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Letters
We must unite to save this society
Can we really let Wimborne Horticultural Society close down? With a drop in membership and entries at the Wimborne Horticultural Society Spring Show on April 9, there is a serious risk of having to close. In one form or another there has been a Horticultural Society connected to Wimborne Minster since the mid-1800s. Indeed the first mention of the Blandford & Wimborne Horticultural Society in several of the local newspapers refers to a show on Thursday, July 3, 1856, held on the lawn of the Allendale House. If theAutumn Show under the present society is to go ahead on September 10, it will be the 73rd Show. My wife and I joined the society when we first moved to Dorset 46 years ago and over the intervening years we have participated in some very successful Spring and Summer and, more recently, Autumn Shows. So help and support is urgently needed. There will be an open meeting to decide the future on Monday, May 9, at 7.30pm in the Allendale Centre and an appeal is being made to anyone interested in horticulture to attend. Further details can be obtained from Tony Beard, show manager on 01202 880116.
Anthony Oliver Wimborne
OFF THE WALL...
Cartoon by Lyndon Wall justsocaricatures.co.uk
Perhaps Mr Chope could question government waste
No doubt we are all pleased to hear (NS&A, April 8) that Christopher Chope MP will pursue Government waste, especially within the National Health Service. Perhaps he could enquire why his Government refused the findings of the June 2019 Nervtag government committee and did not stockpile any PPE equipment in readiness for the next inevitable pandemic and which duly arrived some months later, finding the NHS inexcusably ill-equipped. Then he could ask why the Government awarded, without due tendering processes, supply contracts to random and often entirely bizarre companies, many of whom had ties to the Conservative party. The Good Law Project will furnish him with full details which also show that equipment supplied at highly-inflated prices often proved below standard and could not be used - this now stored at a cost of £1m a day in warehouses awaiting disposal or destruction. Loss of taxpayers’ money to date on this equipment alone is £7.9billion. This is just the money - our money - that his Government has squandered to date on the Pandemic relating to NHS personnel equipment. Space does not permit more detail of the horrifying Johnson government waste.
Roland Britain
by email
Please help me teach the disadvantaged to swim
I run a swimming school in Wimborne. Recent hikes in the cost of living and utilities for businesses are gradually making learning to swim an elitist thing, putting it out of reach to many children. Many schools also no longer have the budget or facilities to pay for the term of lessons they are supposed to, meaning many children miss out. So I am hoping to start a session which is funded by local business sponsors where disadvantaged children/refugees, etc, can learn to swim and have time in the pool at no cost. If any businesses or individuals may be able to help, please let me know at emmasosswim@gmail.com. Many thanks,
