Helensburgh Advertiser letters page: June 11, 2020

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Happy writing!

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I READ that visits to the Vale of Leven Hospital (Advertiser, June 4) are now to be by appointment only. Is this the end for the Vale?

The Greater Glasgow health board has been working tirelessly to close that hospital for many years.

Despite the claptrap written in “Vision for the Vale”, they have salami sliced at every opportunity. Posts have not been filled, wards and services have been closed, people have been diverted and directed to their core hospitals within Glasgow and Paisley.

Now we must ring and seek an appointment for something needing a stitch or an illness that becomes a worry in silent hours.

What are the chances that you will go to a local point of contact to be seen? I suspect almost all will be told to either go to Paisley or wait to see the doctor when they can.

The next step is to prove conclusively that services at the Vale are underused and no longer cost effective. There will be no alternative and little argument to final closure of an outlying facility that does not suit the wishes of Greater Glasgow.

This has been on the cards since the old Argyll and Clyde health board was disbanded by a Labour administration in Holyrood many years ago.

Those of us that live in this abandoned area on the north of the Clyde and outside the conurbation of Greater Glasgow are at the mercy of two disinterested health boards.

Highland gets our share of the cash and give a little to the Argyll partnership with instructions to buy all services from Glasgow.

Glasgow grudgingly provides a service but on their terms; we must run to the back and beyond in Paisley if we want attention. The last local service is on its last legs.

Jeane Freeman, the Scottish Government’s health secretary, has taken her eye off the ball because of the virus crisis concerns, and Glasgow has taken its opportunity.

Dougie Blackwood, Helensburgh

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READ MORE: Your letters to the Helensburgh Advertiser: June 4, 2020

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I AM writing to you on Monday evening – at the end of a day when Arrochar was still busier than normal for a Monday.

Following the large numbers of cars that parked around the head of Loch Long at the weekend, people are now getting the hint that police are present, and they are parking at different locations throughout the village.

Traffic police were sitting at Succoth this evening around 5-5.30pm, while cars were parked on the pavements. But they were more interested in catching speeding traffic in the 40mph zone.

People in Arrochar are sick to the back teeth of this. Put double yellow lines from the car park right past the old Arrochar torpedo range, on the whole stretch of road. Then police will have a reason to fine motorists. At present they are parking on a pavement, obstructing vehicles and preventing pedestrians using the foot path. They don’t care about a solid white line. Double yellows will make the difference.

This is a main artery route for heading north – lorries, delivery drivers, NHS staff, all sorts of people keeping essential resources moving during the Covid-19 crisis. The people who come to Arrochar and park their cars on the roadside should not be here. The litter is awful. The parking is awful. Most obvious, causing obstruction on a trunk route!

This needs to be rectified by police, Bear Scotland, Traffic Scotland and local councillors at the earliest opportunity.

Arrochar has people travelling from Edinburgh to walk the Cobbler. Really? That’s a great five mile distance!

The village is angry and furious with this behaviour. I clearly understand city life is not the same; people are wanting to get out and about for exercise and what they are used to.

But we are still in lockdown at the moment and people should be following the government’s guidance.

Chris Johnstone, Arrochar

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READ MORE: Helensburgh Advertiser's letters page: May 28, 2020

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According to Councillor Iain Shonny Paterson, by admission in the Helensburgh Advertiser (June 4), he was out and about visiting his communities the first weekend out of lockdown.

So was Councillor George Freeman, according to Cllr Paterson.

Both appear to have been considerably outwith the five mile government guidelines for travel and without valid reason.

Cllr Paterson then goes on to assert he will continue to mingle in the communities.

Rather than serving a vital function, they appear to have simply been pontificating.

As councillors they are more than capable of using modern technology to work from home to liaise with the community. They simply do not need to travel and risk spreading coronavirus despite whatever precautions they may claim to take.

As a member of the community who has two 86-year-old parents, one a survivor of Covid-19 and another in a critical condition, I find it astonishing and contemptuous that the very people who are in a position of trust to set examples and follow the guidelines are the ones apparently breaking them.

Communities like Luss (the community I live in), which has an elderly population, have been under huge pressure due to inconsiderate members of the public breaking the guidelines on travel and swamping the village recently.

If the councillors too are breaching these guidance rules then how can we expect the public to adhere to them and help the country?

I want us to come out of this pandemic as soon as possible, I have kids that need school, I have a business that needs customers and staff that need work and I would dearly love to visit my parents should I not see them again.

We simply cannot risk another spike and further lockdown. So many wonderful people have made huge personal sacrifices to stay locked down to protect themselves and others.

It would be a tragedy if the careless actions of a few councillors are the difference in our recovery from this pandemic and its ongoing consequences.

David McCowan, Luss

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READ MORE: Readers' latest letters to the Advertiser: May 21, 2020

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I HAVE a great deal of sympathy for what villagers in Luss have been experiencing over the last couple of week.

Luss is a beautiful village where the visitor can enjoy both hills and loch shore.

However, I visited Luss a number of weeks ago and was treated like a leper.

I was pointed at and indeed the police were directed to my car to stop me leaving the village.

I had my little Labradoodles with me, who were a bit traumatised by this treatment.

I say this to the people of Luss: you cannot have it all ways.

Understand that people want to come to you in hard times – maybe they don’t have a nice area to walk their wee companions – but that we will come back when times are better.

Stop being so overly defensive. This is a virus that none of us wished for. If Helensburgh took the same attitude as you we might have roadblocks that let no tourist trade through – and local businesses most definitely need all the help they can get at present.

Alex Winter (via email)

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READ MORE: Helensburgh Advertiser letters page: May 14, 2020

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I WRITE on behalf of Helensburgh Community Council to thank the Argyll and Bute Council employees who have been staffing the temporary recycling facility on Helensburgh Pier.

It has been well organised, has worked well, and has been a great boon to the community who had been stockpiling all their rubbish for what seemed a very long time.

Norman Muir (Convener, Helensburgh Community Council)

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READ MORE: Your letters to the Helensburgh Advertiser: May 7, 2020

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THANK you for publishing our recent letter (Advertiser, May 28) on the former St Andrew’s School in Shandon.

Many people from St Andrew’s School have sadly passed away, and many more have moved to various parts of the country.

However, we have been heartened by the response to our letter – from relatives of former employees whom I thought wouldn’t have remembered us, to a special someone who was there long before us. To hear from them was something special particularly at this difficult time.

We had two wonderful babysitters during our spell there and our thoughts will always be with them.

As time passes it is difficult for us all to decide if we should forget our past in order to move on.

My own experience is that the period that we spent at St Andrew’s provided a solid base from which to move on from redundancy, which all of us had to face.

We all had to face new challenges without the support which we previously had. We applaud you all.

Thank you for your friendship which helped us to move on. Get in touch if you can and would like to – you can email flostie@googlemail.com or call 07879 256073. Stay safe.

Len and Trish Thomson, Balfron

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