Your letters
To the EditorBeing involved with The Newsletter has given me a great deal of pleasure over the past couple of years and it is therefore particularly appropriate that I use it to say Thank You to everyone who has been so supportive recently during my illness. So many cards (and all from the shop), phone calls, visitors, enquiries – it has been a very moving and uplifting experience. Every one of them has helped us.
Now that I’m up and about again I’ll be able to thank you all personally.
John and Eileen Fortgang
The Lee
To the Editor
We would like to say a huge Thank You for all the goodwill, best wishes and pledges of sponsorship we received from parishioners and villagers of this community when we ran the Robin Hood Half-Marathon in Nottingham in September. Richard, Ellen and I were overwhelmed with the support we received and we are pleased to say that so far we have raised almost £400 for the Association for InternationCancer Research. Further details of the run and the charity, for those who are interested, can be found at www.justgiving.com/rachelandrichardrolfe.
Rachel Rolfe
Swan Bottom
To the Editor
The Newsletter often urges us to keep an eye open for the marvels of the natural world which can be literally under our feet.
Approaching a bramble patch I saw a 'proper' deer leap out from the other side not eight yards away and bound into the wood. Pressing forward intent on blackberries – why such a poor crop after such generous summer watering? – I felt something under my toe: looking down I saw I had stepped on a fawn. Hard to say whose shock was the greater. Instantly it yelped and dived into the thicket, its acceleration I hope incompatible with injury: I had not transferred any weight to the ball of my foot. There was a split second glimpse of a slender body, not much bigger than a rabbit, in a reddish- brown with, well, fawn markings giving the impression of stripes along its back.
In response to the yelp, its mother, her species normally silent, voiced from the wood intermittent reassurance in a low restrained call, quite unlike the garrulous muntjac. We were surprised the fawn was so small as late as the last third of September – perhaps another result of confusion in the seasonal pattern, but not good preparation for a normal winter.
Allan Whittow
Kings Ash
To the Editor
I find it disturbing that this Newsletter promotes letters that insult our local residents and cause rifts in our community.
The letter in the October issue commenting on the figurehead of Admiral Howe is the latest example.
Substantial money has been spent renovating the figurehead and to print a negative letter decrying this valuable work is unacceptable. The letter was not even from a local resident.
The Newsletter’s aim should be to promote good relationships in The Lee and not to sponsor such pathetic, divisive letters.
Leon Metcalfe
The Lee
To the Editor
Someone is not satisfied with the speed limit signs and roundels which have made our beautiful country neighbourhood start to look like a town – new road name signs have been sprouting around our lanes. This someone is apparently particularly fond of Red Lion Hill, with TWO SIGNS, one of them in
a bizarre location half way down
the hill.
Where are we going with this? Will we have signs at every corner? No doubt we desperately need signs (about the size of the Ballinger Common ones should do it) to welcome us to Kings Ash, The Lee, Lee Common and Swan Bottom (an inevitable graffiti target). Following close behind will be double yellow lines, residents’ parking boxes and parking meters.
Is this the County’s next plank in its Homogenising Buckinghamshire policy, which has morphed out of control after starting life as ‘Quiet Lanes’ when it first appeared for consultation? The original vision was of limits, unobtrusively signed, on our tiny lanes to protect our riders and walkers. The policy somehow metastasised into ugly signs in our villages and unrestricted, 60 mph, lanes.
When we look like a town we’ll only need the housing estates, kerbstones, traffic lights and roundabouts to complete the picture of The Lee – New Town.
Iain Scotter
Swan Bottom