I attended the recent successful Teddy Bears' Picnic held last Thursday, July 24th, in the green space at the back of the recreation ground as part of the Kingsbridge Fair Week celebrations. I was struck yet again by the impact losing this important green space for the community will be, if the town council proceed with their plan to tarmac half of it for a pump track. There will no longer be sufficient space for such fun and happy events as occurred at the Teddy bears picnic, nor room for family get-togethers, football, or just running around. The proposal is for the track to be against the walkway, with a much smaller green space available against the houses. I, for one, can't see how children and families will safely access this space when competing with bikes ..

..and currently, it is a very safe space as it is bordered on 3 sides by barriers which make supervising young children much easier, as I'm sure all those parents who attended last Thursday can confirm.

Anne Bonham.

Kingsbridge

On Tuesday, I had an accident at home and tore a deep 3cm gash in my leg on a metal corner. Thankfully, a GP friend was available and told me to go to Kingsbridge Hospital’s MIU at 8.30 am the next morning.

Everyone there was so kind and helpful. The receptionist let me come in early to sit down, and at 8.30 a man took my details before a smiling nurse dressed my wound. She was gentle and kind. Another receptionist rang five taxi numbers for me. While I waited, my NHS physiotherapist’s secretary kindly phoned Norton Brook and arranged an appointment with a Practice Nurse for Tuesday to have the dressing changed. I was originally told Monday, but that was my 78th birthday!

I had planned to dance in the carnival procession, singing The Floral Dance. There’s always next year.

I rested my leg all week and on Thursday received a delicious roast chicken dinner and soup delivered by the Care Hub.

On Friday, the first day of the doctors’ strike, I received two NHS calls before 8.30 am. The first was from the Practice Nurse at Norton Brook about a blood test result. She gave excellent advice about my high cholesterol and printed a diet sheet for someone to collect on my behalf. The second was a lovely message from the hospital: “Hello, good morning Ruth, happy birthday!” She had walked to the MIU to ask what kind of dressing I’d had, as I’d asked if I could have a shower. A third friendly receptionist helped me twice when I phoned back.

My great-niece told me, “I love you, Auntie Ruth and I will pray for your leg.” She added: “I’m going to be FOUR!” Her older sister coloured a lovely picture of me with a sad face and walking stick, a hospital wall and a smiling nurse with a stethoscope. The caption read: Auntie Ruth is sad and hurt, going to the hospital for the lovely staff to make her better.

THREE CHEERS FOR THE NHS!

At noon, I couldn’t miss one of my favourite Fair Week events, the Town Criers’ competition. It was colourful and informative, and two of the top three were from Devon. My friend Paul, 30 years a crier for Nuneaton and Bedworth, hugged me and found me a spare seat. I had to pick up some Lesterol (with plant sterols and stanols) from Healthwise, and the owner had kindly put it aside for me. To take my first tablet, Paul handed me a bottle of water.

It was also lovely to meet Anne, the wife of David Rowland. I asked her to pass on how special it was last year when David shared, during the Fair Week service at St Ed’s, how important the service and prayers were to the week. He had given me a badge for the children’s charity they support, as Anne said, a merry-go-round horse.

Ros, always smiling from Hatherleigh in Devon, with size 12 shoes, couldn’t compete this year due to a hospital stay. We gave her a special cheer as she went forward for her goody bag, which they were all given, like children at a birthday party.

One crier commented on the wonderful atmosphere, and they were all so friendly. The sun eventually shone, but first the heavens opened. I said: “This is Devon, rains six days out of sevon!”

Then I took the Tally Ho! bus up Westville Hill and went home to rest my leg again. I am so grateful to have had such a lovely couple of hours.

I am truly blessed and thankful.

Ruth Brooking

Kingsbridge

My friends and I in Totnes have just congratulated ourselves on ten years of our Circle of Women Elders. In 2015, we passionately wanted to see a more democratic UK and long-overdue changes to our parliamentary system.

Shortly before the election that spring, we wrote our own Manifesto, which was widely reproduced in local newspapers and received a lot of support. Here, briefly, are some of the points we made:

How very depressing it is, then, to recognise that things are pretty much the same now, in 2025. No governments have since committed to the reforms that are urgently needed. The voices from the grass-roots are there, in the many pressure groups and even among MPs themselves. How long till those at the top listen?

Susan Hannis

In a recent Times Radio interview, DEFRA Minister Steve Reed made several misleading claims defending the continued privatisation of water.

He said: “Scotland has nationalised water and pollution is worse there than in England.” Yet SEPA data shows 66% of Scotland’s water bodies are rated “good” or better, compared to just 16% in England.

Yes, Scotland is far from perfect, but this is just an exaggeration.

He also claimed that nationalising water would cost “around £100 billion.” Again, plain wrong. That figure stems from a discredited 2018 Social Market Foundation report. Moody’s estimated the actual equity value of water companies at £14.5 billion. If allowed to fail, as Thames Water has done, equity drops again to close to zero.

Reed argues nationalisation would hinder investment. Yet over the next five years, private companies are expecting to pay out around £22 billion in dividends, £30–35 billion in debt interest, and over £100 million in executive pay, much of which could be going into infrastructure instead under public ownership. What’s the point of raising investment and bills just to spend them like this? The water companies have cheated the public time and again and cannot be trusted.

He ignores the fact that England is the only country in the world with fully privatised water, and the UK’s sewage dumping is among the worst globally. Countries like France have re-nationalised water with strong public support and rapid quality improvements. Why can’t we do the same?

Even Nigel Farage now supports public ownership. So why isn’t Labour?

I support Steve Reed’s call for a water revolution, but manipulating facts to defend a broken system undermines that goal. Public ownership must be back on the table. On this, Steve Reed is plain wrong!

Peter Scott

Via Email