Your letters to the Helensburgh Advertiser this week

To add your thoughts on any local issue just email editorial@helensburghadvertiser.co.uk - happy writing!

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I RECENTLY had the opportunity of being able to attend the local Abbeyfield’s Strawberry Cream Tea, which is held annually by residents and staff in aid of Cancer Research.

However, on speaking to friends after the event, it became apparent how few people were aware of Abbeyfield, and in particular this local facility and what it offers its elderly residents.

Located, right in the centre of Helensburgh on West King Street, the Abbeyfield is not a nursing home, but works on the principle that residents are generally able to manage their own care, and wish to continue to enjoy an independent life. Within easy reach of the town centre, a bus stop on the doorstep, level footpaths, and most important of all, no steep hills to climb!

Each of the large, bright rooms, have en- suite facilities, benefiting each resident their own independence. However, managing food shopping can become a burden for many in later years and even a little company can be a great boost when living alone. At Abbeyfield, meals are served in a communal dining room, and those residents I spoke to were full of praise for the two long-serving chefs who excel in providing tasty, nourishing meals in-house.

I understand that residents pay a fixed weekly charge, which includes accommodation, food and utilities, which must be a great weight off the minds of residents and their families.

Increasingly we are all aware of elderly people struggling to manage an independent life, and so I would like to take this opportunity to highlight this local facility – it just may be the answer someone is looking for to help a relative or close friend.

Gordon Miller

Helensburgh

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IN reply to Derick Gray’s letter in last week’s Helensburgh Advertiser, the reason some cyclists don’t use cycle tracks is because they are riding road bikes with skinny tyres and bumping on and off even lowered kerbs and diverting from the road to the cycle track slows them down and can damage the wheels. Having said that, I ride a hybrid bike and always use cycle tracks where they are provided, but most of the way from Cardross to Helensburgh, I am forced to ride on the road because the cycle track which has been promised for more than 16 years has not materialised. The delay in providing this cycle track is utterly disgraceful. Its absence is putting cyclists at risk of death or serious injury and causes frustration to drivers who are stuck behind a cyclist. Will we EVER get this cycle track?

Archie Westwood, Cardross

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THE news that a full blown study of the waterfront project is about to start is excellent news and we wish the council well with this vital project and look foreward to seeing the proposals in the near future

The schematic in the paper seems to indicate that the various buildings will take up most of the pier leaving little room for parking Your readers may remember that after the completion of the Chord project that workshops were to be held to consider parking requirements.

Can the consultants be charged with studying the parking requirements at the beginning before we get carried away with building retail units, for which there may not be a demand, if there is nowhere to park.

In due course when the scheme is exposed we shall expect parking to be a key component

John Ashworth

Helensburgh

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I KNOW that September 19, is a very depressing and sad day for the SNP and its supporters. It was on this day two years ago that they realized that they had failed to convince the majority of voters in Scotland that independence was a good thing.

Chamber’s dictionary defines ‘fail’ as ‘to fall short or be wanting; to be or to become insufficient’. By these terms the Scottish Nationalist Party clearly is a party of failure.

They failed to get the majority of Scotland to vote for independence. While they understandably celebrate their 56 MPs it should be remembered that more people voted against the SNP than for it. Their landslide was entirely based on a discredited ‘first past the post electoral system’.

As the party of failure the SNP over their decade in office has failed in so many ways. The attainment gap between children from better off families and less advantaged young people has increased.

The Scottish Government’s failure to adequately invest in the training and development of nurses, midwifes, social workers, GPs and other medical personnel has resulted a Scottish NHS in crises. The Vale of Leven Hospital’s downsizing and departmental closures are evidence of Nichola Sturgeon’s failure to keep her promises.

By failing to allow local authorities to raise the finances they require to meet the needs and aspirations of local people, the SNP have ruled over the closure of libraries; crumbling and dangerous roads; and social services over stretched and underperforming.

So how do the First Minister and her party continue to be in power? Through the use of the magic wand of Independence. One wave of Independence and all will be fine. Only today the FM is reported as saying that “oil, national wealth and balance sheets” are less important than self-governance for Scotland.

Failure is one thing but delusion is far more serious.

Finlay Craig

Cove

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THIS month the nation marks Remember a Charity Week, a campaign which encourages people to make a gift to a favourite charity in their will, enabling them to leave a legacy that will make a lasting difference. So I’d like to tell your readers about Revitalise.

Revitalise is a wonderful charity which provides much-needed respite breaks for disabled people and carers at three accessible holiday centres around the UK. Guests who come to stay often tell us just how important a break is in their lives. For many of them, the breaks we provide can make the difference between coping and despair, between just surviving – and really living.

We don’t take a single penny from Lotto or the public purse. Instead we rely on the generosity and compassion of individual donors who in pledging their support to our charity enable us to continue our vital work.

What’s more, there is a wide range of ways to support us, from leaving a legacy, to taking part in a fundraising event, volunteering or simply making a donation. However you choose to support us, we guarantee that not a single penny, not an ounce of your energy nor a minute of your time will go to waste.

To find out how you can make a lasting difference to Revitalise, please call 0303 303 0147, email info@revitalise.org.uk or visit www.revitalise.org.uk.

Stephanie Stone, Revitalise

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AS A woman who has had ovarian cancer, I’m calling on your readers to join us at The Ovarian Cancer Walk on Sunday 16 October at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. Walk or run 5k or 10k, bring your kids, family and even your dogs along - there is something for everyone – and even a discount for your readers when they sign up.

We’re walking to change things for women with ovarian cancer. In the UK we have some of the lowest survival rates in Europe, with 4,100 women dying every year from the disease. If we were able to match the rest of Europe, 500 more would survive each year.

Early diagnosis saves lives, so please walk with us to spread the word. The symptoms of ovarian cancer are: a bloated tummy, feeling full quickly during meals, tummy and pelvic pain, and needing to wee more.

We’d like to offer your readers a £5 discount if they sign up before October. Sign up at www.targetovariancancer.org.uk/walk and quote EDINBURGH. Or you can call 020 7923 5474.

Yours faithfully,

Amanda Cawthorn

Target Ovarian Cancer ambassador

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ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent statements accusing Palestinians of attempting to “ethnically cleanse” Jews from illegal Israeli settlements located in the occupied West Bank is a wonderful example of Israeli contempt for International Law. Netanyahu’s comparison of Palestinian citizens of Israel with illegal Israeli settlers is completely historical, and that it is, in fact , Palestinians, not Israeli settlers, who have been victims of ethnic cleansing.

Comparing [Palestinians] with the illegality of a foreign occupation only reflects Israeli belief that nobody else other than Jews can live in the Holy Land . This ridiculously childish view of History and Theology is typical of extremists throughout the world.

Netanyahu’s comments came as Israel has come under harsh criticism for a spike in illegal settlement activity in recent months, with plans for thousands of housing units moving forward in various stages in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank .

The marked shift to right-wing politics in Israel signals the end of the idea of the two-state solution to the colonisation solution backed by the $38 billion promised by America to fund Israeli with the latest weapons and technology to pay the vast expenses involved in occupation and colonisation.

B. McKenna

Overtoun Ave

Dumbarton