Whispering Smith column published in the Littlehampton Gazette April 4th. 2014

IT IS NO big secret that I was less than happy with the closure of our arcade post office and  the way the Post Office handled the situation by pretending to consult us while having made up their minds beforehand. So it was, with not an entirely unbiased attitude, that I paid my first and subsequent second and third visits to the new facility in the High Street expecting to find as much wrong with it as I possibly could. Not quite the way it worked out. I did not have to wait long to be served, there was ample room for queuing, several familiar and surprisingly cheerful faces behind the counters and a general feeling of goodwill from the customers. I worry about the future of our arcade but if we had to lose our Crown Post Office this is a very acceptable replacement and, oh yes, I was given a toffee, a fruit pastel and a liquorice allsort while I waited…

I GATHER that the ceiling price for the new ‘bandstand’ is around £100K and I hope part of that money will be going toward some sort of comfortable seating in the shelter half of the construction. I also understand, at the time of writing, there is reluctance on the part of Arun to close Banjo Road for the opening ceremony in April. This begs the question as to how Arun are going to handle the expected multiple requests for summer road closures in order for the Littlehampton Town Council to put on the many performances needed to justify the original expense? I do not criticise I merely ask the questions in the forlorn hope that others will provide honest answers…

THE RECENT column concerning the seemingly forgotten burial ground in Rustington garnered a great deal of comment on the social media especially from followers of the excellent Rustington, Past and Present group. My thanks to all for the varying and often conflicting comments from local residents, some amusing and some quite sad. The truth is somewhere out there and local historians, the church and the council are seeking answers. Currently the plot is not the responsibility of the Rustington Parish Council but that fact is not hindering their considerable efforts in finding out who is.