Tendring Topics…….on Line
A Voluntary Curfew?
Could a voluntary curfew for teenagers make a contribution towards eliminating antisocial behaviour? It doesn't really sound very likely but Brightlingsea's Neighbourhood Specialist Police Officer, PC Danny Harris, thinks that it will and he is certainly in a better position to know than most of us.
He is writing to all parents, and to every carer and guardian in the town and in the neighbouring rural parishes of Alresford and Elmstead Market requesting help in 'assisting Essex Police address various antisocial problems which typically involve young people. Noise, disturbance, under-age drinking and petty criminal damage can be particularly distressing for elderly members of our community'.
The police suggest that ten to twelve year olds should be off the streets by 7.30 p.m. on weekdays and half an hour later at weekends. For twelve to fourteen year olds the curfew hour should be at 8 p.m. on weekdays and 9.30 p.m. at weekends, and for fourteen to sixteen year olds 9.00 p.m. on weekdays and 10.30 p.m. on weekends.
There were it seems 161 incidents if antisocial behaviour in Brightlingsea between 1st April and 30th September this year. Town Mayor Graham Steady, who is backing the idea, is reported as saying that Brightlingsea is not as bad as other areas. 'What the Police do say is that there are problems in certain areas at certain times. It is a case of asking parents "Do you know where your kid is?" People blame kids but are the parents more to blame?'
The suggested curfew times seem eminently reasonable to me, generous in fact. I'd have certainly been worried if either of my sons had, at the age of fifteen, made a practice of staying out until 9.00 p.m. on weekdays and 10.30 p.m. at weekends. But that, I realize, was forty years ago!
Will it work? Experience elsewhere suggests that it may. A similar pilot scheme that ran for six weeks in Redruth, Cornwall during the summer is said to have reduced antisocial behaviour by 60 percent and crime overall by 50 percent.
I have a feeling that it will work best with kids who really only go out with their mates in the evening because it is expected of them. They get into trouble either because they get bored with just 'hanging around', or because they feel they must demonstrate their machismo by carrying out some reckless or unlawful act. Such young people may well have the kind of caring and responsible parents whose co-operation is essential to the scheme's success.
The delinquent minority, whose only leisure interest is that of making trouble for other people, will probably regard the voluntary curfew as a challenge. They'll make a point of staying out every night beyond the time of their curfew. The sad thing is that they are the very ones whose parents don't care, who may in fact even encourage them in their defiance. Let us hope that they are a very small minority!
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Incentives to Loyalty
Among the side effects of the application of 'the values of the market place' to public services is a scarcity of staff experienced in the particular circumstances with which that service is dealing plus, I think, a loss of any sense of loyalty between employers and employed.
In local government, for instance, it was not unusual before World War II for a school leaver to enter the service as a junior at the age of sixteen and carry on in the same department of the same council until he retired. During the course of that half century he might well acquire qualifications in the particular field in which he was working and be promoted several times, possibly even retiring as the head of the same department that he had joined as an office boy. I have said 'he' because most girls who then entered the local government service hoped that their ultimate career would be home-making with a husband and a family.
In those days no-one became rich serving the public in a Town Hall. However the service offered safe and, at least in some cases, satisfying jobs that paid an adequate salary with a pension at the end. It also offered, except for those who seriously misbehaved themselves, complete job security. Local government officers moved from one authority to another only for promotion and rarely more than two or three times during the course of their professional lives.
I have been an exception in having worked for six local authorities and having been a junior clerk, public health inspector, housing manager and public relations officer. However even I managed to clock up twenty-five years service with Tendring District Council and two of its predecessors before taking early retirement to pursue yet another career as a freelance writer!
Nowadays, we are told, no-one can expect a 'job for life'. Many local government officers are employed on relatively short-term contracts. Others know that they could at any time face redundancy as a result of political upheavals, local, regional or national re-organisation, or 'modernisation and down-sizing'.
As a result of this, local councils continually get 'fresh blood'; eager, forward looking young men and women who bring new ideas and energy into dusty municipal corridors as they elbow their way 'to the top'. They rarely stay more than a year or two before dashing on to pursue their ambitions elsewhere.
What councils no longer get is the wisdom that comes with experience, with knowing the strengths and weaknesses of colleagues and subordinates, and gives the ability to say. 'We tried that idea out twenty-five years ago, and it didn't work. Perhaps if we amend it in this, that or the other way it will work this time'. Nor do they get the loyalty that comes with a feeling of security in the trust and goodwill of one's employers.
I was pleased to see that Tendring Council is recognising those qualities by offering its staff loyalty and long-service awards. In particular a long-service award of £18.50 per year of service, will be given to all who have completed at least twenty years service at the time of their retirement.
When I retired in 1980 after 25 years with the Tendring District and its predecessors I was presented with an expensive pair of binoculars, and Heather with a splendid bouquet of flowers, by the Council, and a sturdy tripod for my camera plus life membership of NALGO (now UNISON) by my colleagues.
I was very grateful and felt that I had been treated generously. However, even allowing for inflation since 1980, I don't think that that was quite the equivalent of 25 x £18.50 = £462.50.
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'…gathering winter fu-u-el!'
In northern Europe keeping warm during the winter months has been a problem for the old and elderly since long before good King Wenceslas spotted that peasant on a Boxing Day evening gathering a few fallen boughs to try to get the chill out of his tumbledown hovel. Then, you'll recall, 'the frost was cruel', and the 'snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even'.
There's no good King Wenceslas to help us out today but we oldies have got Age Concern batting for us. George Gibbs of Age Concern, Clacton recently told a public meeting that his organisation is concerned at the fact that more and more elderly people are struggling to pay for gas and electricity. He told his audience that if anyone knew of a no-longer-young friend, neighbour or relative worried about their fuel bills to please urge them to contact Age Concern on 01255 475913. 'We can't'. he said, 'pay their bills for them but we can have a word with energy companies on their behalf'.
Well, I am nearer ninety than eighty so I'm definitely one of the 'Aged' that George Gibbs and his organisation are concerned about! What's more, today (20th October) I received an energy bill that at first glance, and at second glance too, nearly knocked me for six!
I have my gas and electricity on an Age Concern account from e-on and pay monthly by direct debit. Until six months or so ago my monthly payment was £100 per month. Then I was told that my account was in the red and that they were increasing my monthly payments to £110 a month. Fair enough! I paid up and made a real effort to economise.
Today (20th October) I received another communication from e-on giving me the welcome news that I now had a credit balance of £45.75 and the much less welcome information that they intended to change my monthly Direct Debit payments to £170 per month from 1st November! Luckily no-one approached me with a proverbial feather!
Should I phone Age Concern and ask for help and advice? I thought that I'd see what I could achieve on my own first. I phoned the supplier's help-line printed on their communication but didn't really expect much help. Past experience suggested that, after a long wait, a mechanical voice would give me anything up to ten choices of problem, not one of which would fit my particular concern.
I'm very glad to be able to say that it didn't turn out like that at all. After a very brief wait a friendly (and clearly audible to my ancient ears!) voice answered me and asked how I could be helped. I said my piece while he listened patiently
Most householders expect to have a credit balance at the end of the summer, he said. It would probably quickly be absorbed as the central heating was turned up. Increasing fuel prices had resulted in increased direct debit payments but he agreed that mine seemed excessive. 'Do you mind holding on for a few minutes while I investigate?' A couple of minutes later he was back.
Yes, he said, there had been an error, for which he apologised. My monthly payments would be going up to an unwelcome but I hope, manageable £125, not to the astronomical £170 originally demanded! I would receive written confirmation in a day or two. Before ringing off he gave me his name and suggested that I should ask for him if I had occasion to phone again.
It was I think, quite the most helpful 'helpline' that I had ever contacted. The outcome, though not all that I had hoped for, was better than I had expected.
So, if you too are elderly, or even if you're not, and your fuel bill seems outrageous, it really is worthwhile contacting your supplier. If you are elderly and don't think you could manage to do that, contact Age Concern. They'll be happy to help and/or advise. If, like me, you live in the Clacton area, the number to ring is 01255 475913. Otherwise, you'll find it in your local phone book.
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The NHS – the Final Chapter (I hope!)
I went to Clacton Hospital's Minor Injuries Department as advised, on 21st October and duly had the stitches removed from my ear. All went smoothly though it threatened not to at one stage!
The Department, in shiny new premises opposite Cl;acton Hospital's Outpatients' Department, opened at 9.00 a.m. and I was there on the dot. 'Didn't your medical practice inform you that we do renewal of dressings, including removal of stitches, between 2.00 p.m. and 4.00 p.m.?' asked the receptionist, pointing to a notice to that effect. They hadn't. I sighed 'OK', I said, 'I'll come back at 2.00 p.m.'
Luckily for me the nurse, who was standing by, heard our conversation and my sad sigh. 'Never mind', she said, 'I'm not busy for the moment. Come on through and I deal with it now'. And so she did, quickly, efficiently and almost painlessly, commenting as she did so on the speed with which my wound had healed.
All's well that ends well. I can't help feeling though that there ought to be better communication between the NHS' hospital services and those of its medical practices. I really should have been told not to turn up before 2.00 p.m.
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