libraries closing M Talbot now wishes to give one of our educational attractions away to Germany!

I am 26 years of age and have lived on Wirral all my life and thank God that I have never had to live through a ‘major’ war and hopefully never will.

I hope with all my heart my young son doesn’t have to. And that is why U534 is there.

Should Poland dig up Auschwitz and post it back to them square foot by square foot? That serves as just as painful a reminder to them as the young men who died in the British shipping industry at the time do to us.

U534 is there as a painful reminder of the acts of courage, bravery and sacrifice so many young men and women gave to their country during some very dark times.

When my son is old enough I hope he takes an interest and asks about it, then again I may have to save the airfare to Germany to take him!

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

via e-mail

We saved U534

I AM surprised at the criticism by your correspondent M Talbot that U534 is to be ‘moored for public viewing’ as she had previously been on public view at the Historic Warships Museum for more than ten years.

U534 was never involved in action against allied shipping but spent most of her service on weather patrols.

Merseytravel thought it proper that she should be saved from oblivion after the demise of the Historic Warships Museum.

U534 is one of four U-Boats remaining in the world today and as such she is an important part of maritime history.

U534 is also now far more accessible to the public than at her previous berth and is proving to be a popular tourism attraction to people of all ages – as proved by visitor numbers, which have so far exceeded our forecasts.

NEIL SCALES

Chief Executive and Director General, Merseytravel

Good fortune

I READ with interest the letter of M Talbot on March 25.

Like he or she I have a family member who was on the western convoys.

My uncle’s very first sailing as an Alfred Holt apprentice was on the ‘Ville de Rouen’, only to have it torpedoed from beneath him.

He was fortunate to be pulled from the freezing ocean, and once returned to Liverpool, got straight back on another ship for his next trip.

Good fortune indeed when ships for their own survival were ordered not to stop to pick up survivors.

I have done the reverse of M Talbot, who states he no longer lives on the Wirral, for I have recently moved here.

My uncle survived the war, made his life the sea, and filled his bookshelves with narratives of the time.

He too must also have lost many friends to submarines and would have wholly understood M Talbot’s father’s concerns but not shared them.

He would have been delighted to have taken me around the submarine and helped myself and younger generations see what they faced.

IAN MEREDITH

via e-mail

Lost memories

RE: U534. It is a tactless mistake.

Lest we forget. I think Merseytravel have forgotten the Battle of the Atlantic.

I think I will invite whoever came up with this idea to have the U-Boat at Woodside, to Fort Perch Rock Museum to see the list of 400 ships that never came back from the Atlantic, and all the men from Birkenhead and Liverpool who never returned.

RON JONES

via www.wirralnews.co.uk

Flower power

I HAVE been nursing my wife 24/7 for many months and as all carers well know, it can be an exhausting task.

We are fortunate to receive flowers almost every week.

However, on a recent birthday, my wife received no less than nine bouquets and 16 baskets and pots of plants.

A wonderful tribute and my wife, unable to leave our room, enjoyed a hothouse of flowers for a few days.

Gift vouchers show the value, but a birthday card which says ‘I have ordered flowers which will be delivered at any time’, would be ideal. The pleasure provided by the flowers would extend over many weeks.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

Stop the signs

I, LIKE most people, was horrified, when the council announced its plans to cut the services we pay for.

They refused to listen when the areas of financial waste were pointed out to them, such as the new road layout at the top of Laird Street in Birkenhead and of course the expensive disaster at Arrowe Park.

Within the last week, however, we can now see evidence of why Cllr Foulkes etc needed to cut the services. All over Wirral road signs have been appearing informing us of the number of accidents that have occurred on various roads.

These signs are expensive to install, distracting to drivers and probably of dubious accuracy.

Might I suggest these figures are more likely to be a prediction of the number of accidents to be caused by these distracting signs over the period suggested.

IAN BURFORD

West Kirby

Bags of waste

RE: Too many charity bags.

I wish I had lots and lots. I love getting them, as a pensioner on a low pension they save me money over a year as I use them to line my large kitchen waste bin. Necessity is the mother of invention.

MRS C E HENRY

Moreton