Hello! Weekly news from Bedford, England

On Wednesday of this week, the joy over the selection of London for the Olympic Games in 2012 was widespread. The following day the massacre of at least fifty innocent people cast a deep shadow over the whole nation. Our son-in-law was working in London that day, and his train was late setting off from Bedford, and slow. Had it arrived in London at the scheduled time, he may well have been one of the casualties.

It is events such as this that make local news so parochial and relatively trivial. Even now, at the time of writing, people are in London, wielding photographs of a relative or friend who has not been seen since the explosions.

Frankly, as in the case of the awful event now commonly known as nine-eleven, it was difficult to summon much enthusiasm to gather and send information about my town. It all seemed so trivial. Much of the news, coming from the two local papers, comes from the week-end before this tragedy, so is a week late, so to speak. Readers will I hope forgive me for turning out a short version of the newsletter this week.

MORE than 300 commuters went on a mystery tour on Thursday evening when their train failed to stop at Bedford station.

They were finally let off in Wellingborough where insult was added to injury when the train manager tried to charge some of them excess for the return journey.

The 6pm Midland Mainline from St Pancras is scheduled to stop at Bedford. On Thursday it kept on going.

With barely an apology, the bemused travelers were hustled off the train at Wellingborough and shovelled over the bridge to catch the next train south.

The train manager, or Guard as he was once called, then tried to charge the commuters an excess for the extra travel.

A Midland Mainline spokesman said:

"Unfortunately the train did not stop. It was a mistake and we are sorry.

Obviously people should not have been charged on the return back from Bedford and if anyone did pay they can write to us and we will give them their money back."

Fed up with not being paid money he claims he is owed, a haulier blockaded a freight company this week.

He says he will do it every week until he gets paid.

Tony Walton, who runs TW Driver Hire of St Neots, took action against Tim Hobbs, owner of Bedford-based Bedfordshire Freight.

Mr Walton claims he and his drivers carried out work for AER Inskip of Kempston which went into liquidation late last year.

Mr Hobbs was appointed managing director of Inskip in February 1999.

Mr Walton says he was owed £4,500 by Inskip and after the company went into liquidation reinvoiced Bedfordshire Freight.

He said Bedfordshire Freight claimed it had the credit notes and owed him nothing.

Mr Walton tried to contact Mr Hobbs numerous times by telephone without success.

He said: "I've been phoning every 20 minutes for the last few days and he just will not speak to me. I decided to do something about it."

That something was to take his own Mitsubishi truck to Bedfordshire Freight's Ampthill Road premises and block the gateway to draw attention to his claims.

Staff responded by driving an HGV to within inches of Mr Walton's vehicle and the police were called but officers explained there was nothing they could do adding that should Mr Walton's truck be damaged it would be a criminal offence.

He stayed at the site for an hour then left vowing to return every week.

Mr Hobbs said: "What you've been told is not correct so just be careful." He refused to elaborate on the telephone and said he did not have time to meet a reporter until next week.

Mr Walton said: "I will be back at the gate again some time next week."

Traffic in Bedford was brought to a stand still on Wednesday when fire ripped through a vicarage.

Clapham Road in Bedford had to be closed when a fire broke out in the first floor of St Martin's Vicarage.

The fire service were alerted to the blaze at 4.45pm and three pumps attended along with the services hydraulic platform and an ambulance.

Police sealed off both ends of Clapham Road from the roundabout at Tavistock Street to the junction of Manton Lane.

Drivers faced an extra hour's journey as fire crews ensured the fire was extinguished.

A Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue service spokesman said:

"We believe that an electrical fire broke out in the bedroom and has caused extensive damage to the first floor and to the roof.

"Six fire fighters entered the house with breathing apparatus to search for anyone who may have been trapped within the property, but the owners returned to inform us that everyone was accounted for."

THE manager of the Citizens Advice Bureau has resigned after discovering one of his colleagues was the man who shot PC Olds. The manager is himself a former police officer.

As revealed in Bedfordshire on Sunday last week, the former Hell's Angel who shot and paralysed the unarmed policeman has been living in Bedford since he left prison.

Even though the man has served his time and said how ashamed he is of the shooting and that it 'eats away at his soul', the manager, as a former policeman, said he would find it impossible to work with him.

Derek Johashen, chairman of Bedford Citizens Advice Bureau, said:

"Everyone was aware of his record. He represents no danger to any person and deserves to be treated fairly. We do not discriminate against anybody on any grounds, nor should we.

I cannot comment on the situation with regard to the manager at the moment."

(So where does forgiveness come in?)

A skinned image of Peter Rabbit has landed a student among the national winners of the third Respect for Animals UK Design Against Fur award.

In third place out of the whole country was Lindsey Chancellor of Bedford College who used classic children's book Peter Rabbit for her inspiration.

Stark imagery in the style of a traditional children's story book features poor Peter minus his skin in a strong anti-fur message.

Lindsey was presented with her prize by Heather Mills McCartney.

Her tutor Jeffery Tribe said:

"The students really enjoyed working on this issues-based brief and I think the results prove their enthusiasm for, and interest in, this competition. The idea of producing a piece of work with a campaigning purpose certainly inspired them to find out more and gave them a chance to develop an opinion and express that through their work.

"Lindsey is a first year student on an HND course and it is very interesting to be part of a competition which encourages work from across the courses, not just final year students.

"We're delighted, we've been placed in the top three both times we have entered. This year we have students placed in the highly commended and commended categories too".

The latest work can be viewed on www.respectforanimals.org

Lindsey's work will now go through to the international grand final in the autumn.

Design Against Fur was launched three years ago to encourage UK design students from the fields of fashion, design, fine arts, advertising, marketing, graphic design and multi-media, to convey a compassionate message incorporating 'Fur is cruel' in an innovative, contemporary way designed to engage consumers to consider the ethics of what they wear.

Respect for Animals campaigns against the cruel and unnecessary international fur trade and was established in 1995.

The Mission nightclub is to close.

Managers decided to call time at the Mill Street club after struggling to attract clubbers.

Plans for this historic building, formerly the Howard Chapel, are in discussions with architects.

Manager Rob Close said:

"The time has come to say goodbye.

"Having risen from the ashes in 2002, we have brought some of the biggest acts and artists to Bedford.

"But after some careful consideration we have decided to close."

A farewell party will be held on Thursday July 7.

(The change of usage from the church to a night club seemed to many to be an extremely tasteless act, and the sight of people staggering out in the evenings and being sick all over the gravestones was not pleasant to observe. I only hope that this building might be used in future for something more edifying)

Bedfordshire was lashed by storms on Tuesday night (last week) with widespread flooding and lightning strikes across the county.

There were flash floods on many roads with vehicles getting stuck as their engines became flooded.

Property was also damaged with several properties struck by lightning and the county's fire and rescue service answered more than 200 emergency calls.

Further storms on Wednesday night added to the problems but the area is still apparently facing a drought.

SIR - I found the article 'Ghastly gardens face law 'n order' featured in Bedfordshire on Sunday on June 26 deeply insulting to the owners of the gardens photographed, not to say sinister.

This is just another example of the insidious prying into peoples' lives that is so prevalent in our society today.

Whatever happened to individuality and live and let live.

Why does Tom Chance think he has the right to judge?

He admits there are taste differences, so who is to say what makes an attractive front garden?

Are we to be told what we can or cannot put on our front lawn by the garden police, or to be urged to 'shop' our neighbours because, in our view, their gardens are unattractive?

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SIR - I write in response to your headline 'Criminal's Advice Bureau' in last week's BoS.

Stuart Blackstock committed a serious violent assault 24 years ago and has rightly served a long prison sentence as a consequence.

Having been released, he is trying to re-integrate into the community by means of working for the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Sensation-seeking headlines that appeared on your front page last week do nothing to assist this process.

One can only assume from the content and tone of the article that you would prefer convicted criminals such as Mr Blackstock not to be given assistance when released to become useful members of society but instead to return to a world of criminality.

While this may appeal to some of your more narrow-minded readers who would then be able to jump on the 'I told you so' bandwagon, assisting people such as Mr Blackstock to become useful and productive members of the community, is, and should be, the response of a society that can rise above such bigotry.

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SIR - I was very sorry to read the letter last week from Mr White who claimed to have had an accident with his doormat and damaged his Van Gogh painting.

This letter has angered me considerably to hear support for such a ludicrous proposal. I think that it would be appropriate for someone like him to live in a tent or cave if he is afraid of such things befalling him living in ordinary accommodation.

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SIR - One sympathises with the plight of your correspondent, Willy White, but only to a point.

After that his situation arouses scepticism.

Can he really afford a Van Gogh?

More to the point, cannot doormats be made non-slip and pictures screwed to the wall?

You would think Pilgrim Housing Association would have better things to do.

(It's plainly obvious that the letter was intended as a joke, but it seems to have eluded at least two people!)

With two stories relating to railways, the gentleman who writes in occasionally complaining over my bias against the railways will be able to have a field day! Here goes:

A Thameslink train carriage was derailed in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the Kempston maintenance yard.

The first carriage of the train mounted a buffer on the tracks, an object normally there to stop a train.

Communications manager for Thameslink, Chris Hadson, said: "It occurred within the confinements of the maintenance depot. There were no passengers on board, however it is still under investigation. We don't know why it happened as yet".

Arriving at the scene at 10am, the recovery team and some 14 men removed the carriage from the buffer. There was no disruption to any train services.

THE Mayor could be getting a new car - or maybe a motorbike.

Wednesday night's executive committee decided that the current civic vehicle, a 1988 Vauxhall Carlton, was old and clapped-out.

The committee believes that the car should be changed from a saloon to a multi-purpose vehicle that could be used for engagements involving the Mayor and other members of the civic team.

The executive councillors all agreed that a new car needed to be found and the suggestion was made that local businesses should be approached to sponsor any new vehicle.

A student who set fire to his room at De Montfort University in Bedford has escaped custody by 'the skin of his teeth'.

David Saxton, 20, returned drunk to his room on the tenth floor of the 13-storey tower block at the university at 3am.

Though smoking was banned he lit up regardless and a fire broke out.

The fire brigade was called and Saxton emerged from his room followed by a dark cloud of smoke said Will Gerhardt prosecuting at Luton Crown Court on Friday.

Saxton said he had fallen asleep. A week earlier he again returned to the building drunk and caused a fire in the kitchen.

Saxton of The Green, Cardington, pleaded guilty to two counts of arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered on January 8 and 15 this year.

Martin McCarthy defending said Saxton could not remember what happened.

Sentencing him to 200 hours Community Punishment and 18 months Community Rehabilitation Judge Ronald Moss said:

"This was drunken, loutish, stupid behaviour by someone acting in a selfish and reckless way. You have escaped from going to prison by the skin of your teeth."

My apologies for a rather brief newsletter this week. And can I thank those who have written to the guestbook or sent personal emails of appreciation (or, occasionally, of rebuke!) The day that none arrive will be a sign that perhaps this site has reached its sell-by date!

Week ending 9 July 2005