Go check your facts

MR SPRY needs to check his facts before he goes off on one.

The carriage and wagon works side of the GWR works was shut in ‘64, and the steam engine side was closed not long after in 65\66. Both times it was done under a labour government.

A huge engineering plant was left that was not viable and when the western locos were built, they were finished at Crewe, as they built them quicker and cheaper than Swindon.

If the site was open now, they could build submarines with no torpedo tubes!

T REYNOLDS Wheeler Avenue Swindon

Immigration madness

I COULD not agree more with your recent readers’ comments on immigration.

History continues to repeat itself. Enoch Powell made predictions that came eminently true.

Some 800,000 migrants in Germany and cracks are already appearing in their social fabric. Same here.

Successive British governments have blamed each other since the 60s on failed immigration policies and continue to do so to this very day.

Our elected spineless politicians lack spunk and conviction (give us our Maggie back). They are like dogs that are wagged by their politically correct tails and have no own opinions.

Take a look at the Balkans, which had at least 20 ethnic groups fighting each other. The outcome of this was ethnic cleansing on a grand scale which was akin to what Hitler had already achieved decades earlier.

Is this what our politicians are striving to achieve in their simplistic naive innocence?

Cameron is the worst spineless lip-server ever to be elected to allow a level of ethnic invasion into this tiny island on which before long, the Islamites will dictate to us born British, that we shut down our Christian churches, silence the bells and attend mosques and listen to their muezzin five times daily.

Try hearing a mass or open a church in Turkey and you’ll be hacked to death.

Yet the Islamites come to this country and demand freedoms which we openly allow and give them financial support to boot! Absolute madness.

We never elected our politicians to allow this.

Not to mention the other ethnic minorities that see the Muslims winning the upper hand and following their lead in demanding even more ethnic equality.

It is in itself the Muslim radicalism that is powerful in our country because we in the UK have weakened in discipline of our children and have for decades given in to being a soft-touch.

It’s time this country has woken up; if not, before long or in five decades, we will have conflicts here like those in Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo with everyone fighting each other.

How many more soldier Rigbys need to be sacrificed before our spineless politicians take note and step up to decisive action instead of chasing their peerages and feathering their own nests to go down in the history books.

This first third millennium century will go down in our historical annals as a century in which our country and heritage was despoiled by successive governments headed by spineless bigots that did absolutely nothing to halt an influx of incompatible cultures into this green and Christian isle.

Even if there is an ounce of common sense in what Donald Trump said, this man has dared to say on an open platform what millions are only thinking.

It’s time to take note. No more talking – its decisive action that is needed.

Mr Cameron needs to listen to Enoch Powell’s words and moreover heed them.

Mark my words – there will be even more “rivers of blood”.

JAN PIETRUSZKA Victoria Road Swindon

Rich woman’s nepotism

THE richest woman in the world (current estimate: £1.9 billion) sends out invites to her 90th birthday party. You can come along provided you fork out £150 and are a volunteer.

She’s ‘hosting’ the biggest ever street party, apparently.

Ten thousand seats are on offer to members of the 600 charities of which she is a patron. Many of these volunteers it is acknowledged are on low incomes. A lot of thought has gone into it, it seems.

Usually the host of a party pays the bill. Still, as the old saying goes: the more one has the stingier one becomes.

A tender was put out to organisers and guess what? Peter Philips won it – the queen’s grandson!

There’s luck for you – he was judged to be the best.

What a surprise! Nepotism? Of course not!

He will receive an ‘undisclosed fee’. More Royal ‘transparency’.

Just cannot get my head around how Mrs Windsor agreed to take from the needy to give to her already wealthy grandson!

But then that’s the history of British monarchy, is it not?

Little wonder they wanted a Mr Robin Hood dealt with urgently.

JEFF ADAMS Bloomsbury Swindon

Thanks for your support

AS WILTSHIRE Air Ambulance nears the end of its Silver Jubilee Year, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has helped make the incredible achievements of the last 12 months possible, and highlight some of the key successes since we started to operate our new helicopter, a Bell 429, as a stand-alone air ambulance.

I think most people in Wiltshire, me included, know someone who has been helped by our crew since we started operating an air ambulance service in 1990.

Our dedicated pilots and paramedics deliver exceptional patient care and our charity team and many supporters have worked incredibly hard to raise the funds needed to enable our helicopter to operate for up to 19 hours a day, 365 days a year.

A vital part of our team are our fantastic and enthusiastic volunteers who give up their time to attend events, collect at supermarkets, give talks and presentations, sort and deliver Christmas cards and much, much more.

The people of Wiltshire are incredibly generous when it comes to funding their air ambulance – whether that is putting a few pence into a collection box, playing our lottery, organising a cake sale or companies adopting us as their charity of the year.

Every little bit counts and without you raising money for us, we quite simply wouldn’t be flying and saving lives.

In 2015, we made aviation history as the first air ambulance in the UK to use the Bell 429 helicopter.

It’s faster and more powerful than the previous helicopters we used, which means our specialist crew can get to patients swiftly and fly them to the most appropriate hospital quickly.

This helicopter is also bigger inside and equipped with advanced medical kit, much of it paid for by donations.

As a stand-alone air ambulance, we now have two highly trained paramedics on board every flight.

They are able to carry out surgical techniques on critically injured or ill patients by the roadside and administer additional drugs for pain relief or sedation.

Another lifesaving enhancement we introduced in the last year is carrying blood on board the helicopter and our Rapid Response Vehicle (car).

So far our critical care paramedics have given pre-hospital blood transfusions to 10 patients.

In our first year as a dedicated air ambulance we undertook 10 per cent more missions than in the previous year, 537 compared to 486.

In 2015 we treated 195 patients on scene and conveyed another 145 patients to hospital.

Now we are working hard on our plans to build a new home for Wiltshire Air Ambulance, which will bring our aircrew and charity team together on one site.

Our preferred site is on land at Outmarsh Farm, Semington, near Melksham.

This central position will enable our helicopter to reach all parts of Wiltshire within 11 minutes, just as we are able to do currently from our Operations Centre in Devizes.

A decision on our Outline Planning Application is due to be made next month.

The response from the public consultation thus far is hugely positive. If all goes to plan we hope to start building work in the autumn, enabling us to be operational from our new home by January 2018.

It is extremely rewarding and satisfying to be involved with the charity knowing what we do can help safe lives in and around the county, and I am extremely proud to serve as a Trustee of Wiltshire Air Ambulance and be its chairwoman.

On behalf of everyone at Wiltshire Air Ambulance, thank you so much for all of your support and I hope you will continue to support us so that together we can deliver this lifesaving service for the next 25 years.

MANDY CLARKE Chair of Wiltshire Air Ambulance Charitable Trust

Keep centres open

CONSULTATION on the closure of all Swindon’s Children’s Centres, partly on the grounds, as stated by Coun Foley, that they weren’t producing the outcomes intended, has just finished. However, in today’s British Medical Journal, there’s an article headed ‘Austerity cuts are eroding benefits of Sure Start Children’s Centres’. This was a study, commissioned by the Government, to see if they produced measurable benefit. It was published, quietly with lots of others, just before Christmas. The researchers, from Oxford University, interviewed 2,608 families between 2012 & 2014. They found that use of the centres was associated with ‘positive effects on family functioning and home learning environments, families had a less chaotic home life, and relationships between parents and children improved. Mothers showed improved mental health, children showed more social skills. These effects were greater in centres that hadn’t had cuts to staff and services. Centres that had had budget and staff increases showed a greater favourable impact’. The conclusion was that closure is a false economy. “Investment in early child development is a rare example where efficiency (saving money) and equity (reducing inequality) come together”.

As a retired GP, the findings concur with my own impressions - badly behaved children often grow into delinquent teenagers and adults.

These findings cast a major doubt on the council’s proposals. I challenge Coun Foley to produce the evidence she referred to above, and to engage in discussions on this report. Unless she can produce convincing evidence to the contrary, we would seem to have the most powerful argument possible against closure of these centres, and the council should abandon this policy. DR CHRIS BARRY The Bramptons Swindon