Viewpoint: Tributes to Sir Michael Parkinson

Email Viewpoint letters tojamesp@baylismedia.co.ukor write to Viewpoint, Newspaper House, 48 Bell Street, Maidenhead, SL6 1HX.

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Liz lightened the load but a machine cannot

We seem to live in an age where human interaction has become unfashionable.

The self-service checkout in the supermarkets, the self-service terminals in the post office (all of which seem to need multiple humans on hand to guide some of the less technically minded customers through their transaction) and the moot point of the day, the ticket machine at the train station.

Many moons ago I commuted between Furze Platt and Marlow.

Furze Platt station used to be staffed by a lovely lady by the name of Liz, for a few hours a morning to get the schoolchildren and commuters like me through the daily commute.

Now the ticket machine at Furze Platt was, as often as not, out of order – either due to the buttons being melted by cigarette lighters, the ticket slot being mistaken for a public convenience (I jest ye not) or just a good old-fashioned bit of inventive vandalism by local urchins of an evening.

If you needed a ticket at Furze Platt, you went and saw Liz.

Myself and a fellow commuter by the name of Simon would get to the station 10 minutes before our train so we could chat to Liz, and engage in that British pastime of small talk.

It lightened the load and gave us a great start to the day.

You can’t do that with a ticket machine.

If the railway companies could switch to machines rather than ticket booths and completely remove any need for human intervention I would understand it, as a cost saving measure. However, they cannot.

Machines still break down, or run out of tickets, and people will accidentally get a ticket to Burnham-on-Crouch when they just wanted to get to the trading estate.

To assume that the whole train travelling population has the ability or inclination to purchase a ticket on their smartphone and doesn’t want or require some help from a human being is both absurd and rather sad in equal measure.

We keep being told that talking can help people with all sorts of problems and worries, yet we’ve let technology slowly erode away at the art of conversation and interaction.

I feel for future generations, where nobody will be talking to anybody.

PETE DUNSFORD

Burnham

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Have your say on plan to shut ticket offices

The RMT union has reported that the Government has instructed the train companies to begin closing all their ticket offices, stating that these closures will restrict passengers’ access to the best value tickets, worsen passenger service, accessibility, safety and security and lead to a de-staffing of stations.

It is forecast that approximately 1,000 ticket offices will be closed and with it, over 2,000 railway station staff will lose their jobs.

As a trades council supporting our trade union movement within the local community, we are aghast at this news and have supported the RMT and other rail unions in their public campaign ever since.

The passenger watchdogs Transport Focus and London Travelwatch are overseeing a public consultation which closes on September 1, 2023, following the recent deadline extension.

If you want to save your local ticket offices, you need to respond to the consultation and oppose the closures. Just go to www.rmt.org.uk.

Our trades council has been out on many different days at Slough Railway Station and Windsor & Eton Central Station, handing out postcards for completion and free posting to the consultation bodies referenced above.

The support has been excellent as our general public knows the value of ticket offices and is appalled that they might be closed.

To date, over 400,000 people have joined the national consultation and there have been thousands signing the online petitions across social media.

We need to oppose the closures and join the campaign.

Our ticket offices are vital to everyone.

Machines lack the human touch and also, have a habit of breaking down.

Many travellers prefer the advice given by experienced ticket office staff who know the most accurate and economical way to travel.

This includes tourists who want help to understand the complexity of our railway systems.

People with certain disabilities or with some kind of special need also benefit from face-to-face contact.

Ticket offices benefit us all.

When the deadline for the public consultation was extended, the RMT declared this move on the future of rail ticket offices as totally inadequate and called for the whole disastrous closure programme to be abandoned. Slough Trades Council totally agrees.

Time for us all to get on board!

Follow the link above and join the campaign. #SaveTicketOffices

MARGERY THOROGOOD

Secretary, Slough & District Trades Union Council

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Great support from Sir Michael and his family

We were deeply saddened to lose one of the longest standing members of our Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service family.

Sir Michael Parkinson, our founder patron, has been with our charity since its
inception.

他的信念在我们的愿景,我们的事业的承诺and support for our ambitions have been a constant source of strength and guidance for us throughout our journey to deliver Berkshire’s first children’s hospice service.

From holding the hand of our founder CEO Fiona Devine as she nervously made her first public speech to raise awareness of our charity in its beginnings, to proudly cutting the ribbon at the opening ceremony for our children’s hospice some eleven years later, Sir Michael’s dedication to our organisation and the families we support has been unwavering.

Speaking at our events, Sir Michael would capture the hearts and minds of our supporters. With his trademark charm, intrigue, and sense of humour, we were privileged to have his momentous talent as a driving force behind our mission.

To put it simply, our journey would not have been the same without the extraordinary kindness, generosity and loyalty Sir Michael and his family have shown to us.

It is true to say those we hold dear, never really leave us.

We will proudly remember Sir Michael and embrace his passion, belief, and enthusiasm, it will be his lasting legacy.

We will carry Sir Michael in our hearts as we continue to care for the children and families that use our service.

RIP Sir Michael Parkinson.

On behalf of ALEXANDER DEVINE CHILDREN’S HOSPICE SERVICE

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‘Most of all, we will miss his company’

Men’s Matters charity wishes to express our collective shock and sadness at the news of the passing of our patron and supporter, Sir Michael Parkinson CBE, at the age of 88.

Shortly after becoming a registered charity in 2017, Men’s Matters wrote to Sir Michael, asking him if he would consider becoming our patron.

He asked for more information and agreed to meet us at the Maidenhead Community Centre in 2018.

He met our trustees and members, mainly retired men living in Windsor and Maidenhead, and announced he would be delighted to be our patron as he approved of our aim to help older men enjoy their retirement years through informal social interaction in a peer group environment.

Since that time, Men’s Matters has become part of the NHS Social Prescribing network through which older men with mental health problems, including early-stage dementia, depression and anxiety, are referred to us so they may benefit from the company of others.

Sir Michael fully supported this initiative and would always make an effort to fit us into his busy schedule of media and promotional work to attend our events.

Over the past five years he continued to take an active interest, asking for updates on our activities and agreeing to appear at some of our events, mainly Christmas lunches and special occasions such as the Queen’s Jubilee tea parties in 2022.

Sadly, this was the last time we saw him.

In addition, he won us grants on two occasions through the celebrity charity, Saints and Sinners.

Those donations went towards the costs of our weekly meetings and day trips.

Men’s Matters wish to express their deep gratitude and respect to Sir Michael for being part of our family and helping us to grow so that we can reach more men who may be experiencing loneliness, or simply wish to enjoy the company of others, in East Berkshire.

Most of all, we will miss his company at our Christmas lunches where he shared his memories of interviewing celebrities on his television show in the forthright and humble manner in which he expressed himself, and spreading happiness through the group.

Our deepest condolences to his family and all those at Parkinson Productions.

THE TRUSTEES AND MEMBERS OF MEN’S MATTERS

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Cavalier attitude to vote is quite Trumpian

Mr Aidan’s continued reference to my address (Viewpoint, August 18) must be due to the fact that both Job and Naboth were proved right in their unshakeable faith in what they believed in.

As I am the butt of his infantile Colonel Blimp (quite a promotion thank you) jibe together with ‘laudatory applause’ for B Johnson, I merely query why an elected PM with a massive mandate is so easily replaced by an unelected member supported by the hypocritical uttering of B Jenkin and H Harman aided and abetted by our own MP.

Just who are the grown ups that he would have running the country?

我们有更多的自我发展,他现在说on behalf of the young and middle aged having written off the elderly Brexit voters.

Further he adopts a Trumpian attitude over the ‘discredited (Brexit) vote’, any proof of this claim?

现在他的孩子气粉饰的方式can I again ask for comments on the failed REJOIN EU candidate, the EU recession, the fact that we are now exporting more to EU than prior to Brexit, the imploding and declining nature of Europe including Schengen and their refusal to join with us in stemming the flow and ergo deaths of channel crossers, their naming The Falklands to suit our enemy in the conflict, their reticence in assisting Ukraine and continued support by some members of Russia.

Thank goodness we are out.

FRED VEEVERS

Jobs Lane

Cookham Dean

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Blame for rotten deal lies with politicians

I have no idea why James Aidan should imagine that I blame officials for our rotten Brexit deal, as I have repeatedly made it clear that the blame lies with politicians.

Above all Tory politicians - David Cameron and George Osborne, then Theresa May and then Boris Johnson - who between them have split up the United Kingdom.

It will be recalled that when the first two found that ‘Project Fear’ had not won them the referendum they scooted off, and the third put herself forward to take over.

It was because she fell down on the job that we ended up with the Great Charlatan as Prime Minister, and he did what both she and he had said should never be done.

Creating a customs and regulatory border within the UK, between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, instead of at the international frontier with the Irish Republic.

Not only are there obstacles to the movement of goods into Northern Ireland, officials are now holding up goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.c

That is being classified as the ‘importation’ of goods, as if they were coming from a foreign country rather than part of the UK, further negating the Acts of Union.

Dr D R COOPER

Belmont Park Avenue

Maidenhead

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Thanks to gentlemen who handed in cash

Please could you print my thank you note for the two gentlemen who found my pension money where it had dropped out of my pocket while I was resting on a bench in Nicholsons Walk.

They traced me to the Alzheimer’s shop as I was looking at the CDs and asked me had I been sitting on a bench in Nicholsons Walk and had I lost anything?

I said yes and then to my amazement they handed over my pension money. This took place on Tuesday, August 1 at 2pm.

I am enclosing some money to thank both gentlemen.

NOTE HANDED IN AT ADVERTISER OFFICES

Editor’s note:The Advertiser has handed the money in to the Alzheimers Dementia Support shop in Maidenhead town centre.