Dear About
I’m writing in connection with the smacking debate.
I think that if there is a total ban on smacking then what the eyes don’t see behind closed doors, you’re still not going to get a total ban.
I believe that smacking children doesn’t solve the problem; it just goes to make matters worse. There are other ways of giving children discipline without having to smack them.
I also believe that smacking children in public places there should be a ban because it’s not very nice having to walk down the street seeing some parents smack their children, not only that but it must be humiliating for the children as well and the parents wonder why they get stared at.
So I’m in total agreement that there should be a ban in public places.
Buckingham Road
Dear About
I think smacking is brutal and has no effect on teaching children.
The only way they might learn is if you deprive them of something like going out, watching TV or not letting them play with some of their favourite toys for a while. That may be the only way to get through to them.
Ironlatch Avenue
Dear About
Your picture taken in July 1951 includes my wife, who is the young girl on the front right. She recognised the coat her granny had made for her.
Her name then was Valerie Coates and she was aged four at the time. Unfortunately she does not remember too much about the photograph but she does remember that one of the family’s annual outings was always to see the carnival procession that used to go right along the front from the fish market to the old bathing pool.
John Oliver
Dear About
As soon as I saw the photo on page eight in the last edition of About, I took it to be a crowd awaiting the carnival procession. These used to take place on a Wednesday afternoon and went somewhere in Hastings along the seafront into St Leonards. I was too small to be bothered about routes and organisation; I just know it was one of the highspots of the year.
Folks would queue for absolutely ages, the posh ones might have a folded chair for the long wait, but we would be very well behaved (or else!) and excited as we looked at our comics or kept ourselves occupied waiting for the wonderful shouts of "they’re nearly there".
Biddy the Tubman and Ernie Oxo and lots of other characters would be taking part and I especially remember the ‘half man/half woman’ who would have his face painted down one side and half a pair of trousers/shirt and the other side padded and skirted and bloused and with half a flowing wig too.
In the evening we would go to the Oval for the fair. A few halfpennies to spend at various stalls; the ghost train; the wall of death; the smell of the generators; the bumper cars; the tattooed lady; the man with no arms and so much more.
I may be totally wrong about the crowd scene and could only hazard a guess at the early Fifties. Whatever, it has brought forth lots of happy memoirs.
St Leonards
Great debate
In January the BBC revealed that 40 per cent of teenage girls, quizzed by a magazine, had considered plastic surgery.
Two thirds of the 2,000 teens said they felt pressured to alter their appearance because of celebrities with perfect bodies and teenage boys.
Only eight per cent said they were happy with their bodies and some 25 per cent said they had suffered with an eating disorder.
Have we become a looks-obsessed society? Are our teens suffering in pursuit of the perfect look?
Who’s to blame for this trend? Perhaps it’s the parents, for not picking up on their children’s self-image issues. Perhaps it’s the media, one minute extolling the virtues of health and exercise, then criticising stars for being a couple of pounds over, or under, weight.
What do you think?
Is plastic surgery for teenagers acceptable and if not, how can we convince our adolescents they’re fine just the way they are?
Write with your views to:
About Magazine - The Great Debate,
Town Hall,
Queens Road,
Hastings, TN34 1QR.
Alternatively email: or email: pr@hastings.gov.uk
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This page last updated: 04/04/2005