Your letters - May 7

DLWP sculpture display kicks butt - literally!

OUR town has been treated to a pretty rare sight!

Sixty life-size cast iron body forms are being placed on the roof terrace of the De La Warr Pavilion.

They make up Critical Mass, a well known installation by the artist Antony Gormley. Antony Gormley is the sculptor who created the Angel of the North and who used the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square as a performance installation by the general public for 100 days in 2009.

This photograph was taken by my wife, Christine.

ANTHONY HAMILTON

Southcourt Avenue

Bexhill

No tourist information

AS a regular visitor to Bexhill as well as towns and cities around the world, the glaring omission of a tourist information centre in Bexhill is a disgrace.

In France for instance, even the smallest town has a TIC giving up-to-the-minute information on accommodation, amenities, hostelries, events etc all under one roof.

The traders in Bexhill must be seething at the lack of Rother District Council's foresight to provide one in the town of Bexhill which is one of the most popular towns in the area for the tourist trade both local and international.

I personally miss several events I would like to have attended simply because I did not know about them or in some cases how to get there.

New super-duper beach signs have appeared along the coast,please Rother Council let the locals and tourists know what is going on in your town and help the traders!

SUE BARRELL

Herstmonceux

Losing Crossroads

East Sussex County Council's decision to cut off funding to Crossroads Care is a death sentence.

Not only to the family carers needing essential breaks but to the very special carers at Crossroads.

My wife is employed as a family support worker and is deeply concerned for the people she will not be able to continue to help when funding ends on May 31.

Crossroads is not just another care concern, it is a very special company employing very special people. What a truly great shame in this money-driven world that funding cannot continue. I find it difficult to understand how Crossroads is allowed to fold. Priceless and irreplaceable, that is Crossroads.

name and address supplied

Tell us what's on

REGARDING the article in last week's issue about the mobile cinema showing films at Manor Barn: I congratulate Mr Sage on this enterprise and hope it will be well supported. But people like myself, who have no access to the internet, have no way of knowing what films are showing each week and at what times etc, and so will not be attending and Mr Sage will not get the audiences he is hoping for.

I would therefore suggest that he gives this information regularly by means other than the internet. I note you say that "Listings are also in the Observer" but there was no mention of the Manor Barn showings in the Listings last week (although there was in the previous week's issue).

L.E. Avery

Willow Drive,

Little Common

Lovely lunch at Legion

MY daughter is a member of the Little Common British Legion, Meads Avenue, and took us all there for my lovely birthday lunch.

I would like to thank Steve the chef, for a fantastic and delicious meal and also thanks to the lovely, friendly waiting staff. I had a very enjoyable meal in a very nice environment. I was suprised that there are lunches available every day except Monday, and you no longer need to have served in the forces - I wonder if people are missing out on this great place to go in their village?

I had a lovely time and have already booked again for lunch and am looking forward to the tribute bands too.

Thanks again for making my day special.

Mary Good

The Piazza

Sovereign Harbour

Eastbourne

Thanks to Highwoods

May I, through your pages, say a big thank you to the staff and members of the Highwoods Golf club. Following a day of very bad weather, they came out in force to play a Texas Scramble. Teams of four players competing against each other with morning and afternoon sessions culminating in two winning teams.

At the end of the day they presented a cheque for 455 in favour of the RNLI, the chosen charity of the day.

David Gardner

Chairman Bexhill RNLI

Meaningful dialogue

I am writing this in response to Mrs Greenlow's letter in the Bexhill Observer a few weeks ago, with regard to her memories of the De La Warr Pavilion.

I too remember the wonderful varied events that were held there regularly throughout the year. I was involved with quite a few of them over the years. There was always something happening, to see, or just to listen to some music whilst relaxing on the ground floor terrace with some refreshments.

Then however it was funded by Rother District Council to the tune of almost 1million per annum. However things have since changed. The DLWP is now funded by The Arts Council, The National Lottery and Rother District Council to the tune of almost 1.5 million annually. RDC is now contributing approximately 600,000 pa. The DLWP is now striving to be a centre for modern arts, which is a very worthy and commendable ambition and something we should be proud of. I am absolutely thrilled and excited that we have a unique exhibition of sculptures at the DLWP and I sincerely hope that it will attract the 20,000 new visitors to Bexhill that Alan Hayden has predicted. The town businesses certainly need an injection of new money to improve their finances.

I hasten to add that I applaud all the work that the DLWP management and staff do for the youth of the district, all the excellent workshops they run, and all the concerts and films and events that they put on that have their own particular niche following. I know that some people do stay with our accommodation providers in Bexhill for these events. I realise that the DLWP management and the Trustees are in a difficult situation, on the one hand they want to adhere strictly to their modern art agenda but at the same time we need them to satisfy the vast majority of the residents of Bexhill whilst attracting sufficient numbers of visitors to Bexhill to justify their huge subsidy. This is obviously a difficult task but one that must be addressed, before time and money runs out. The recent Bexhill Tourism Association (BEXTA) visitor survey showed that the vast majority of visitors were very disappointed at the lack of entertainment offered in Bexhill, particularly in the evenings.

However we were promised, by Rother District Council when it reopened, that the DLWP, after having almost 10 million spent on its renovation, and with the mentioned annual 1.5 million funding in place, that it would regenerate Bexhill and be a magnet for tourists. This has sadly proved not to be the case, ask any business in town, the shops, the restaurants and especially the accommodation providers.

We have all been bamboozled with really unbelievable visitor statistics, claims of 1,400 people visiting the DLWP every day, claims of 16M spent in the Bexhill area every year because of The DLWP, claims that 110,000 people stay in Bexhill and area every year solely because of the DLWP. If only these statistics were true. We desperately need the DLWP to attract both staying and day visitors to Bexhill, but according to a recent survey, conducted by Tourism South East, only one per cent of visitors to Bexhill come because of the DLWP and the recent Bexhill Tourism Association survey showed that less than three per cent of staying visitors came to Bexhill because of The DLWP. These visitor statistics do not justify the claims that are being made about the worth of the DLWP to Bexhill's economy. Obviously something at the moment is not working. My comments should not be seen as anyway critical, but more of a way of commencing meaningful dialogue.

Some of the woes of the businesses are obviously due to the recession, but we need to play to our strengths and the DLWP should be one of them. I believe that it is time for constructive dialogue between RDC, the Chamber of Commerce, BEXTA, and the DLWP.

Brian Storkey

BEXTA