Letter From Cumbria
I lived in Coventry for 73 years and a friend sends me your paper to read, knowing how I miss the old city.
My mother lived in Earlsdon Avenue and I lived in Broad Lane for a lot of that time. Saturday mornings or an evening after school was library day in Earlsdon. As I married and had two children who were educated there I began to look for charity work and often had a stall in the Church Hall for Cats Protection or Canine Defence League.
When I finished at Priory High I started work in the shop on the corner of Moor Street, selling confectionery, newspapers, magazines and cigarettes – not forgetting snuff. Well I remember the old Street and variety of shops – better variety than the city centre.
My son went to Henry Vlll and now works in a computing job with websites, in Manchester. My daughter still lives in Eastern Green.
Well, I’m 78 now and so enjoy reading ECHO. So many good, happy memories. Thank you all who are part of it and many thanks to my long time friend, Edwina, for thinking of me.
Cynthia Anson
Walney Island, Barrow In Furness
Cumbria
Parking Problems
I recently received a Christmas card from our local Tory councillors wishing me season’s greetings.
What I would like, however, is a solution to the horrendous parking problems near Spencer Park. I pay the second highest council tax in Coventry, yet my lovely little road has become a long stay car park. Every day cars turn up from 7am and stay there all day. Being a narrow road they park over the pavement both sides. I thought it was an offence to park over the pavement.
Road junctions at Dalton Road/Spencer Road and Broadway/Belvedere Road are both dangerous with poor visibility due to parked cars.
Friends and relatives who live near the railway station and areas of Cannon Park had their parking problems sorted out quickly. Why not us?
Name etc supplied
ECHO invited local councillor Allan Andrews to reply to this letter and he explains the position below:
I am very pleased your reader received the Christmas card from the Earlsdon Ward Councillors and trust that they had a good Christmas.
With regard to parking problems in Earlsdon, I am of course very familiar with them and can assure your readers that much work has been going on with trying to find a solution to the issue. However, there is much background to this issue which I will try to summarise briefly.
The councillors for Earlsdon have been constantly monitoring developments related to the Friargate Development and we have been able to secure a couple of quick successes for the community, particularly the north Earlsdon area. This includes securing two places for representatives from the North Earlsdon Neighbourhood Association (NENA) to sit on the Friargate Residents’ Liaison Group. When this group was originally proposed, there were no places to allow Earlsdon residents to have their say on this key issue for our area.
In addition, the developers and the city council had planned to create a No Parking Zone on Spencer Road, which would have been used as a formal “drop off” zone for King Henry VIII School, potentially pushing traffic problems further onto Spencer Avenue, Dalton Road, Morningside and Broadway. Following close working with NENA, we made representations and were able to convince the developers and the council to delay any commencement of the No Parking Zone until money is available for a local Residents’ Permit Parking Scheme.
We believe that there is no “one size fits all” approach that can be successfully implemented in the north Earlsdon area, so we are determined to find a parking solution that works for individual roads. We remain of the view that the needs and views of residents living in the area must be paramount in any decisions made. We can assure you that we will continue to work closely with NENA and local residents to ensure that the voice of the local community is heard throughout the course of the Friargate Development and discussions about residents’ parking.
It is worth mentioning that the Cannon Park scheme was funded by the University and that schemes closer to the railway station were funded by Friargate developers. Earlsdon has not secured this funding as the developers did not feel it was their responsibility to resolve an existing problem. We also had political obstacles to overcome which have now been resolved, so there are a number of reasons as to why other areas have been able to have parking schemes introduced and that we are yet to have implemented a solution. I am of course happy to respond to any queries via email, at allan.andrews@coventry.gov.uk or via post at: Cllr Allan Andrews, Council House, Earl Street, Coventry, CV1 5RR.
Who Remembers Private Library?
I wonder if anyone can help me? In the 1950s I used to go with my mother to Earlsdon Library and whilst on the No. 1 bus I can vaguely remember passing a house in Earlsdon Avenue which was a privately owned library.
I have asked many people about this and nobody seems to know of it. Is it a figment of my imagination? It would be nice if someone could confirm if I am right and any details they know of it.
Mrs A D Atkin
Armorial Road
Styvechale
No Mrs Atkin, you were not imagining it! Members of the ECHO team remember the library being there in the 1970s but have no details. If anyone can help please contact us as shown on page 2 and we will share with everybody!