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Why would someone steal a funeral cart? |
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Sunday, 07 March 2010 18:28 |
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A home in Low Worsall, near Yarm has been storing a funeral cart which was used for many years until around 1900 and has been wheeled out for many a village history exhibition. Sometime in the last week of February someone stole the cart which has been described as priceless and of great sentimental value to the villagers. I find it a real shame that this important part of the village life doesn't appear to have been widely photographed or at least they are not available online, but if someone offers you an old wooden cart make sure you know where it came from. |
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Sarahs Law - Is your neighbour grooming your children? |
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It's been announced today that Sarahs Law, a scheme for parents to be able to check the backgorund of those who their children come into contact with is going to be rolled out to a further 18 areas, the scheme has been piloted in 4 areas including Stockton-On-Tees and there has been 315 applications with the outcome that concerns were confirmed in 32 of those cases. One of the cases being cited is where a neighbour had begun offering sweets to children. The parent contacted the police who confirmed he was a registered sex offender banned from contacting children. However there are concerns that Sarahs Law may have a similar effect to a similar scheme in the US where one in five sex offenders have disappeared out of view where as currently in the UK there is contact with 97% of known offenders. From a personal point of view as a parent it's a tough call as these stories always prey on the subconcious and our belief that we have to protect children, afterall it's what most of us are preprogrammed to do, but the underlying story here seems to suggest that this will cause more problems than it will solve. I don't know the answer, do you? |
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Give young people a chance |
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Sunday, 14 February 2010 10:33 |
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There is a Youth Project in an area quite local to me that has had a venue for some time but has recently had to find a new one. A local church has offered the group a room and the nearby residents are up in arms about it. Am I the only one to find this very NIMBYish? One thing I often heard as a youngster was there was never anything for the local youths to do that's why that got bored and sometimes went off the rails, someone makes an effort to set something up to keep them off the streets and according to quotes from local newspapers "local residents will be scared to go out" and are setting up a committee to deal with problems that MAY arise. I looked at a recent news item from 2009 that showed that this venue had found 25 people employment, has helped one youngster who had had a couple of run ins with the police gain a place at college and an apprenticeship. I think it's about time we respected our young people, I'm not sure how we can expect respect back if we automatically paint a picture of people just by virtue of their age group, a teenager is not necessarily a bad thing to be. One thing that also stuck in mind is that this area can hardly be classed as a residential area, it is just off the main shopping area, at least one church, one pub, several B & Bs, shops and other business with a few houses in between.  | I remember once an incident in our local High Street where I saw a lady coming towards me with the most beautiful bunch of flowers, I smiled and said "wow, aren't they amazing? Are they for someone very special?" She called me a cheeky oik (or words to that effect) and hit me with her bag. |
We get phone calls from worried parents of this age group, maybe they are concerned about who they are hanging around with after school, or they are not sure if their child is taking or dealing with drugs and very happily most of the time we are able to offer the reassurance that their child is just your usual teenager, but on the occasions where a parent was right to be concerned we do recommend that they talk to agencies that are able to advise them on the best way to approach the issues. |
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Ripped off by the price of coal. |
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Trading standards in North Yorkshire have warned today prior to another forecasted cold snap that they have received many complaints about consumers being ripped off by coal men. It seems that gone are the days when you could trust that a bag of coal was 25kg or 50kg for the large bag, now you need to buy some scales to weigh it yourself. One of the things you should look at is making sure that the van being driven has the companies name and contact details on. If you're offered quantities other than 25Kg or 50kg you are also likely to be dealing with a cowboy. Never buy from someone just passing, who knocks on your door, ask the neighbours who they use. Anyone with a complaint about a solid fuel supplier should contact the trading standards team via Consumer Direct on 0845 4040506 |
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Gold buying companies in the spotlight |
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Thursday, 21 January 2010 19:09 |
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I was pleased to see postal gold buying companies are going to be looked at by the OFT in a little more detail. The adverts tempt often the most vulnerable people in that often the ones that can least afford to lose money. There have been complaints and concerned raised that sometimes the opt out of the deal clause is not being honoured and as the purchase of gold through the post is a relatively new concept, a need was felt to check. Which, the consumer magazine had carried out a survey that showed that sellers got around 6% of the value of the gold and urges consumers to shop around. I have a pretty low opinion of well known faces that get involved in these things, people think well it must be ok if Dale Winton says it is. People who don't want to be spotted going into local jewellers or pawn shop might resign themselves to the very small sums being offered despite the current high in gold values. |
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