Editor : Jim Fieldsend
8 Croft Close, Wickhambrook
Tel : 01440 820108
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| Issue No. 214 - January - February
2005 |
Photo on the front cover
of The Scene
Photo by Ron Weir |
Well here it is 2005. Where have the last five years gone since the
millennium celebrations. It only seems like yesterday doesn't it.
Still, I enjoyed Christmas watching all the kids with all their new
toys. They seem to have everything these days don't they? I must say
though that the one thing that the older children, the seven to eleven
year olds don't appear to have is something we seemed to have in abundance
"IMAGINATION". Yes I know that the world has moved on and
for a thing to be "cool" you have to be able to plug it
in, switch it on, download to it, upload from it, send text's with
it or buy credits for it. But think of what they are missing!
When I was a lad our playground was a disused pottery tip, which covered
about one and a half acres. It was overgrown with bracken and brambles
and bushes as well as the usual selection of wild flowers and weeds
found in these places. However in it's time the tip became the Arizona
desert, the African jungle, the Canadian backwoods, the Normandy beaches,
outer space, the pacific islands, in fact anywhere dictated by our
fertile imaginations fired by the film shown that particular Saturday
morning at the local cinema. We built dens on it, lit campfires on
it, and when it snowed it became the Cresta run complete with commentary,
supplied by ourselves of course. And how did we know about the Cresta
run? From the Pathe News at the cinema. The time when everyone had
a television was still a few years away.
I know that I'm acting like a modern day Canute trying to hold back
the tide of progress but surely in this day and age a little bit of
old fashioned imagination would help prevent the cry heard so much
from modern youth, you know the one. "I'm bored".
I have been asked by one or two people to remind everyone that
"Broadband" is now available in the
village and is apparently very good. Look, don't ask me what it is,
computers to me are a very distant and foreign land where the inhabitants
speak in a lesser form of Swahili. I'm just passing on the message
that it is available and very good.
Best wishes for a happy 2005.
Jim Fieldsend |
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As newer issues of
The Scene are published, some articles that are regular features
in The Scene will be updated and so will not have a link back to
this page |
Bury cattle market
plans - a wake up call
Do you go to Bury by private transport? Do you prefer to go to Bury
for shopping or pleasure? If the council have their way and their
present plans are passed, you will find it much more difficult in
future.
The Cattle Market site should be developed but not this way. The number
of parking spaces are going to be reduced even though there will be
more housing and more shops included in the scheme. Signs will guide
you to alternative parking which may be hundreds of yards away. Not
a great thought when the weather may be bad or you have shopping to
carry.
Government policy, which the council are obliged to follow, says we
should be consulted. Have you been? The 40,000 leaflets which they
promised have never been sent. The 'Town' had a public meeting at
which only town ratepayers could speak or vote. We have had no opportunity
to do so even though it is our money they are spending and the extra
cost will go on our rates! A substantial part of this will go on building
a new public building for which there is no justified need.
This is not to take into account the look of the proposals which many
people consider will detract from the town irreversibly.
You may not be allowed to vote on these proposals but you still have
a democratic voice. What can you do to oppose these plans? You can
write to your M.P. and District Councillor, you can write to the Parish
Council expressing your concerns and you could write to the Leader
of the District Council, J.Griffiths. Please do not let inaction ruin
Bury.
Julian Gardner |
Letter
to the editor
Dear Editor,
To Breathe or Not to Breathe - Don't be fooled by the hype.
A few words to those who saw Jenny Bawden's advert in the Wickhambrook
Scene last month - yes, the one claiming that asthma sufferers can
"reduce their medication by up to 90%", and went on to say
"in actual practice this has often proven to be 100% reduction
in medication such as Ventolin".
Don't be fooled by the hype.
The claims above, made by someone who, I presume, charges a fee for
teaching the 'technique', made me angry. Angry because, as an asthmatic,
and someone who has been researching asthma and its treatment over
the past nine years, I know that before any new treatment for asthma
is accepted as 'effective', it must undergo extensive clinical trials;
to ensure that the benefits are real, are not there by chance, and
the treatment is safe. Great efforts are taken to ensure that when
patients benefit, the improvements can be attributed to the new treatment
- and no other reason.
Unfortunately, I have not seen the same level of research into the
Buteyko Breathing Technique (BBT), but just plenty of hype surrounding
anecdotal reports of asthmatics getting relief from a programme of
breathing in through their nose, rather than their mouth.
So to make the sweeping claims that she has made, in my local news
magazine, made me want to warn other asthmatics in the area. I wouldn't
want to stop anyone from finding out more about it, as for some people,
it has clearly helped. But do not attempt to practice the Buteyko
Breathing Technique without first consulting your Doctor, and under
no circumstances change the dosage of your asthma mediation without
consulting your Doctor.
Asthma kills - the UK's 'Asthma UK' charity estimates 1400 people
a year (Jenny Bawden please note, it is not 2000). So ask your Doctor
first.
And when BBT does finally undergo rigorous testing, I'll be as interested
as everyone else in the results.
Jon Bell. |
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