The Worthing Journal

17/11/2024

Subscribe to The Worthing Journal and stay in the loop.
With Christmas on the horizon, many people are subscribing, resubscribing, or ordering a subscription for family and friends as a present - or rather 12 presents, for just over 91p a month.
www.worthingjournal.co.uk

16/11/2024

I have never, in all my life, seen a more beautiful autumn than this year!
Photo: Findon Place.

16/11/2024

Happy days at Peter Pans!

16/11/2024

A spooky moon this evening.

16/11/2024

Councillors come in for harsh criticism at times.
Occasionally justified; most times not.
Your correspondent often pauses to reminds himself that 99.9 per cent of councillors are good people who put their heads above the parapet in the hope of making a positive difference to Worthing and the lives of its residents.
Scanning back more than 40 years, one or two were “wrong uns”, while a few more became power crazed, but most were diligent public servants who put others before themselves.
They don’t always get it right, but how many of us walking in their shoes would?
Councillors are laymen and women drawn from the general population, our next-door neighbours, who are at times dealing with astonishingly complex circumstances.
They often go from managing household finances to multi-million pound budgets, which is daunting to say the least.
How many of us could cope with that type of pressure and stress for what is effectively a pittance? And make no mistake, at borough council level, it is.
On occasion a councillor criticised in The Journal will ask: “Well, if you can do better, why don’t you stand for election?”
It’s a tricky one, for faced by municipal secrecy your correspondent would be the first to blow the whistle, making his position, one suspects, untenable.
So, the age old friction between councillors (often taking orders from officers) and the Press continues, as highlighted during the recent pier crisis.
Our forefathers were having the same debate.
Let’s turn to 1895 when a correspondent wrote: “Many people, prodigal in criticism as to the manner in which Worthing Town Council fulfils the trust reposed in it, overlook the immense amount of time the members of that body expend in the discharge of their duties.
“To err is human is a forgotten axiom so far as they are concerned, and therefore the council is often undeservedly blamed.”
So, while we quite often cross swords (The Journal was sent to Coventry by the Conservatives for two years courtesy of its at times unfavourable reporting, and no doubt the same will happen with Labour) your correspondent takes his proverbial hat off to our elected members at the Town Hall, who work tirelessly for the community.
As for county councillors, who spend the vast majority of our taxes, and get paid a lot more than their borough counterparts, well that’s a different matter worthy of further debate.
www.worthingjournal.co.uk

15/11/2024

Something for the weekend?
Available at an outlet near you :)

GORING
Denyers newsagents, Goring Road.
Goring Food and Wine, Aldsworth Parade.
Verandah café, Goring Road.
Tides restaurant, Aldsworth Parade.
Sea Lane Cafe

HEENE
The Pet Shop, Rowlands Road, near Heene
Road.
Heene Community Centre, Heene Road (ask at
reception).

FINDON
Findon Village News.

TOWN CENTRE
News and Cards, Richmond Road.
Quick Stop newsagents, Railway Approach,
opposite main railway station.
Trident News, Shelley Road, near Portland
Road.
Lido café.
The Shop newsagents, Chapel Road/Wenban
Road
Chapel News, Chapel Road, opposite the
clocktower.
Vanity Hair, Clifton Road.
Londis, Montague Street precinct.
Last Resort bar, Marine Parade.
Montagues dry cleaners, Montague Street,
near the Mahaan.

EAST WORTHING
Worthing Hospital League of Friends’ shop.
Lyndhurst Road Post Office.
KSK newsagents, Ham Road/Ham Way.
Best-one convenience store, Brighton Road,
east of Bayside.

WEST WORTHING
West Station News, opposite West Worthing
railway station.
Worthing Lions charity shop, George V
Avenue/Goring Road.
Goring News and Wine, Goring Road,
opposite the Co-op.

FERRING
Pinkertons newsagents, Ocean Parade,
Ferringham Lane.

BROADWATER
Diya News, formerly Broadwater News,
Broadwater Street West.
Shreejee News, South Farm Road.
Broadwater Green Post Office, Cricketers
Parade.
Muldoons cafe.

FINDON VALLEY
Findon Valley Post Office, King’s Parade,
Findon Road.

WEST DURRINGTON
Quality Kwik dry cleaners, next to Tesco
superstore.

SALVINGTON
Welcome convenience store, Half Moon
parade, Half Moon Lane.
John Selden pub, Half Moon Lane (ask at the
bar).

MAYBRIDGE:
Strand Pets, Strand Parade, The Boulevard.

15/11/2024

An Edwardian poem:

White sails, red sails, sails of golden brown
All the jolly sailing boats are dipping up and down,
Ducking in the water, dancing in their glee,
On the waves of Worthing and the big blue sea

White paint, green paint, wheels so red and round
A saucy little bathing hut has run herself aground,
Flaunting in the shallows, flirting desperately,
With the waves of Worthing and the big blue sea.

White folk, brown folk, folk from every land
Do I hear you saying as you stroll across our strand?
“It’s good to be in England and best of all to be
“By the waves of Worthing and the big blue sea.”

15/11/2024

This is a wonderful Worthing Borough Council-backed scheme which we should all get behind!

The National Street Tree Sponsorship scheme

15/11/2024

Apologies, but just barred somebody for being abusive to another contributor.
Debate is fine, abuse is not.

15/11/2024

We don't do press releases.
We ask questions.
The last gasp of local journalism.
www.worthingjournal.co.uk

15/11/2024

Businesss on the pier are not entitled to compensation from the council.
However, the council states: "All businesses have been contacted to confirm that, beginning from the closure date of October 9, rent and utility billing will be suspended until they can reasonably resume operations.
“Officers are managing this loss as a new cost pressure within current budgets, estimated at £7,083 per month."
Other financial assistance is being looked at.

14/11/2024

The cost of stabilising the pier has been estimated at £432,000.

13/11/2024

Amazing how many people are asking about the heat network and the pier - both subjects covered in depth by the WJ.
Come and join us and stay in the loop - www.worthingjournal.co.uk

13/11/2024

Advertising space in our 124-page Worthing Journal sold out weeks ago.
A number of businesses sought space too late and could not be included.
So book early for January to give your firm or shop a New Year boost.
We know it's tough out there, so our rates today are the same as the day we launched The Journal in 2011.
While others hike already steep prices, we have absolutely no plans to raise ours - unchanged for 15 years and counting!
Drop us a line at [email protected]

13/11/2024

Our latest 124 page edition - crammed with news, views, current affairs and history.
Covering Worthing, Ferring, Findon, Lancing, Sompting, Clapham and Patching.
Available at an outlet near you.
Or visit www.worthingjournal.co.uk and have it delivered to your doorstep every month.

13/11/2024

Come and join us - we'll keep you in the picture about what's happening locally.
Social media doesn't even scratch the surface!

13/11/2024

Two trees, at the time of writing, were today chopped down In High Street to make way for the new Hemiko heat network. The photos shows one south of the entrance to High Street multi-storey car park - with another felled to the north. I will check in the morning to see if the remaining two trees went the same way.

13/11/2024

Work began today on temporary repairs to the pier, part of which is in danger of collapsing into the sea.
A fleet of tracked heavy engineering vehicles went onto the sands at low tide this afternoon to begin work.
The plan is to drive three piles into the seabed on either side of the pier.
Beams will then be placed between them beneath the pier to support the structure, allowing workmen to safely go under and replace the damaged and missing columns.
First, a survey using magnetism of the seabed was undertaken to ensure there was no wartime ordnance in the vicinity.
The cab of the leviathan that dropped the first two piles into holes drilled by a giant corkscrew was bomb proof.
Each steel pile was just over 15m tall, of which around 10m was dropped into the hole, leaving about 5m above the surface.
Monitors were fixed to the pier to ensure vibrations from the operation, which made a clanging sound like 20 tuneless bells ringing at once, didn't further damage the structure.
This part of the plan to reopen the pier will take just over a week, weather and tides permitting.
Subscribe to The Worthing Journal for the full story:
www.worthingjournal.co.uk