DOZY'S RAMBLES: Work together to solve ticket office problem

The closure of ticket offices at railway stations in most of our area is nothing short of a disgrace and needs to be addressed.

People power is an amazing thing, but unfortunately you have the local Labour and Conservative parties saying their campaign to halt the closures is the best, then you have the Lib Dems saying the closures are not a terrible thing and the alternatives put forward by the railway company are good.

MP Tim Loughton has planned a meeting at the Shoreham Centre, in Pond Road, this evening at 6.30pm to discuss the closures.

The local Labour party has urged its members to attend the meeting.

Maybe this is the time for those who agree that the closures are not good to work together to achieve an end result that is satisfactory for all – but I fear it will all descend into chaos.

Surely this is not a political problem, it’s one of common sense?

For those of you wondering what this is all about, at the end of the day Southern and the Department of Transport want to force you into being reliant on purchasing from the internet or self-service machines, both of which can be highly unsatisfactory to say the least.

Those wanting advice on their journey will have to seek out a host, I am not sure where the host will be standing, hopefully not too close to a platform.

What happens when the machines break down? Will there be enough machines to cope with a rush? How will the elderly and infirm be able to cope with the internet? Has this really been fully thought out?

On the subject of the railways there was an excellent turn out by members of the public last weekend, protesting at the closure of the underpass in Shoreham.

In all over 100 local residents came to deliver a strong message to the railway companies to take the matter seriously.

Street access to the subway has been blocked since ticket gates were installed at the station to deter railway fare dodgers.

As many readers know, you can wait up to 20 minutes, sometimes in the rain and wind, for the barriers to lift.

Sadly one young man lost his life recently because he was fed up of waiting for the barriers to lift and decided to run across the tracks.

The railway companies say it is too expensive to reinstate the walkway.

Surely if it can save one life the cost is worth it? Do others have to die?

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I was very sad to hear of the death of highly talented keyboard player Keith Emerson.

Keith had spent a lot of time in Shoreham recently and was a regular at some of our bars and restaurants.

Keith will always be remembered as a founding member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, who were together from 1970 to 2010. Rest in peace.

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If you want a real country experience, then go along to the Coombes Farm lambing. The event is on until April 17, from 9.30am to 4pm.

There is a very small charge (£3 for adults and £2 for children) and this goes towards purchasing food for the animals and to keep the farm going.

From midday you can see the lambs being fed and as the weeks go on you will be able to feed the lambs yourself.

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We are very lucky that so much goes on in our area.

To all parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles with infants there are more free infant resuscitation awareness sessions on Tuesday, March 22, at Southwick St John Ambulance HQ, in The Twitten.

Sessions start at 7pm and 8pm, and will last 30 minutes.

You are welcome to just turn up and the team there will be really pleased to see you.

St John Ambulance runs the sessions, so if you have ever had concerns about a little one’s safety and what to do in case of an emergency, then this is for you.

With Easter eggs having been on sale in the supermarkets since just after Christmas, I am not surprised there are such amazing offers on them.

With the Easter break about to begin, there is plenty happening.

Have a great time.

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