Charlie Boy Meynard

The return of Captain Panshanger

SUPERHERO and fundraising marvel, Captain Panshanger, hung up his cloak earlier this year – any regular reader of the WHT would know that!

However, after being away from any form of charity work for five months he is back, but this time unmasked.

“I wish to be known from now on as Timothy Muggleton – my real name. Captain Panshanger is dead, I am no longer that person, he was a big burden on my shoulders too,” he said.

Timothy, who first officially became Captain Panshanger in 1990, told the WHT: “It was getting silly, it was almost like being a Hollywood star.

“People were giving me new nicknames, so I’m now serious, really serious. I want to raise as much money as possible.”

And Timothy has started well too, raising £230 for the QE2 Hospital’s special care baby unit.

The do-gooder, who raises all the cash for charity via donations, added: “Things are slowly but surely going back to how they were.

“It went very quiet at the end of my career as Captain Panshanger and I felt that nobody was interested in donating.

“However, it’s definitely improved now I’m back.”

Bunting banter in Welwyn

ANYONE sauntering through Welwyn village during its festival period will notice the lack of bunting along the High Street.

As reported in a previous edition of the WHT, this is due to officious fire bosses vetoing their staff from hanging the jovial decorations.

This has understandably ruffled a number of feathers of residents in the village who have revelled under the bunting annually for over 30 years.

But travelling past Welwyn fire station the other day I was baffled to see a huge banner hung from the roof of the building advertising the… er, Welwyn Festival!

Obviously the firemen would not have been allowed to do this, but well done whoever did.

It’s about time health and safety was diluted with a bit of common sense!

Do the write thing for post offices

I WOULD be lying if I said I was a frequent user of post offices.

However, I am still startled that a service as integral to any community can be so recklessly discarded.

To read that the Marsden Road office is set for the chop is even more shocking.

Only a week ago, I popped into the friendly branch to purchase a book of stamps and send off a few eBay items that I had recently flogged.

As I waited in a queue of chattering pensioners, I was struck by a pang of anger.

Where will they go now?

To you and I, a trip in the car to the next post office is an inconvenience.

To many of the elderly individuals I stood behind, it is an impossibility!

But there is still hope and still something that we can do to save an excellent service and allay the fears of hundreds of concerned OAPs who could lose a lifeline.

If you feel even a slither of sympathy, write a short correspondence to the post office big boys who have made this clumsy decision. Every letter helps!

All in the line of duty for Shapps

POLITICIANS have a pretty tough life.

Constantly meeting constituents, jeering opposition members, going on pub crawls…

That’s right, MP Grant Shapps (a man after my own heart) took a day out of his busy schedule last week to sample some of the finest watering holes Times Territory has on offer.

The shadow housing minister droped into Hatfield pubs The Woodman and The Airfield before heading onto The White Hart in Welwyn.

However, Grant a devoted member of the WHT’s Save Your Local campaign, was on a noble crusade rather than a booze up.

He chatted to publicans, gauged their anger about crippling tax hikes on beer and filmed a short documentary on the current state of the pub trade.

He told one of our reporters: “Unfortunately we filmed during the day and barely a drop of beer passed my lips.”

“I have been avidly reading and following the WHT campaign and thought it was time to get out and meet some of the people really affected.

“People are really concerned about pubs at the moment and that is shown in the short video.”

Grant’s YouTube mini documentary entitled Save Our Pubs can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTUGfRM67Ok

Look no further fore 'talent'

In this week's WHT (and somewhere on this website, no doubt) you’ll read about a WGC woman who has been crowned Herts Worst Golfer.

It’s a title that has caused great debate among the swingers (can I say that?) in the WHT office.

Both my esteemed editor and the news ed have been on golfing holidays in sunnier climes in recent weeks, while a few of the lads on the newsdesk have been known to take in 18 holes of a summer’s evening.

None of the aforementioned ever come back with great tales of holes-in-one, monster birdie putts or exquisite bunker shots, though.

May I boldly suggest the Herts Worst Golfer judges pay Times Towers a visit before next year’s contest.

A nice clean window on MPs' pampered world

WITH the cost of living on the up and up, these are worrying economic times.
Thousands of families are well and truly feeling the pinch as it gets ever more expensive to fill up with petrol or put food in their mouths.
But at least our political representatives – or, should I say, 14 in particular – are doing OK.
Details of expenses claimed by MPs were released after a legal battle to keep them secret failed.
And boy, it’s no wonder some wanted to keep the truth hidden from the public.
Did you know that taxpayers’ money – that’s yours and my hard-earned cash – paid for Gordon Brown to have Sky TV?
And we stumped up £10,000 for former PM Tony Blair to get a new kitchen.
Stevenage MP Barbara Follett charged us £1,600 to have the windows cleaned at her London gaff.
So next time you’re counting the pennies to pay for the weekly shop, be comforted that good ol’ Gordon can relax and watch live Premier League footy and Barbara Follett can see across the street from her living room.
And it’s not like they can’t afford to cough up, either.
As a Government minister, Mrs Follett earns more in a year than nurses and teachers do in about five.
Is it not high time time that this political gravy train finally hit the buffers?

You could be left feeling blue!

TOMORROW is polling day – and a dark cloud is looming over Welwyn Hatfield. For there is a real chance that come Friday morning, the make-up of the borough council will be all blue.

The council is currently made up of 35 Conservatives, 10 Labour and three Lib Dem councillors.

And, with the Tories the only party fielding candidates in every one of the 48 seats up for grabs, a ‘bluewash’ cannot be dismissed.

Now don’t get me wrong. This piece isn’t about encouraging you all not to vote Tory.

Indeed, regular readers of my column will know I am strictly fair with all sides.

But my point is, it is not good for democracy if any authority at any level does not have a credible, opposition voice.

For who will challenge the decisions that a party with total domination could, and would, make? (Other than the WHT of course).

But whatever your choice, please, please do go and cast your vote. You’ve only got to look at the election farce in Zimbabwe to realise just how lucky we are to have such a basic democratic right in this country.

Now that's what I call value for money...

WITH the cost of healthcare becoming more and more expensive, the body that governs our hospitals appears to have built a new wing for next to nothing!

Our disbelieving news editor opened an email this week, from an East and North Herts NHS Trust official, that read: "Mount Vernon Cancer Centre: official opening of £21 New Radiotherapy Wing."

Now unless trust chief executive Nick Carver managed to construct an entire medical wing out of cardboard and sticky-back plastic, I presume the odd zero or five were left out.

Potholes

I CAN’T be the only one who is annoyed with the state of our roads at the moment.

Hertfordshire Highways really do have a lot to answer for.

Potholes are everywhere.

And when people do complain – the council comes along with their trusty white spray-paint to mark the road.

Then one of two things seems to be happening.

The white marks stay for what seems like forever before the repair trucks arrive.

Or the holes are filled in – badly – resulting in just as an uneven ride for us drivers than when the pothole was there.

But it’s not only potholes.

The awful repairs to roads created when utility companies fill in the road after digging it up are leaving Times Territory in a dreadful situation.

Why are the utility companies not checked up on?

And why are our roundabouts in such a bad state of repair?

The Ganetts roundabout for example has a deep groove all around the outside.

Now both councils have improved the vegetation – why have they not made the road safer for us road users?

I would like to nominate Hollybush Lane, WGC as one of the worst for potholes and Tewin Road, WGC as the worst for patchy repairs.

*Do you have a road that you think is worse?

Get in touch and maybe the highways department can supply us with some answers.

Motorists you have been warned!

LIKE speed cameras for the police, parking tickets are seen by many as just a revenue earner for the council.

So when something happens that might bring the cash flooding in, you’d have thought those at Welwyn Hatfield Council would keep quiet about it.
Not so.

A press release landed in the WHT’s email inbox this week telling visitors to the Campus East council offices in WGC not to park in the adjacent College Way.

It read: “The limited waiting bays closest to the rear of the Campus East offices have been replaced with a loading bay.

“The bay is for goods vehicles only during the period Monday to Saturday 8am to 6pm.

“Penalty Charge Notices will be issued to any vehicle parked in the bay during restricted hours. The disabled bays are still available to Blue Badge holders.”

The release ended: “Please make sure you check the sign plates before parking your vehicle.”

So if you happen to get a ticket now, you can’t say you weren’t warned!

Motorway madness?

SO I see there is going to be traffic lights on the A1(M) slip roads at the two Hatfield junctions.

Now, I’m used to stopping at lights at the end of a slip road when coming off a motorway, but never going on to one.

I can see the slip road becoming a bit like an F1 starting grid, with a line of cars waiting to get the signal to speed off on to the the A1(M).

Traffic at the Oldings roundabout is bad at the best of times and I am also concerned at the effect this measure will have on roads in that area. I will watch this one with interest.

TV's Lewis spotted

A GEORDIE television star has been spotted in Times Territory apparently filming a programme about his family heritage.

Kevin Whately, or as he may be better known detective Robert Lewis from the ITV hits Morse and Lewis, was seen in Watton-at-Stone where he popped into The George and Dragon for a bit of grub.

Workers at the High Street-based pub were left baffled to why the Auf Wiedersehen, Pet actor would be in Watton-at-Stone, but were told by the film crew that he was their filming the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?

Peter Tatlow, The George and Drago’s owner, said: “I presume he must have some kind of family history here, which seems weird considering where he’s from.
“It was a pleasure having him though.”

Welcome All!

Well, as promised in today's WHT, I have now joined the blogging community on the wonderful world of the web. It might take me a bit of getting used to though, so please bear with me.

For those who don't know me or seen my column in the paper before, I try to highlight issues that need highlighting, and take a lighter look at some of the more bizarre happenings in Times Territory.

This blog will be an online version of my column - although you never know, the odd exclusive tit bit here and there might appear.

You can contact me through here (I think), or by emailing whtimes@archant.co.uk (and hopefully the newsdesk will pass your messages on to me!!)

Happy blogging!