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Traffic diatribe

Reading Mr Lack’s letter in Saturday’s SA, his diatribe of Junction 16 and Bruce Street Roundabouts, I felt was little more than a juvenile rant.

As a driving instructor I am constantly dismayed at drivers who believe that their knowledge and expertise is infinitely better than those who have spent years learning and studying their profession.

Motorists who constantly complain about modern, light controlled junctions should try to understand that they are sharing a public space; it is not their own personal highway. Junctions are places where traffic converges from diverse directions. By their very nature they are dangerous.

Those professionals that plan the layout of junctions must surely have the goal in mind of processing the maximum amount of traffic, equally from all directions, as safely as possible. If one direction has an advantage then it will be to the detriment of the others. The use of traffic lights helps achieve that aim. It is not designed to hold up the progress of those motorists who are selfishly obsessed with speed.

I have recently had the pleasure of driving over the new junction 16 roundabout on two occasions with 17 year old learner drivers. My brief to them was, “look at the signs, look at the lane markings carefully and don’t rush.” Apart from the odd word from me, (usually, “stay in lane”), they handled it well from numerous directions.

If Mr Lack has a better idea for the layout of the junction, perhaps he would be kind enough to draw it up and put it in the pages of this newspaper.

Neil Maw, Osprey Close, Covingham

A shameless scam

Will they stop at nothing? My 91 year old mother lives in sheltered housing in Swindon. Out of the blue, on Tuesday morning a “solicitor” from an unfamiliar company rang to remind her about the Power of Attorney arrangements they apparently had discussed before. “You remember” he said. “You told us to ring back in 2018 about details.”

My mother could not remember (having had no such conversation). “I don’t deal with this sort of thing on the phone.” she replied. Instantly, the phone-line went dead, leaving her very upset.

Clearly, the “solicitor” was no such thing. He wanted her bank details. If she had been fooled, she could have had all her accounts emptied in an instant.

We have probably all had the “Your computer is about to crash” phone calls but this really sinks to new depths – targeting older people about spurious Power of Attorney arrangements and potentially stripping them of everything.

I write this as a warning to everyone living in sheltered housing and their families and carers. Please be vigilant about this latest scam.

Dr Cathy Davis, Findon Street, Sheffield

One-sided attitude

I have no flag to wave for anybody, but the letter from John Stooke surely warrants a reply.

I’m not sure just how many Palestinians’took part in that demonstration that day, numbers go from about 200 to as many as thousands. It has now been published, and not denied, that of those killed, 50 of them were Hamas fighters. Can I ask John, if those people had managed to break through the barriers, do you think the people living in the encampments nearby would have been safe given that Hamas has declared that all Jews should be killed?

As for the baby who died, due to the gas attack, who in their right mind would take such a young child to a demonstration such as this, where violence was the name of the day?

He makes comment about the stone throwing protesters. Would he stand in the line and face such stone throwing people then, and think it was their right? Perhaps he can confirm if Hamas is still firing rockets into Israel, on a daily basis.

Welcome to one-sided attitudes.

T Reynolds, Wheeler Avenue, Swindon

Please consider cats

In the run up to National Volunteering Week (1- 7 June), Cats Protection would like to extend our thanks to the many thousands of volunteers throughout the country who offer their time and expertise to help cats and kittens across the UK.

In 2017 our 10,200-strong volunteer network contributed an incredible 5.5 million hours, each volunteer gifting a wealth of expertise and immeasurable passion to the charity. Their dedication enabled Cats Protection to help around 200,000 cats and kittens nationwide.

Cats Protection is always on the lookout for new volunteers to join the UK’s biggest cat community. Though a large part of our work is helping cats, through fostering and rehoming, our volunteers have the opportunity to become involved with a range of interesting activities such as organising fundraising events, helping with publicity or managing funds and resources to benefit the greatest amount of cats. Volunteering can offer the chance to develop skills such as time management, interpersonal skills and teamwork, making CVs much more attractive and of course helping cats!

Anyone who is interested in becoming a volunteer can go to our website https://www.cats.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering to find out more.

Julie Meredith, Cats Protection Head of Volunteering Development

Quiz night success

The Highworth Branch of the RNLI would like to thank all those people who took part in the quiz held at the Saracens in Highworth on Sunday 20th May.

A wonderful £200 was raised in aid of this worthy cause.

Anyone wanting information about our local activities, please contact Ron Rose on 07759 439480

Ron Rose, Secretary of the Highworth Branch of the RNLI, Twickenham Close, Swindon