We’ve talked about the BLUE PLAQUES FOR ESSEX WOMEN on several recent programmes.
Most recently on 21st June we met up with Jan Curtis of the Federation of Essex Women’s Institutes who told us about the first event undertaken under their sponsorship which was the unveiling of a plaque in May at Ugley Village Hall to commemorate NANCY TENNANT.
One of the people who attended that event was a distant cousin of Nancy’s, SARAH BARCLAY who I was pleased to speak with today to learn a little more about Nancy’s life.
Listen here to what Sarah had to say: –
And as SARAH has written a book about Nancy called EDEN’S KEEPERS, if you’d like to know more why not grab a copy from AMAZON, W H SMITH, or as they say all good book sellers.
Coming more up to date, I think it’s fair to say that finding a parking space for your car is becoming increasingly challenging and today we heard about a couple of horrendous issues.
At the start of his shift, James Dee, a bus driver in London, followed his usual practice of parking his Vauxhall Safira in Beadman Street, Norwood, but when he returned later to collect his car, was stunned to find that in his absence, the council had painted double yellow lines underneath the vehicle.
Fortunately Mr Dee was able to uncover CCTV footage capturing the moment a truck arrived to lift his vehicle off the ground to allow the lines to be painted underneath. The same camera then recorded the moment 40 minutes later when a traffic warden arrived on the scene and slapped a £55 penalty ticket on the windscreen.
In spite of this Lambeth Council initially rejected his appeal against the fine but have since had a change of heart.
Mr Dee pointed out that when they put the car back on the road, had they placed it just 6 inches further forward, it would have been legally parked.
Clearly incidents like this are not confined to London as 75-year old Andy Smith discovered to his cost.
When dropping off a friend at the Leonardo Hotel hotel at East Midlands Airport, on the 2nd January he stopped his car momentarily to read a parking notice only to be hit later by a £100 fine. He had already dropped off one friend at the airport drop off zone without any problems.
But spotting a barrier blocking the the entrance to the hotel car park, and uncertain how to access the hotel he paused for less than a minute to read the sign.
His appeal against the charge notice resulted in the fine being increased to £255.
Mr Smith argued reasonably that if the sign isn’t supposed to be read, why is it there? It could not possibly be read whilst driving past it as it contained too much detail.
Once again sense seems to have prevailed, as after the issue was taken up by NOTTINGHAMSHIRE LIVE, East Midlands Airport cancelled the charge and apologised to Mr Smith for the inconvenience he had experienced.
Assuming I can park without a problem I hope to be with you again tomorrow,
Scott
