Your headline ‘Traders divided over The Borough works’ (Herald, March 12) is misleading. We are not divided over the impact of these roadworks in Farnham town centre.

The roadworks have been a disastrous nightmare. The mistakes on the ‘gardens’, traffic lighting, pedestrian crossings, and reworks have cost everyone dearly.

I am saying this as someone who has invested in Farnham for more than 30 years.

We deliberately founded our business in the town centre to help local traders, as well as to allow our staff, to take a pleasant stroll in town during their break times. A stroll which allows them to shop and enjoy the cafes. We have some truly great little shops and cafes.

We are an SAP software professional services business and encourage our teams and clients to visit Farnham. This means we regularly use hotels and hospitality ie we were using them every week.

We know from past experience how valuable this is to helping our town thrive.

Having previously had a company of 500 staff and a Farnham head office, we were amused in part for our famed queues outside of the Downing Street sandwich shop. When that business was sold and the acquirers decided to relocate to a prestigious out-of-town site in Fleet, we immediately saw the negative impact on Farnham.

Farnham needs successful traders to encourage visitors to the town centre. For us, these visitors include high-profile clients from global organisations. Currently we cannot encourage anyone to visit Farnham.

The roadworks have forced us to discourage business visitors. The roadworks have forced us to encourage more working from home because productive time is wasted sitting in traffic jams. School pickups don’t allow for gridlock.

The delays for driving into the town means it’s often quicker for us to go into London for a meeting.

The mess in town, with the wind blowing over the red barriers, and charging cables acting as trip hazards across pavements are unbelievable in this day and age of health and safety.

I’d argue that some of the paving blocks have also been laid so badly that they in time will become trip hazards.

Add the madness at Hickley’s Corner, especially the traffic light jumping, and sadly it mean it’s unpleasant and often unsafe to walk into town.

I’m sure if people have time to write to you, your headline will be unanimous not divided.

Chris Chittock,

PIVOT Founder

Did you know this week (March 16 to 22) is Village Halls Week’?

This is an opportunity to celebrate the vital role the village hall plays in rural communities and shine a light on the estimated 80,000 volunteers who keep them going.

The village hall is so much of part country living that it is easy to forget just how much work is required to provide, maintain and manage a community building successfully.

Someone has to keep the accounts, book the rooms, clean the loos, paint the walls, raise the funds, sweep the floors, organise events, bake the cakes and much more besides. And almost all of it is done voluntarily.

Thankfully, the volunteers seem to enjoy their involvement. Very often they get as much out as they put in. So, it’s a brilliant way of feeling part of the community.

Naturally the volunteers currently running the halls are getting older so in many villages, younger volunteers are urgently needed. Village Halls Week is both a celebration and thank you to the volunteers but also a heartfelt invitation to get involved in your village as a volunteer.

In Froyle, in the lovely rolling countryside midway between Alton and Farnham, we are lucky enough to have a bright, welcoming village hall built 40 years ago thanks to an amazing community effort.

We can accommodate 80 people for a sit-down meal and have a large modern kitchen in which to prepare it. The village recreation ground is right outside with picnic tables, a playground, wildlife areas to explore and lots of space to play games and run around.

It really is a wonderful place for parties and children’s parties in particular. Are you planning a team building day for your staff? There are lots of country walks right from the door. Do you need somewhere for your club or society to meet? You will be made very welcome in Froyle.

All the information can be found at www.froylevillagehall.co.uk

Nick Whines,

Secretary,

Froyle Village Hall

Rail travel is key to getting around for blind and partially sighted people, yet it remains and unsafe for many with sight loss.

RNIB research shows barriers exist at every step of the journey: planning, buying and managing tickets, navigating in train stations, finding staff, getting on the train safely, finding a seat, and more. 

Think about having to judge the gap between the train and the platform without being able to see it clearly - it’s no wonder some blind and partially sighted people told us all these issues have combined to make them feel it’s better not to travel altogether.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Operators can play their part by training their staff on how to support passengers better and make sure tactile way-finding or better signage is introduced to make it possible to navigate more independently around stations.

Fellow passengers can make a massive difference too. From choosing to offer a priority seat or help someone safely across the gap, passengers can turn a difficult journey into an easier one.

These are the small everyday actions many people already take, and when more of us do them, it can be the difference between someone travelling with confidence or deciding not to travel at all.

Eleanor Thompson, 

Director of Policy Campaigns and Social Action, 

RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People)