WHISPERING SMITH: Sandcastles are fine, but just not here

It’s quite impressive, really – the elevated walkway looking out and over the River Arun is clean, crisp and a joy to walk along on a sunny afternoon.

There is plenty of seating room for the fish and chippers, one of which I will be just as soon as the weather warms up a bit.

Talking to the local folk gathered there, I found all to be largely in favour, with only a couple of reservations, which I myself share.

One was the choice of sand for the sloping planted areas. Apart from the obvious fact that it is likely to be washed away when the heavy rain comes, it is already dotted with footprints and one small attempt at building a sandcastle.

Secondly, and I have yet to meet anyone who disagrees, it was a missed opportunity not to pedestrianise the whole area or, at the very least, to make it a single, one-way traffic lane.

Currently the double yellow lines are not in force and it will be that way until April 1. You can see that, in the narrowest parts of Pier Road, it can be used only by single file traffic, because of the parked vehicles on the eastern side of the road and, come April, people who hold blue badges can and will continue to park along there, as is their right.

l See letter, pages 28/9.

THE sun pops out and so do my golf clubs.

This week, my two friends and I took on the beast that is our pitch and putt course on the seafront at Norfolk Gardens, for the first time since last autumn.

The wind, long grass, a very rough rough and uneven, wormy greens make this little gem a real test for any golfer. I love it.

The question popped into my mind, while looking for a yellow ball midst a mass of similarly coloured daffodils, that there are very real threats to our Windmill Entertainment Centre and the leisure and swimming complex, yet there has been no mention of the future or otherwise of this lovely open area.

We need to keep an eye on Arun District Council, as it seems to want to get its greedy hands on any open space that faces the sea.