A welcome pledge – but we must be as generous as possible
We applaud Wokingham Borough Council’s prompt action in beginning the process to re-settle locally some of the thousands of people fleeing from the horrific events in Afghanistan.
We share the belief of so many in our community that we in Britain have a huge debt of honour to those Afghans who gave so much support to our British Forces to bring stability to Afghanistan and beyond.
Their fearless and brave efforts have now placed them and their loved ones in grave danger.
Our response locally and as a nation will literally be life-changing for thousands.
We understand the reasons why our Council has said that it hopes to be able to settle two or three Afghan families.
But we ask that this be treated as an initial commitment.
Nationally, the numbers needing resettlement are enormous.
The reality is that all of us will need to step up to the mark and be as generous as possible to those Afghans seeking sanctuary.
We appreciate the utmost urgency of identifying places for resettlement.
Safe homes and supports are needed now.
We repeat again our support for the actions taken by our Council so far. But let this just be the beginning.
Let’s see the offer to provide safe haven for two or three Afghan families as a starting point.
We believe that our local community wishes our Council to be as generous as possible to those brave Afghans who have suffered unimaginably.
Let our community rally to this challenge and show Wokingham Borough and all of our residents at our very best.
We pledge to support theCouncil and local organisations, and to do everything within our power to help those Afghans fleeing to the UK in their time of dire need.
Wokingham Borough Liberal Democrat Councillor Group
Stop big-business fishing vessels
Big-business fishing vessels are killing our planet.
They destroy the sea bed habitat, decimate everything in their wake, prevent normal regeneration, destroy local fishing industries and ignore pleas to leave ‘protected’
areas untouched for the good of us all.
The oceans need to be effectively policed so that activity can be properly monitored and those who care only about profit can be prevented from stripping our oceans of life.
No live, extensive biodiversity in our oceans means a dead planet for our children.
Please do everything that you can to stop these madmen.
God loves all life and we must fight with all our strength to stop evil people destroying life.
Pamela Barnard, Wokingham
Decline in the oceans
It has been easy to ignore the decline of our oceans.
Having grown up by the sea in Wales, and previously the river Avon, and more recently the Thames in Reading, I’ve always had a connection to the rivers and oceans around the UK.
Hearing the ongoing impact of supertrawlers it feels we have lost our connection to the seas, and the impact on fishing stocks.
In 1497 reports from the crews of John Cabot where of ”the sea there is full of fish that can be taken not only with nets but with fishing-baskets”.
Similar descriptions continued over the next hundred years from the Americas.
The comparison with UK waters is stark, where, no doubt some centuries before these journeys to America, we would have seen similar expanses of wildlife.
Looking to today, UK fishers today have to work 17 times as hard for the same size catches as 120 years ago; the UK has lost 90% of its seagrass meadows; and two thirds of the UK’s key fish stocks are overfished and severely depleted.
Surely it is time for focus to be put on the environment and oceans (which hold 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere).
Chris Ashworth, Wokingham
Contradictory trees
It is interesting to note the contradiction of recent planning approvals against Wokingham Borough Council’s policy on increasing the tree population.
The approval to cut down 58 mature trees of which six groups will be completely removed at Sand Martins Golf Club together with the approval to remove hundreds of
large mature trees at Bearwood Lakes are examples of the permitted destruction of mature trees being permitted.
We were told in March this year that the Council have received a grant from the Woodland Trust to plant 250,000 trees across the Borough, if not already done so when will these start to be planted and will they be in the same geographic area to where tree felling has been permitted, I think not.
It will take decades for these new trees to reach the maturity and pollution benefits of those now destroyed.
It is all very well talking about the benefit of trees to our environment but all I am seeing is a net loss across the Borough.
Tony Delliston, Wokingham
Don’t ban peaceful protests
Not many people are talking about the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
But if it passes Parliament, it will have an impact on all our lives.
The bill gives unprecedented powers to the Police to ban peaceful demonstrations outright and to ban ‘noisy’ protests.
The definition of a noisy protest includes a protest involving noise made by just one person.
It’s been revealed that the Police Federation was not consulted on this huge extension of police powers. Furthermore, a respected group of former Police Officers has expressed grave concerns.
In a letter to the Home Secretary they said, “Echoing the concerns voiced by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and other professional bodies, we believe that this Bill has dangerous and harmful implications for the ability of police officers to enforce the law and for the health of our democracy as a whole.”
If the next time a group of residents, or even a single resident, wants to protest against a housing development or a council decision, the Police could just say ‘No’.
You might expect this from the Chinese Government in Hong Kong, but we shouldn’t put up with it in the UK.
If any other of your readers are worried at the prospect of their right to protest being curtailed, I would encourage them to write to their MP and ask them to oppose this repressive legislation. Or they could support organisations like Unlock Democracy which are campaigning against the Bill.
Dennis Flanagan, Wokingham
Have a big voice
Throughout September, for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, the UK’s leading children’s cancer charity, Young Lives vs Cancer, will be helping children with cancer have their voices heard…they may be little, but they have BIG voices!
Having cancer when you’re a child is scary, lonely, relentless and painful.
Over the past year our children have missed out on so much. But for many children with cancer they are still swapping classrooms for chemotherapy, still waving at family members through windows and watching friends blow out birthday candles via phone screens.
This Childhood Cancer Awareness Month we want everyone to see children with cancer for who they are and who they want to be. Because they are more than their cancer.
We would love to see the local community come together to help young people with cancer in Berkshire, and there are lots of ways to get involved…
We’re looking for volunteers to represent Young Lives vs Cancer at our bucket collections in local Morrisons stores.
We have various dates and times throughout September.
All available dates and sign-up details can be found here: younglivesvscancer.org.uk/join-our-fight/get-volunteering/volunteer-this-ccam/. In return, volunteers will get a warm fuzzy feeling, a huge sense of pride and a big ‘thank you’ from
the young people they will be
helping.
In the UK, children with cancer face an average 60-mile round trip to hospital to get life-saving treatment, with many travelling further.
We would love people in the local community to sign up to our Challenge60.
They could run 60 miles throughout the month (two miles a day), complete a 60-mile bike ride, or even hop, we don’t mind.
People can also support young people with cancer by purchasing their very own Young Lives vs Cancer gold ribbon pin badge, which are available at Morrisons stores, or you can order one online for a suggested £1 donation.
Last year in Berkshire we supported 91 families and gave out 51 grants worth £9,550 to help families with the sudden costs that a cancer diagnosis brings.
We’d like to thank the community for their ongoing support. Their efforts mean Young Lives vs Cancer can be there for the children and young people of Berkshire with cancer, keeping families together by providing Home from Homes near hospitals and financial grants for support.
You can find more information about about all of the ways to get involved this Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, make a donation or shop online at younglivesvscancer.org.uk #MoreThanMyCancer
Rose Bailey, Young Lives vs Cancer
Ending homelessness begins with mental health support
There is no question that the pandemic has had a real impact on people’s mental health right across the country.
We’ve had the anxiety and uncertainty around the virus itself coupled with isolating, being separated from loved ones and missing out on the daily interactions we probably took for granted before.
For people experiencing homelessness, all this has come on top of having nowhere to call home.
Working as part of a team of Clinical Psychologists at Crisis, I see at first-hand how disproportionately people facing homelessness are affected by mental health issues.
Many of these issues are linked to previous and devastating trauma and are only made worse by the circumstances they are forced to live in.
Part of our work at Crisis is to ensure our clients have the psychological support they need to establish a life away from homelessness. Keeping this going through the pandemic has been
a real challenge and Crisis staff have been finding all sorts of creative solutions.
In the early days of the pandemic, our coaches worked rapidly to provide phones, tablets, laptops and data to our clients who needed it and adapted our services, including our psychological support, so we could provide a continued lifeline over the phone and online.
With lockdown and restrictions now eased, it is a relief for our clients to feel less of the added mental pressure that we’ve had from the circumstances of the last year and for face-to-face support to be more of an option again.
Whether in person or online, all our work is only made possible by the fantastic people and organisations who support us, meaning we can continue to help people across the country leave homelessness behind for good.
On behalf of Crisis and the thousands of people we support each year, we would particularly like to thank the players of People’s Postcode Lottery, in the South-East and elsewhere, who have helped fund the vital work of our Clinical Psychologists in such difficult times.
Peter Oakes, Lead Clinical Psychologist at Crisis
