Letters, contributions and comments sent in from Recorder readers this week.

Blacksmith started Barkingside FC

Rob Meyers, Barkingside FC historian, full address supplied, writes:

For many years the only clue to who it was who set up local football club Barkingside were the words “a small band of enthusiasts”.

Whilst researching documents, I was fortunate enough to come across A Short History of Barkingside Football Club in which a more detailed explanation was given by the then chairman Mr Ray Long.

It was the village blacksmith George Wall senior who started up the club on farmer Brown’s farmland in 1898.

It’s an amazing find. Now the

club would love to know more about Mr Wall and his son who also helped the club post First World War, alongside the Barkingside Silver Band.

No Momentum ‘ploy’ over selection

Syed Siddiqi, co-ordinator Redbridge Momentum, writes:

Redbridge Momentum are concerned by an article in the Ilford Recorder on October 10, 2017 about the apparent deselection and blocking of Cllr Lloyd Duddridge standing as a council candidate in Churchfields ward by Redbridge Momentum.

We can categorically say that there was absolutely no ploy or “concerted effort” by Redbridge Momentum or our members to prevent Mr Duddridge from being selected as a council candidate in Churchfields Ward.

The same procedures and processes were applied and followed in every selection meeting across Redbridge.

We can also confirm that Cllr Duddridge is not and never has been a sitting councillor in Churchfields Ward so it is logically impossible for him to have been deselected as he was never “selected” in the first place. Mr Duddridge is also not a member of Churchfields or a resident of the ward. Churchfields is a new ward and yet to be convened officially, the new Churchfields Ward will inherit below 30 per cent of the old Roding Ward with the rest being made up of the old Church End Ward.

A similar percentage of the old Roding Ward will fall inside the new South Woodford ward.

We can also confirm that during the selection meeting in Churchfields Ward all the potential candidates received a different number of votes, where one candidate from Mr Duddridge’s “slate” actually got selected.

Syed E Siddiqi, secretary of Ilford South CLP, received the highest member of votes with over 75pc of the members voting for him as the preferred candidate.

Allow two hours of free parking

Cllr Joyce Ryan, Howard Berlin and Ruth Clark, Fairlop Action Team writes:

It is a new year but it has only taken a few days for our Redbridge Labour administration to make life more difficult for those people who want to pay cash to park their cars in Redbridge.

A recent AA survey found that 7 out of 10 AA members would rather park elsewhere than use a “pay by phone” option.

Jack Cousens, head of policy for the AA says: “All providers should make it easier to pay for parking. Not everyone has a smartphone to pay via an app and not everyone is keen to talk to a robot to pay for an hour’s stay. For the elderly and low-income drivers, pay-by-phone feels almost discriminatory.”

We in the Fairlop Action Team say he is right.

The option of paying by a smart phone or an app is very good thing but residents in Redbridge are entitled to freedom of choice and what our Labour administration have done is take away from residents the right to pay by cash.

So we are calling for the leader of Redbridge Council to do another U-turn and let residents pay for parking with cash.

We had an email from a local resident which we wanted to share with the leader of Redbridge Council and the public.

There is a group of 20 elderly people who regularly visit Hainault Forest Country Park for dog walking, walking in the park and socialising in the café. The parking charge now for each of them is £24.50 per week. Many of the group are now unable to afford this.

What this group do, with regard to exercise and socialising, is a wonderful thing.

You cannot put a price on healthy exercise and socialising with friends. Yet sadly, this is exactly what our Labour administration in Redbridge are doing by substantially increasing the cost of parking your car and making it more difficult for elderly residents to pay.

We say there should be a two-hour free parking period in our Redbridge parks.

Not everyone has mobile phone

Bill Dodds, Holland Park Avenue, Ilford, writes:

Coinless parking only in Redbridge parks and recreation grounds. It will be interesting to see what happens with any PCN that is issued and eventually ends up in court. As an alternative method to paying by coins it is a reasonably good idea but not if it is the sole means of paying.

There are many deaf/hard of hearing people that have absolutely no use for a phone as they just can’t use them. That will fall under the Equality Act. Also many elderly drivers, probably the greatest group of people using these areas during the week, haven’t got one either.