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Park charge ‘ridiculous’

I WOULD like to congratulate the out of touch councillors who made the decision to charge £2 for someone to park and take their dog for a 30-minute walk around Lydiard Park.

I agree with a charge to use the park but to charge £2 minimum is ridiculous.

Do the decision makers not understand that during the summer many young families use the park as their only means of socialising?

Just walk around the park and see the many groups of young women with their children, all enjoying themselves.

A very large proportion of these groups are one-parent families who often find this as their only means of getting out and meeting friends. It is also a place where groups of mothers can meet with their children, all having barbecues and playing games. A safe place to take their children off the streets.

Now you are charging them each £2 to do this.

Also, what about the old lady who likes to take her little dog for a 10-minute walk every day, now she is going to be charged £2 a time for this privilege.

Therefore costing her £14 a week, probably making her decide whether to eat or take the dog for a walk.

I fully appreciate that the park costs money to run and maintain, but isn’t that is what we pay council tax for?

A charge of 50p for an hour and more for a longer stay would be much more acceptable and give people a choice.

As it is now you are going to get people parking in roads outside and causing problems. I can foresee the park being used much less, as a lot of families will not be able to afford to go there so often.

But I don’t expect this will worry the decision makers, as more than likely, they are the ones who never use it.

Paying £2 would not affect their pocket at all, £2 may not seem much to many but it is a great deal when you do not have it.

JOHN STEVENS

Cloatley Crescent

Royal Wootton Bassett

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Thanks to a stranger

MY HUSBAND and I were on vacation from the States on June 11, 2015.

We were on our way to Stowe On The Wold and were utterly and completely lost.

We stopped at a gas station hoping to get some directions from the attendant.

He couldn’t help us but a customer not only gave us directions but had us follow her.

She practically took us to our hotel, which took her out of her way home to Swindon.

In the confusion we never did get her name but I wanted the people of Swindon to know how wonderfully she represented your city and England.

I hope she gets to read this to know what her kindness meant to two lost seniors in a foreign country.

We will never forget her kindness. We thank her and will remember how a stranger took the time to help us.

I’m hoping she’ll somehow get to read this and know what an impact she made on us and our vacation.

BARBARA KERRIGAN

Virginia

USA

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‘Money for old (eu)rope!’

I WOULD like to offer clarification to the figures Steve Thompson quotes (Letters 12 July 12) for Nigel Farage’s income as an MEP.

If Mr Farage stays as an MEP for the next two years, his salary will not be £12,000.

Rather, he will trouser £84,000 a year.

Also, he will get a monthly allowance for administrative expenses of more than £3,500 (£42,000 p.a.).

When he attends EU parliamentary sessions, which isn’t often, he is entitled to a daily allowance of £256. There are numerous additional allowances which he claims too.

It is reported Mr Farage’s voting record is the worst of any MEPs, apart from an Irish member who is paralysed and has never voted.

I am not sure if this qualifies our UKIP representative as being on a “graveyard train” as printed in Mr Thompson’s letter, but one might call it money for old (eu)rope!

BASIL JONES

Grosvenor Road

Old Town, Swindon

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Grass cuttings untidy

I WENT down to the children’s fete at Faringdon Road Park on July 9.

It was a lovely afternoon, apart from one thing. Whoever cut the grass, why didn’t they pick up the cuttings?

It looked so untidy and was very awkward to walk on, especially with a cane.

Can’t this council do anything right? The fete was to celebrate 150 years of culture and heritage, the least they could have done was to make the park look tidy.

L TOWNSEND

Redcliffe Street, Swindon

A book conundrum

I ALWAYS find Graham Carter’s column thought-provoking, and respect his knowledge of Swindon’s history.

On July 11, referring to Swindon’s libraries, he brought to mind the old adage “neither a borrower nor a lender be.” How many readers have loaned books, never to be seen again? How many borrowers have acquired a library?

MYRA HARTSHORN

Carlisle Avenue, Swindon

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Irony recognised

JEREMY Kemble takes me to task for not recognising the irony of his comment in which he referred to a frequently used phrase of the Remain group that Brexit supporters wanted to send “all the east Europeans back to their own countries” (SA11 July 11).

I did recognise it as irony, hence my short and hopefully pithy response.

DES MORGAN

Caraway Drive, Swindon

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Voting age petition

SUPPORT a petition to keep the voting age at 18 for UK elections. Go to www.petitions24.com, enter petitions started July 3 and sign “Petition Voting Age.”

FE SHARPE

Fletcher Crescent, Plymouth