Whispering Smith Column published in the Littlehampton Gazette June 18th 2015

I welcome Councillor  Paul Dendle’s determined effort (Gazette Letters June 11th) to clear up the ‘conspiracy’ theory surrounding the suspected moving of the Sports and Leisure Centre (no mention of the Windmill Complex) but as usual with such outbursts, the protestation only drew attention to the fact that there could well be some truth in that theory and probably went on to confirm that fact in the minds of many a resident. Conspiracies aside though, it would seem to me that the good councillor has little respect for the opinions of certain town council members or indeed Littlehampton folk in general. In the first place the 70 percent of those who voted in favour of retaining the present site actually do live in the Littlehampton area and probably use the facility, unlike the Arun cabinet which, as far as I know, does not have a single member residing in the area. Most importantly though surely is the fact that he openly admits that it is not up to the people of Littlehampton to decide but to Arun district residents as a whole. So, pray tell me, what do those distant folk know of our town’s needs and of our preferences? The answer of course is very little to nothing at all.

ONE day last week I was approached on three separate occasions by three different people for ‘any spare change,’ with one  actually specifing the amount required. This gauntlet was run from the clock tower to Beach Road. It really does beggar belief.

A Littlehampton friend of mine’s daughter, a smartly dressed young lady, was exiting the station and walked right into a barracking from a group of lads carrying beer cans. These foul mouthed young men accused her of being a ‘blankety blank’ foreigner. This was very wrong in so many ways and sometimes I do really despair.

HAPPY to say it is not all groans this week though: I ate my first small but very tasty broad bean, sweet gooseberry and ripe strawberry of the season, I got to see my cricketing hero Kevin Pietersen at Arundel  and I sold a new western novel  Long Ride To Serenity to the publisher making that two this year and we are only halfway through.