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Jürgen Klopp - from Germany - Daylight saving time in the UK - the clocks/Klopps went back Sunday 30th October at 02:00

Every coin has two sides so the situation you predict should more houses be built could equally well apply to the building of a leisure facility ie. logistical problems as people exit their homes en-masse to go to that facility for leisure purposes. I am, of course, assuming it would be the people of Bedlington who would be using it so the same people who are causing logistical problems by leaving their homes en-masse for work, school and shopping would be the same people leaving their homes en-masse in the evenings and at weekends to go to a leisure facility (I can’t really visualise anybody travelling from Ashington, Cramlington, Morpeth or Newbiggin when they have such a facility nearer home). The latter I see only as adding to the supposed logistical problems for Bedlington. I don’t believe the logistical problems related to going to work, school or to shop would change dramatically should more housing be built. Sometimes we just need to think outside the box. The recent Covid issue has shown that people now WANT to work from home and some companies have already closed their offices in favour of just that. Flexi-time has a long history and many professions, by their very nature, crave flexible working hours: health service, emergency services etc.. child care facilities, to name just a couple. There are also people who work far from home and travel only on a weekly, fortnightly or even monthly basis. Working 9 to 5 (thus clogging up the infrastructure) is a thing of the past – and not only for Dolly Parton. As for schools, they can also have staggered start and finish times. I’m not au fait with college times in Bedlington but here college students (over 16s) have 4-5 lessons a day and the remainder of the day is for own study, homework, groupwork etc.. If their first planned lesson is at 10 am they don’t need to be in school till 10am. If their last lesson finishes at 2pm then they can leave at 2pm – provided, of course, that they don’t want/need to use school facilities, such as libraries, computer rooms or sports facilities when they are welcome to stay. Going shopping doesn’t have to clog up the logistical works either. What happened to shopping on the way home from work and thereby saving petrol money and the environment? And, who’s to say that any of the above groups (workers, students, shoppers) would increase in size should there be new housing in Bedlington? Perhaps Bedlington is on its way to becoming a very pleasant dormitory town attractive to pensioners like myself or city workers looking for a ’no stress’ abode? Who knows what Bedlington will be like in 10 years time? We can’t predict the future. Lord knows I, who likes to know exactly how much money I have in my purse when i go shopping, (it’s an OAP thing!) could never have foreseen that a piece of plastic would herald the asphixiation of coins and bank notes. It ruffles my feathers enormously when shops refuse to accept cash. However, I do have a choice. If I want food I can go with the flow and accept that times have changed and cash is no longer an option OR I can go to another shop some miles away because I know that they still accept cash. It’s not unlike the problem facing Bedlingtonians regarding leisure centres. There are alternatives. If a leisure centre is important in one’s life , as food is important in mine, then it’s worth the effort of travelling locally or, in a worst case scenario, even moving house. I personally thought that I was spoiled for choice regarding leisure centres when living in Bedlington. Me and mine must have added enormously to the logistical problems of Bedlington, Cramlington, Blyth and Morpeth with our three visits a week.

I think the only good point to come out of this evenings local news was that the BBC presenters managed to say, after months of practise, Cammus and not Cam - bois.