Goring News Sept-Oct 2002

Worthing Car Park charges raised
Car park charges at all the Worthing carparks will go up by 10p for the base rate on 4th November. This includes the Alinora Car Park in Goring, but you have a respite here since it is free during the winter months. The fee published in the Herald for the Grafton Car Park is 76p. We think that perhaps someone in WBC legal department has poor handwriting . . And please note the confusion in the public announcement. Alinora Carpark is the one on the sea front in Marine Crescent, where the jet-skis launch.
(Worthing Herald 12 Oct 02)

BBC SCR gets a silver
BBC Southern Counties Radio was voted the second best BBC local radio station. It won the silver award in Station of the Year category at the Frank Gillard Awards. It was narrowly beaten by BBC Radio Leeds for the coveted Station of the Year award, for which all of the BBC's 39 local stations compete. Frank Gillard was one of the founders of the BBC local radio network.

No Blue Flag for Worthing next year
Environment experts say they are mystified as to why Worthing's bathing water failed a top-level quality test. Tests held during the summer by the Environment Agency revealed the sea had fallen short of European water safety standards for the first time in almost ten years. Worthing was the only place in SE England not to meet the "good" standard and the town will not be able to fly the Seaside Award flag next year. The cause of the failure is still not known. In fact only two out of 20 water quality tests failed, the rest were good. And Worthing did meet 18 of the 22 criteria set by the standard. But a pass is a pass, and Worthing didn't.
(Argus 15 Oct 02)

The Rev Stephen Gurr moves on
The Reverend Stephen Gurr Curate of St Laurence's Church and member of the Ministry team of St Mary's Church announced that he has accepted the appointment of Vicar of Findon Church and Rector of Clapham and Patching. This will not take place until early in 2003 but there is no doubt that he and his family will be greatly missed in the Parish of St Mary. This is even more the case as no appointment has yet been made to take the place of the former Vicar, Michael Hore.

Trawler fire at Sea
The trawler Petronella, based at Shoreham caught fire in the Channel early on Sunday morning. The lifeboat brought East Sussex Fire Brigade's maritime firefighting team out to extinguish the fire in the engine room. But without power the crew could not recover the nets and these had to be cut away. The trawler was towed into Newhaven. We would suspect that Petronella is one of the trawlers often seen fishing off Goring.
(Argus 14 Oct 02)

A woman's body on the beach
A woman's half-naked body was found on Worthing beach close to the Aquarena about 8am in Friday. The woman was later identified as Lesley Hillier, 60. The body was taken to Worthing Hospital for a post-mortem examination. Police are not treating the death as suspicious.
(Argus 11/14 Oct 02)

Dog finds bomb on Cissbury Ring
Golden Retriever, Sandy scrabbled in the undergrowth and came running back to missy Jill Barnard of Findon Valley, with stick in his mouth with a tie-on lable. The lable read 'Danger - unexploded bomb. Please call the Police'. It was suggested that someone with a metal detector had found it and marked it, but did not want to report it himself because metal detectors are not allowed there. There was a lot of dashing up and down with the bomb squad and the 3 in. mortar shell with six fins was safely removed. During the war there was a rifle range and a lot of military activity in this area.
( http://www.findonvillage.com/ 8 Oct 2002)

WBC promises cash to remove graffiti
It has been agreed that, as there are sufficient funds available, the Graffiti removal programme will continue until the end of this financial year. The programme has been enhanced by funds provided by the County Council and Worthing Homes. The cost of vandalism and graffiti removal over the Borough costs in excess of £140,000. Goring is fortunate in that only some £4000 is attributable to this area. But this is only on council property - graffiti in other places remains a problem, and we continue to need Project Genie and the like.

Amenity Skip at Palatine Park
From Wednesday October 9-15 from 8.30-4pm the Amenity Skip will be at Palatine Park. The week at the Goring Gap was a great success, two skips a day were required, there was a queue of cars most of the time, and also a lot of rubbish was collected from the verges in the area.
It is a pity there is no better way of handling compostable material, and it is also amazing how much stuff could have been sold at a car boot sale.

First Census results out
Sussex has grown from 702K in 1981 to 754K (7%) and Worthing from 96K to 97.5K (5.5%). I do not have the comparitives for sex but Sussex has 52% female, Worthing has 53% female. This is about the same as Castle ward in 1981, with Goring 57% and Ferring 58% There could be a percentage error in all these figures http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/pop2001/Worthing.asp

Dogs on leads please
If your dog is accustomed to digging down rabbit holes, maybe this is not a good idea at the moment. The farmer in the Goring Gap has put gas pellets in the rabbit holes, which will disperse very quickly, but for a day or two perhaps to keep to footpaths.

Goring crime still high
Despite the promises from our leader, all sorts of crime still happens in Goring. A girl attacked, sundry burgleries, garden furniture pinched, graffiti, vandalism of eight beach-huts, and a rash of unlicenced cars.

Three surgeries instead of two
Beach House surgery will continue but apparently in new premises. As will Heene Road. But three doctors are moving out to set up elsewhere in the parish. No change until the new year and they will write to affected patients in good time. Meanwhile Beach House itself is for sale for £500,000 ONO.

Worthing in Bloom prizes presented
Mr K Barrett received the prize from the Mayor on behalf of Aldsworth Court which won the best residential road in the Worthing in Bloom contest. Other Goring winners were: Best small front garden: Mrs E Cole, Best Conservation Garden: Mr Crispin.

Another crash at Honeypot
Two police driving instructors and their pupils were involved in a crash on the A27 at Hammerpot, north of Angmering, one of West Sussex's most notorious accident blackspots. The four officers and the driver of the Mercedes were taken to Worthing Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries. The stretch of road is always a danger and the junction may be closed when the Angmering bypass is finished.
(Argus 2 Oct 02)

Bottle of champagne for the best service
October 7-12 is National Customer Service Week run by the Institute of Customer Service. Lets see what you think of service in Goring/Worthing. Please tell us your comments on this form The shop or person that gets the most good votes will receive a bottle of champagne with the compliments of Goring Residents' Association and the authors of this website.

Suggestions invited about Travellers
John Godfrey, the Head of Secretariat at West Sussex County Council, Chichester, is seeking views of residents in the County as to what can be done about the Traveller problem. Please do take this opportunity to write to him to set out how you would deal with the problem both locally and in the county generally.

South East Regional Assembly discussed
The Federation of Sussex Amenity Societies is holding a forum at The Church Centre, The Causeway, Horsham, on November 1 at 7.30pm to debate the plans to restructure local authorities. The Government is giving the public the choice on whether to create an elected South East Regional Assembly. The assembly, based at Guildford, would set and finance regional policies like housing and economic development and be independent of central government. This will be an opportunity to ask some very searching questions.
(Argus 27 Sept 02)

Goat stops traffic in Titnor Lane
During the rush-hour on Wednesday morning a very superior looking goat strolled down Titnore Lane, stopping the traffic in both directions. The police came quickly but seemed unwilling to load the goat into the back of their squad car, neither did they know where it had come from or where it thought it was going.

Seal seen off Goring
The red safety boat on patrol met up with a seal chasing fish and checking out the pier as it swam from Worthing to the west. Foreshore Manager Mike Collis says it is only the second time in 16 years that a seal had been seen here.
(Worthing Sentinel 17 Sept 02)

Car destroys lamp post
Residents in Marine Crescent, Goring were rudely awakened by a splintering crash just after midnight on Saturday morning. An electrical flash lit the sky as the mains supply to a lamp post was torn out. A car had mown down two traffic bollards, just missed the keep left sign and crashed into the massive lamp post in the centre of the Sea Lane roundabout. Mike Pavitt who lives on the corner and dialed 999, said "The bang was so loud I thought that the Iraq war had started".
The lamp post broke and fell, missing the car which came to rest on its roof. The lady driver, described as being 'middle aged' climbed out nursing a broken arm. But she seemed more worried about her husband's car, a Toyota hatchback, just two weeks old, and what he would say about that. It was suggested that she had fallen asleep at the wheel. There were no passengers.
Neighbours quickly came out and ran to help, and the driver was taken into one of the houses until the ambulance arrived, and she was taken to hospital. After a couple of hours the badly damaged car was removed, the road cleared, and peace descended again on Goring.

Boy hurt in horse and trap crash
West Sussex County Council has installed signs along several major roads warning that carriage racing is prohibited. However, races still take place, usually early in the morning or late at night to avoid police action.
Now a teenager was seriously injured when a horse-pulled carriage was hit by a car late at night on the A259 at Rustington. He suffered serious head and leg injuries and was taken to hospital. The horse and trap, which was not thought to have had lights, was hit from behind by the Vauxhall Vectra car. A vet treated the horse for injuries, including a cut to the leg, and it was back eating hay after 20 minutes.
(Argus 16 Sept 02)

Ship on fire off Beachy Head
A fire which had threatened a container ship on route from Antwerp to Tunisia, three miles off Beachy Head early on Monday (16 Sept) was brought under control but later caught fire again. A 12-man crew from Sussex Fire Brigade were flown out to the ship. The blaze threatened some 20 tonnes of hazardous cargo, thought to include fertiliser. The ship was towed into Portsmouth Harbour.
We gather this ship has been in trouble before, running aground with a cargo of acid. (Argus 16 Sept 02)

Please do not play with the dolphins
Georges the Dolphin has been swimming his way up the coast and has been seen close in to the beach at Littlehampton. He is keen to play with swimmers but tends to play a little rough. And we do not want him to associate with humans, rather that he joins up with the rest of his pod. And owners of motor craft are warned not to let him come close to the propellers which he tends to do.
(West Sussex Gazette 12 Sept 02)

Jetski accident on Beach
There was a Jetski accident off the beach at Marine Crescent on Sunday (8 Sept). Paramedics were called and an injured person was taken off on a stretcher. We hope he was soon OK
We note that because of the offshore winds, the noise of the Jet-skis has not been such a problem this year.

A27 Upgrade? Maybe
Tunnels at Worthing/Lancing, the bypass at Arundel, and flyovers at Chichester have been highlighted as good projects to improve the A27. We agree. Arundel and Worthing are regarded as the two worst bottlenecks on the whole Honiton to Margate trunk route. But we have heard this before. Don't hold your breath.
(Gazette 4 Sept 02)