Letters, August 5, 2010
Timings at mercy of air crews
IN response to Mr R Cook's letter (Epworth Bells 22 July), his feedback is welcomed by the Rescue Day committee.
I can only assume that he arrived at Rescue Day after 2pm as the 202 Squadron Sea King Helicopter landed at 11:45 and took off again at about 12:45. This was due to other taskings which we as a committee were only made aware of on July 9.
Originally the Sea king was due in at 14:00, this situation had a knock-on effect to other displays and as the Red Devils were scheduled to drop at 13:00 the air space had to be clear prior to this.
The Battle of Britain Flight (Spitfire) was originally booked for 15:00, however, on receipt of a telephone call from the pilot on Friday afternoon, he too had to be re-scheduled to conduct a fly-past at 13:25.
All aerial displays were booked by way of a bid through appropriate channels in October of 2009 including the Red Arrows.
Unfortunately the Red Arrows routing allocation is only notified to the bidders five to ten working days before the date of the event is bid for. I was informed by way of email six days before Rescue Day that we were not on their scheduled routing and the Rescue Day website reflected this.
It was all the more disappointing after they had conducted a practice fly-past over 7 Lakes in January, unfortunately this was prior to the mid air collision of two of the Red Arrows while practising their 2010 display in February in Crete.
This affected the availability for the Red Arrows to attend the events which had placed bids for them. It is unfortunate Rescue Day was one of these events affected and we were as disappointed as everyone else that they were not able to conduct a fly-past.
The timings of the aerial displays are by and large determined by the organisations providing them and the Rescue Day committee has to work around them even at very short notice and advertise accordingly. However, we apologise to all attending Rescue Day once again for any disappointment caused by these changes.
Regarding the point of parking - the furthest car park to the south of 7 Lakes (towards the M180) was kindly provided by Mr Shaun Hunt.
This was adjacent to the Golf Course which I assume is the one Mr Cook was directed into. This car park was closer to 7 Lakes than Belton by 1.4 miles.
The police directed cars into car parks in order to expedite the traffic flow and as such minimise congestion.All car parks were utilised to assist with this.
The bottom line in regard to the Rescue Day event was that it produced some outstanding positives in that the community spirit was superb, the safety messages delivered were very well received and a very worthy charity will be provisioned with a substantial amount of money in the very near future once money from the raft race and several items from the auction at the Pink Ball have been added to the money raised so far.
Rescue Day 2011 is on July 9th, the Rescue Day committee sincerely hope residents both local and throughout the region will continue to provide their support and ensure Rescue Day's continuing success.
John Armson
On behalf of the Rescue Day Committee
I'M pleased that Epworth Colts have been able to find a new home but very sorry that petty power games have forced 150 local youngsters to move away from their usual sports facilities at Belton Playing Field.
It seems especially incongruous that these shenanigans have taken place at a time when growing concern about children's and young people's health has led to millions of pounds of public money being spent by successive governments to encourage exercise and combat obesity.
I'm sure that the behaviour by officers of Belton Playing Field Association (BFPA) in respect of Epworth Colts was not what would have been expected by the founding benefactors like the late Alec Ross, people whose names appear on the original playing field deeds, or the countless other Belton people who have fund raised tirelessly over many years.
Successive Belton Parish Council accounts show that, through the parish precept, BPFA is the biggest single recipient of village council tax payers' money.
Even though its facilities are income generating, BPFA has always sought money from the parish council, for example for loans and grants for capital works and also to cover such items as basic insurance policies and subsidies for grant applications.
Such monies have always been forthcoming from the council because members believe the playing field and pavilion are tremendous assets to the village.
In return there was no doubt the expectation that, being Belton parishioners' money, there would be accountability and equal opportunity for access by organisations which benefit the community as a whole.
Let's not forget that Epworth Colts too have contributed financially to developing facilities by bringing a lucrative Sport England grant.
Of course, there are always two sides to an argument but it is a pity that the pawns here have been our young people.
This fiasco between BPFA and Epworth Colts makes me question whether the scope of the operation at the playing field is now beyond the comfort zone of the current BPFA officers and that it may be better off run as a social enterprise, with greater accountability and transparency to local council tax payers.Finally, I am a member of Belton Parish Council and stress that these views are personal, but shared by a number people in the village, and are not a collective opinion of Belton Parish Council.
Gilly Greensitt
High Street
Belton.
IS Dave Ripley (letters, July 29) serious in his suggestion to establish a Belton-based football team exclusively for Belton children?
Surely this highlights Mr Ripley's narrow-minded view of encouraging children in sport. Any decent club must give equal opportunity to all children and not create barriers according to where a child lives.
Mr Ripley implies that users of the facilities at Belton Playing Field are unwelcome if they are not from Belton itself. This would be alarming news for the dance group, exercise classes, Scouts, the Autumn Club and anyone attending the concerts or considering hiring the pavilion.
Name and address withheld.
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Friday 18 May 2012
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