I VISITED the Palace Theatre recently and it would have been a fantastic night out apart from the parking.
We arrived 30 minutes before the start but could only find parking space on the college car park.
You couldn’t just pay with cash but had to download an app on your phone whilst standing in the dark and the rain.
Not good for us older generation. One poor lady stood next to me was in tears, gave up and went home.
My daughter managed it, however a week later she got a letter from the car park owners threatening court action as she hadn’t paid.
Thank goodness she’d still got the proof on her phone.
It didn’t give you the option of submitting proof online, it all had to be done by post.
That meant she had to pay recorded delivery, yet more money! I wonder if this is happening to many others?
This will deter me, and I’m sure others, from going to the Palace Theatre.
An idea could be that when you book for an event you submit a car reg, which is input into the system and parking would be free.
The Palace Theatre is a great asset to Redditch, so maybe between them and the council they could come up with a solution.
Dawn Wheate
Redditch
OBVIOUSLY I am not privy to the age or financial status of Mr Braithwaite but I have seldom read such a callous disregard for the poor or the future of this country as he displayed in his letter.
Homelessness is on the rise and likely to increase, more people rely on foodbanks than ever before, millions endure poverty pay, the health service is on the brink of collapse, the nation’s infrastructure is deteriorating, crime appears to be out of control, drug use goes largely unchecked, growing numbers of people face the heating or eating dilemma, taxation is close to a peace time high, the list goes on.
Despite this, he wishes to stretch resources even thinner and reserves his sympathy for those rich enough to pay criminal gangs substantial sums to illegally enter this country, fleeing, remember, from France.
Yet he has the effrontery to claim the moral high ground!
‘Immigrant’ is someone coming in, ’emigrant’ is someone going out, ‘migrant’ is the modern artificial construct, so progresses newspeak.
The spurious parallels to Nazi Germany would be risible if they were not so offensive.
Our PM is of Indian heritage, as is Ms Braverman, her husband is Jewish. A former home secretary was of Pakistani heritage and we recently had the first black Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng. ‘A mad dash towards fascism’? Really?
Hopefully no real extremists will read his letter. Accusations of the existence of a ‘great replacement’ plan are already rapidly gaining ground on the far-right. Mr Braithwaite’s ideas appear to give credence to that belief.
K Wass
IT UPSETS me to read all the bad comments about what happened last week with the broken grave and the mess that was made.
Redditch Cemetery is the best and well kept in the Worcestershire area.
This was a mistake and the ground has been rectified and the grave stone that was broken is going to be replaced. This is a one off accident.
P J Dalby
Redditch
REDDITCH Borough Council please can you tell me why you have destroyed mine and my neighbours, the wren and woodpigeon’s home?
It was not on a big piece of land only about 2metre square so it’s not like you could put anything else there,
People say ‘it’s only a bird, it can live elsewhere’…but where?
If someone was to destroy your homes one by one would it be okay to say ‘people can live elsewhere’?
We tried not to cause any trouble or get in anyone’s way we even gave you birdsong to wake up to everyday,
And then came the snow and we had nowhere to go, along with hedgehogs who used to hibernate in the undergrowth below.
Where the trees and shrubs once stood was bare no longer did anything stand there apart from a blackbird alone in his silent lament.
England is one of the most nature depleted countries in Europe, possibly even the world. We are in a biodiversity and climate crisis.
One third of British pollinators are in decline, one fourth of mammal species threatened, one fifth of UK plants are at risk of extinction.
Please do your bit, play your part in protecting these small pockets of nature at the very least. Voice your concerns if habitats are taken away in your area. Consider asking if any neglected patches where you live can be adopted and nurtured by local gardening or community groups. Plant wildlife-friendly flowers in your garden and put up a nest box.
We can and we should give nature a home and it doing so protect our Wild Isles.
Ms V M Dugmore
Redditch
