Whispering Smith Column published in the Littlehampton Gazette May 1st. 2014

I WENT along to the Annual Town Meeting last week, expecting very little and getting even less. It seems to me that although the town council appear to support many of the items raised, especially the future of the Windmill, and even though some council members sit on Arun, they have very little pulling power with the so called cabinet and it is those cabinet members we must target in the next election if we wish to protect Littlehampton. Town council members are toothless lions: they roar a great deal but have no teeth with which to bite. Katy Bourne the Sussex Crime Commissioner, gave a feisty report which, again, promises a lot but, on the face of it, delivers very little. We still have some very off putting anti social behaviour daily in our town centre and cyclists still wheely freely among the pedestrians in the ‘no cycling’ precinct. She also seemed to suggest that there is no such animal as an independent councillor in politics. I know this not to be true and, although they may well be in the minority several are, although affiliated to a party, quite clearly independent thinkers and their presence along with the genuine independent members is encouraging.

A RECENT question posted on the excellent Littlehampton Flashback Facebook group site by a facebooker who asked if any other places in town were haunted other than The Dolphin public house in Surrey Street and the response was pretty immediate. It would appear from the replies that Littlehampton is the ghost capital of the world as shops, houses, pubs, clubs and even streets and alleyways are reported to be frequented by spectoral beings or spiritual phenomena of all kinds. Seems a mystery to me that, with such an abundance of spirits around town, some local entrepreneur doesn’t follow Arundel’s lead and organise summer ghost walks to entertain the visitors and, as there is so little else for visitors to see and do around here, it might be a big hit. Keep away from my house though, it really is haunted my children and cat assure me of that and I don’t want to upset my door or window rattlers too much, I teed them off a bit last year when I invited a local ghost hunter to visit…