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Drama at the bridge

YOUR picture in Looking Back last month showing the old bridge over the canal in Boughton Road brought back vivid memories to me.
One Sunday afternoon in the 1940s, my fiance and I were out for a quiet walk along Boughton Road when it started to rain.
We took shelter under the old bridge and while we were there the air raid warning sounded.
We decided it was safer to stay put.
Suddenly, the noise of a plane was heard. My fiance said it was a Hurricane when to our amazement a ball of fire burst under it and immediately five or six bombs came tumbling out. (I didn't stop to count).
My fiance shouted: 'Get down - It's a b..... Jerry!'
We flung ourselves on to the towpath and covered our heads.
All the while, shrapnel was falling into the canal on both sides of the bridge and the noise was appalling. Eventually, the All Clear went and we emerged to a scene of utter chaos.
Telephone poles and wires were down. Water and mud was everywhere.
At that time there was a very ornate, concrete bridge at the junction of Mill Road and Boughton Road. Great slivers were cut out of that.
We understood at the time that an Anti-Aircraft gun that fired the shot was situated on the roof of the BTH office buildings. But I have recently seen a letter in the Rugby Museum congratulating a gentleman from the nearby Water Works on his prompt action that day. Whoever it was, was a jolly good shot!
I was working then in one of the nearby BTH offices and right until the end of the war we had to put waste paper buckets on to the desks when it rained due to the damage to the roof.
What a way to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon!
Mrs. M. Carter.
Address supplied.


Difficulty for disabled

FOLLOWING the closure of my local Post Office, namely Overslade Lane, I have been using the facilities at Cymbeline Way.
Being disabled, I am finding it increasingly difficult to manipulate the section between where I can park my car and the Post Office.
Would it not have been possible to transform this frontage as was done in Overslade Lane?
There is also a hairdressers at the end of this hazardous walk, which is well-frequented by many not so able-bodied.
It also seems ironic that a Mobility Centre is also at the end of the 'walk'.
Mr. J.E. Tysall,
Shakespeare Gardens,
Rugby.


Kindness at hospital

MAY I, through the medium of your newspaper, express my deep appreciation and gratitude to all the staff at Cedar Ward of the Hospital of St. Cross - whatever their role.
I have recently undergone an operation there and cannot speak highly enough of their care and kindness shown to me.
St. Cross really is 'the jewel in the crown' where Rugby is concerned. Long may it remain so and continue to serve the community with its loving care for each individual.
Margaret Williams,
Fleet Crescent,
Abbotts Farm,
Rugby.


Why stop at bags for revellers?

WHAT a brilliant idea to provide 'Keep Safe' bags for the young ladies sof Rugby (Advertiser, January 1).
But could we do more?
Why not provide half a dozen six-berth caravans adjacent to the Clock Tower where these ladies (sic) can make full use of their goody bags and the last minute change-of-mind rape alarms.
What about providing a creche for last year's deliberate mistakes?
Perhaps we could arrange a fleet of free taxis, or even bed and breakfast.
It is little wonder that we are the 'Pregnant Capital' of the world, if our authorities are encouraging this promiscuity.
I have just received my latest tax bill.
I would like to know who came up with this brilliant plan and how much it is costing, so that I can reduce my rates/tax accordingly.
Keith Judge,
Chapel Street,
Long Lawford.


Memory of Woolies

I AM sure I am one of many who is saddened to see the closure of Woolworths.
As a child in the 1960s, I remember Woolworths very well - the broken biscuit counter, the food selection including pet supplies and the individual counters you could rely on for service, without having to queue at just one counter for everything.
Indeed Liverpool was the flagship of the beginning of Woolworths in the UK.
My late uncle was the signwriter and principal person for overseeing all the shop designs in the original Liverpool store for some 30 years.
I never would have believed I would witness Woolworths leaving our streets.
It was a store I grew up with and I believe still had potential, despite what seems to be people's general opinion that there is no place in our so-called modern environment for this type of store.
Well I'm sure if that had been the opinion 99 years ago, we would not have had the selection or choice Woolworths has offered us up to now, eh?
On a better note, I'm sure some 'modern' retail outlet will honour us with its service at the cost of a by-gone era leaving our High Streets.
Marie Johnson,
Anker Drive,
Long Lawford.


Thank you to the Advertiser for your Cemex article

THANK you so much to the Rugby Advertiser for the December 18 article, and editorial, and letters which revealed the far-reaching and widely-felt concern in Rugby for the situation regarding the cement plant, and the true sorry plight of the EA, and RBC regarding the CEMEX co-incinerator, and all its related activities.
Thank you too for revealing that the bypass dust which blanketed Lawford on November 17 was actually hazardous.
In this case, and as in most cases, the Agency can do nothing and effect no prosecution or penalty. It would be a laughing matter if it were not so serious!
I would like also to thank the public through your paper, and I was warmed by the overwhelming support, and thanks, and encouragement I received, both in Rugby and UK-wide, after the showing of the December 5 Barristers on BBC 2, which featured the plight of Rugby residents, the hideous plant and its plunging plume, and cement mill plumes, and the courageous and dignified fight in the House of Lords for cleaner air, and for a stricter regulation of the cement plant and its permitted activities.
But the Rugby residents' pleas, and 8,000 strong petition, as represented by myself, fell on deaf ears.
The Lords were 'misleadingly' told that no-one other than Mrs. Pallikaropoulos is concerned at all about the ongoing operations at CEMEX, and their Lordships were 'misinformed' with Agency witness statements claiming that "she is one relatively affluent individual who is all alone in Rugby, and it is her own private and personal campaign", and 'there is no continuing and ongoing public interest whatsoever.'
Who could possibly have told the Lords such misinformation, and what was their motive? Is it not a form of bullying and intimidation designed deliberately to squash any legitimate and valid protest, and to hide the Agency's own shortcomings, by trying to shut me up and to make me homeless into the bargain so that I am then no longer any kind of "threat" to them - to silence an enquiring voice, and a knowledgeable critic of what is going on here?
See how I have been proved right over and over again. Goodness knows what else there is that is being kept under wraps. Who can believe anything they are told by Cemex and the Agency, or the hapless RBC? The EA vowed in its letter to the Rugby Cement Community Forum of December 5 to 'start sharing information'. Well it's rather a false start is it not?
L. Pallikaropoulos,
Hillmorton Road,
Rugby.


Nothing changes

I READ with interest the letter from Marc Hammond, dated the January 1, 2009, regarding the state of the roof in the Clock Towers shopping centre. What he fears has already happened!
Just over ten years ago I too went shopping in the Clock Towers shopping centre, the roof was leaking then. I slipped over on the wet floor and broke my femur resulting in a nine week stay in hospital, a long rehabilitation and a leg which is significantly shorter than the other.
Nothing has changed. Perhaps while they are building the new centre they will repair the existing one or will they continue to ignore the hazard that it presents.
Philippa Bleeck,
Wesley Road,
Hillmorton.


Offensive bird talk

I WAS shopping in the Clock Towers centre just after Christmas with my son. We were looking at some items in a shop when a novelty parrot on display was triggered and announced 'Polly wants a f***ing cracker.' A moment later it was triggered again.
Am I alone in thinking that having a shop display announce 'Polly wants a f***ing cracker, to whoever is nearby is unacceptable? Does this happen in other towns?
Dunstan Vavasour,
Monks Kirby.


Thanks to Scrooge

WALSGRAVE Hospital once again gave no Christmas charity by continuing its exorbitant parking charges. Mr. Scrooge, aka PFI, did not even offer free parking for Christmas Day.
A prosperous New Year to you, Mr. Scrooge.
Nicholas Cooper,
Naseby Road,
Rugby.