Readers' letters - April 18

I read that the A&E department at Chorley & District General Hospital will be downgraded due to staff shortages (LEP April 14).

Patients with serious health emergencies are advised to attend A&E at Royal Preston Hospital until further notice for treatment.

Can we assume that the increase in A&E patient numbers at Preston will have more staff and facilities in place to cope with the additional demand and to keep within the NHS waiting time limit for A&E patients?

It appears that the excellent A&E department at Chorley and District General Hospital will be reverting back to a time in the 1980s when the old A&E was only open during the day, closing at 5pm and staffed mainly by clinicians who were local GPs.

Where is Chorley going to find sufficient numbers of GPs that have spare time to help out now?

Déjà vu springs to mind.

Paul A. G. Helmn, Charnock Richard

Development site dangers

Nog Tow has all four lanes closed down for two weeks.

Construction vehicles are trying to access the new housing site on Hoyles Lane. I redirected them back to Tom Benson Way and Cottam Way. Unfortunately they had no option but to back up to Tom Benson Way and this move is very dangerous.

Is the signage enough – should the contractors be informed of the diversion as the site is fairly new?

This morning a resident phoned me almost in tears as she had been almost killed by a construction lorry backing up.

There were at least three lorries queuing on Hoyles Lane at the time.

I have contacted the police and they had already observed lorries queuing at the entrance to the site.

When they enquired what had happened earlier, they asked to speak to the site manager. I have heard they were told there was no one in charge of the site. This is disgraceful and very dangerous. We do not want an accident and then say told you so.

Another resident had a juggernaut parked outside her home, blocking her drive for 30 minutes.

This has been a contentious building project from day one and looks to get even worse when construction starts.

I have contacted both Lancashire County Council and Preston City Council.

Christine Abram via email

£9m leaflet is misleading

David Cameron has used and abused his position as Prime Minister by using our money to promote his own personal beliefs in remaining in the EU.

The front of his current propaganda booklet, which has cost the taxpayer £9.2m, is deliberately misleading as it infers that all members of the Government are of the same opinion as Mr Cameron.

We know this is not true, as we are informed that Conservative MPs are equally divided between those who want to leave, and those who want to remain in the EU.

Mr Cameron is leader of the Remain in campaign and therefore the ‘ propaganda leaflet’ he issued on behalf of that campaign should be identified as such on the leaflet.

It should be along the lines of “printed and promoted by .../on behalf of the Remain campaign”. It should give a contact name and address. This I feel would be a far more honest and transparent declaration to the British voters, who paid for it !

Harvey Carter, Kirkham

I’ve ‘offshored’ EU pamphlet

Re: the EU pamphlet. It’s okay Dave, I’ve offshored the £9.2m pamphlet into the green bin.

Mike Bytheway, address supplied

Looking for hero’s family

I am writing to request your help in tracking down the descendants of a First World War veteran.

I am a keen metal detectorist and I found the medal whilst engaging in my hobby.

The engraving around the perimeter reads 26625 PTE J.BOND G.GDS.

Searching the internet has turned up the information: “He was a Private in the First World War, joined the forces in September 1916 and had been to France.

“On April 13, 1918, his wife was notified he was missing.

“In December of that year, however, he was one of two Burnley soldiers who returned home.

“He had been in captivity near Essen and told some awful tales of the treatment he had received. It seems that he actually lived in Sabden and, before joining up, was a gamekeeper for Mr Starkie of Huntroyde.

“After he left the Guards, he returned to being gamekeeper for this gentleman. He was still there in 1940, as there was a report of him catching a little owl – a rare bird in those parts, so rare that this actually made the news.

“In 1932, his eldest daughter Catherine Muriel Bond married Herbert Parsons.” (Information from Accringtonweb Forum).

Reuniting it with a family member of the recipient, where it belongs, would be better than any monetary gain from selling it, plus selling would disrespect the person who fought for his country in order to receive it.

If anyone can help, please feel free to email me anytime at

[email protected]

Jason, Accyexplorer

What happened to suppliers?

I read with great interest recent letters about the shops which formerly traded in Church Street in years gone by. I noticed there was no mention of Gaskell & Chambers, who were suppliers to the licenced trade. My grandfather, and later my mother, after he died, became the licensee of the Duke of Kent in Kent Street.

I can remember on many occasions going into Gaskell & Chambers to pick up a spare part for the hand-pulled beer pumps and taps and vents for the beer barrels.

They used to supply most of the public houses and clubs in Preston. I never knew what happened to them in recent years.

Did they close down altogether or relocate elsewhere? Perhaps some of your readers may know.

F Dobson, Preston