151670668

I write to you following the well attended meeting at Foxy’s Delicatessen and restaurant last week.

The purpose of the meeting was to explore the strength of feeling in this town and the surrounding area for the setting up of a museum or similar establishment for Penarth.

The enthusiasm for such was palpable and, in my opinion, laudable.

I also wish to share with your readers as I did with the attendees at the meeting, the significance of the three enamel plaques on the three gables high on the main facade of the Windsor Court apartment block, on the esplanade.

The tile hanging, new gabled roof and other refurbishment works were carried out by my husband, Dale Owen and myself, at the instruction of Harold Williams CBE, as chairman of the residents committee in the early 1980’s, who all contributed to the scheme.

The excellent photograph by your reader, Mary Taylor, in the January 11 issue of the Penarth Times illustrated so well what my late husband and I wished to describe about this town, which should never be forgotten.

The whole reason for Penarth being here at all is the coal mined in the valleys of South Wales and exported across the globe.

The three plaques depict three elements; coal, the garden and the sea. Our intention was to honour the efforts of those who created this garden by the sea.

There is a great tale to be told and we need a Heritage Centre to ensure that it is told well.

Maureen Kelly Owen

Former Chair, civic trust for Wales

Evolution myth?

FURTHER to my last letter (Penarth Times, March 22), I would like to, if I may, expand on my comment that many people nowadays are “evolution brainwashed”.

For decades now, schools, universities, TV nature documentaries - and even the Church - have propagated the myth that the “Theory of (Human) Evolution” is now an irrefutable, scientific fact.

“Human Evolution” teaches that, over millions of years, one “kind” (group/class) of animal gradually changed into another completely different kind, for example: fish into reptiles, reptiles into mammals and, eventually, apes into “advanced apes” - humans.

This is unproven, out-of-date and pseudo-scientific nonsense.

While different species can vary considerably within one’s own kind - such as the few hundred breeds of dog to the (documented) 120,00 species of fly - it is genetically impossible for one kind to gradually change - even over billions of years - into a completely different “kind” of creature.

Like an intricate computer code, the DNA of every living creature is pre-written “pre-programmed” constantly being monitored and corrected by the cell’s ingenious, “self-editing” mechanisms, which do not allow any new information to be added that could, supposedly, facilitate some kind of “evolutionary process” - even by genetic mutation.

Tellingly, it was many decades before microbiology, genetic science and the revolutionary discovery of staggeringly complex DNA - “the blueprint of life” - that the Theory of Evolution first gained widespread acceptance, largely due to the musings of the amateur naturalist Charles Darwin, in his 1859 book, ‘On the Origin of Species’.

How many, who blindly subscribe, ironically, to the real fiction-based “religion” - Human Evolution - are aware that Darwin himself admitted his theory depended, crucially, on future fossil discoveries that would demonstrate the vital intermediary, evolutionary stages - the “missing links” - between different “kinds” of animals?

One and a half centuries - and millions of recorded fossils later - no such links have ever been found.

The simple reason for this was penned by the divinely inspired Moses over 3,500 years ago: “God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds”

Dr John F Harvey

Dinas Powys

Muddy mystery

Having read the various articles and the French assessment of the proposed dumping of ‘mud’ from Hinkley point beach.

I would say that this mud will probably be no more radioactive than your average TV.

Having said that there is already a problem with mud being dumped at the North Cardiff buoy.

In the days of the bucket/chain dredgers with their attending mud hoppers, the MUD dredged from the Cardiff entrance was taken well out to the middle pool buoy before it was dumped in the main current where it would disperse.

Also the two currents from the Ely and the Taff would scour out Penarth Beach and keep it mud free.

What we have today is very different.

The mud from the Queen’s entrance is being vacuumed up by these vacuum dredgers and dumped at the North Cardiff buoy, then the main current of the Seven brings a large per centage of it back on to Penarth Beach.

Since the currents from the Ely and the Taff have been eliminated by the building of the barrage this mud just builds up on the Penarth foreshore.

In the 55 years that I have been fishing Penarth beach I have never seen so much mud on our beach.

What I would like to know is - who gave the instruction to dump this mud at the North Cardiff Buoy?

Graham Vodden

Heath Avenue

Penarth                                                                                                                           

Counting the councillors

Several of our elected politicians have been quick to express their biased views on the latest proposals to merge councils.

Surely, councillors have a conflict of interest in the matter and it will be impossible for the Welsh Government to influence them after failing the first time around.

Perhaps the public, who pay the bill, should have a say!

Vale of Glamorgan councillors tell us that they are the top performing council, suggesting they should be immune from change.

But Wales has too many councils and far too many councillors who cost about £22m each year, so some pruning is required rather than continually cutting services.

During the last attempt on mergers I compared Scotland and Wales to view the bigger picture and to add some evidence to the debate.

Scotland had a population of 5.3m people with 1,223 councillors. Wales is a lot smaller with 3.1m people but we have more councillors, 1,254 the last time I looked.

Scotland averaged 4,334 citizens for each councillor, Wales just 2,472.

One option put forward by the Welsh Government is for 10 councils in Wales and that could reduce the number of councillors by about 500 plus.

In 2014 I estimated that would equate to a saving of more than £11m every year, just on councillor payments.

Add to that a reduction of 12 chief executives, their support and their management teams and it is not difficult to see the potential for massive savings recurring each year.

Do we really need 22 councils in Wales and 47 councillors in our local council?

 Dennis Harkus

Cornwall Rise

Barry

Memories wanted

Testimony Films, social history documentary company (Wales in the Sixties (BBC1 Wales), Diana Princes of Wales (BBC1 Wales) and Veterans of WWI, BBC One) are making a new documentary for BBC Wales on World War One and Remembrance.

We are looking for personal stories from Wales of families or individuals who lost a loved one during the First World War.

We would be interested to hear from you:

If you are in your 90s or 100s (or know someone who is) who lost a father, brother or close relative in WWI and has a story to tell about them.

If you look after a local war memorial or commemorate a loved one whose name is listed on it.

If you have a poignant or personal story and letters, diaries or photos from someone who lost their life in World War One.

If so please write to Lizi or Emily at mail@testimonyfilms.com, telephone us on 0117 9258589 or write a letter to Testimony Films, 12 Great George Street, Bristol, BS1 5RH

Emily Sivyer

Assistant Producer

Cancer concern

I read with great concern a new report by Breast Cancer Now, “Good Enough? Breast Cancer in the UK”.

The report uncovered a number of issues that need to be addressed in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. These include the ability to access effective medicines to prevent and treat breast cancer, concerns about having enough specialist cancer doctors and nurses, and unprecedented financial and operational pressures within the NHS. It is critical that progress is made across these areas.

That’s why I have emailed my local Assembly Members asking them to take action to ensure that Breast Cancer Now can achieve its vision that by 2050, everyone who develops breast cancer will live. I would encourage others to join me and visit breastcancernow.org/goodenough2017

Donna Paterson