 |
Dear Editor,
Firstly, I should say that we love living in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell;
friendly neighbours, church, village hall, village fete, pub, and soon a
village store - what more could we want! We have been here only two
years and yet we feel so at home, getting to know our neighbours and
busy making a new garden from the builders' turf/weeds/bark chips design
and enjoying every minute. There is only one (smoky!) blot on our
horizon and that is the enthusiasm for bonfires close to our small
garden.
We live on the south side of West End, near the churchyard, graveyard
and allotments. It seems that people feel that because we are on the
edge of the village that it does not matter when or how they light a
bonfire, particularly as it is not near their own homes. This seems a
tad unfair as they are often lit on sunny days when there is no wind, or
the prevailing south-westerly wind drives the smoke straight into our
homes and gardens! Just when we would like to be in our garden enjoying
the fresh air and sunshine, we have to close all the windows and batten
down the hatches.
It would be just an annoyance, but I have quite bad asthma (along with
over 5 million other people in the UK) and suffer days of inhalers and
breathing difficulties every time a bonfire puffs in our direction! I
cannot be alone in suffering from the effects of bonfireitis and I
imagine that others must also be dreading the coming autumn burn ups!
So this is a small plea to all those planning to rush for the matches to think about the bonfire code (see www.southoxon.gov.uk/bonfires )
and consider those of us who have asthma (1 in 5 households!) and those
of us who like to hang our washing out, breathe fresh air and enjoy our
gardens on the few sunny days the UK offers.
Susan Ganney (Irving)
<< Go Back
|
