The town notice board

The Council is aware that the new pay-and-display machine at the Harbour Road car park is printing the wrong year on tickets. The day, the month and the time are correct. Tickets remain valid and should be displayed in the usual way. The supplier has been informed.

An engineer attended the pay-and-display machine at the Harbour Road car park on Tuesday. The machine printed the correct year in his presence and for some hours afterwards. It has since resumed. A further visit has been requested. Motorists are asked not to correct their tickets by hand.

The Council regrets to report that the town sign on the Hartbury road has been altered again. The motto, Fidelis Mari et Litori, now appears with additions. The sign will be restored during the week. Residents are asked not to send photographs.

The town sign was restored on Monday. By Thursday it had been altered again, with the same additions as before. The Council is considering what further steps are open to it. Correspondence on the subject has been received and noted.

Poppies have been removed from the wreaths at the war memorial in Seabrook Gardens. The wreaths themselves have not been moved and nothing else has been disturbed. This has now happened on more than one occasion. Anyone able to help is asked to write to the Town Hall.

From next week household refuse will be collected on Wednesday in place of Tuesday. This applies throughout the town. Bins should be at the kerb by 7 am. Bins put out on Tuesday will be collected on Wednesday.

The notice headed “Refuse collection: change of day” gave the new day as Wednesday. The new day is Thursday. The Council apologises for the error. Bins put out on Wednesday will be collected on Thursday. There is no change to Tuesday, on which there is no longer a collection.

Visitors are asked not to feed the gulls on the promenade, the pier or the harbour wall. The Council has received several reports that the gulls are getting larger. It holds no measurements for earlier years and is therefore unable to comment.

Following an incident on Thursday involving a pasty, persons eating out of doors on the promenade are advised to keep food covered between mouthfuls. The Council cannot accept responsibility for food taken by gulls. The replacement of pasties is a matter for the vendor.

Passengers are reminded that the afternoon bus from Hartbury is the 4.15 and that it leaves the interchange at 4.15. It does not wait for the train. Those who miss it are advised that Seabrook is two miles by road and that a taxi takes five minutes.

On bank holidays the 4.15 bus runs to the Sunday timetable. There is no Sunday service. The Council has raised this with the operator, who confirms that the timetable is correct.

Work on the restoration of the bandstand in Seabrook Gardens will resume when the weather allows. The Bandstand Restoration Fund remains open, and donations may be left at the Town Hall. Members of the public are asked to keep outside the temporary fence, and to keep dogs outside it.

From 1 May to 30 September dogs are not permitted on the beach. They remain welcome on the sea wall and on the pier, on a lead. The restriction applies to all dogs, including those that have used the beach for many years without complaint.

Following correspondence, the Council confirms that the deck chairs at the far end of the pier are stacked and chained each evening by its maintenance staff, in accordance with the Council’s system. The staff concerned report that the chairs are being stacked correctly.

The matter of the car park on Harbour Road will come before the Planning Committee again at its next meeting. The papers may be inspected at the Town Hall during office hours. Members of the public wishing to read them in full are advised to allow a morning.

Revised charges for the Harbour Road car park come into effect on 1 April. The new tariff is displayed beside the machine. Comments on the charges should be addressed in writing to the Town Hall. The machine is unable to take them into account.

The Council meets in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall on the first Monday of each month at 7 pm. Members of the public may attend and may speak for up to three minutes, by arrangement. Questions should be submitted in writing by the previous Thursday.

The market is held in Market Square every Thursday from 8 am until 2 pm, throughout the year. Vehicles left in the square after 6 am on a Thursday will be regarded as stalls and charged accordingly.

The Visitor Office at the Town Hall is open from Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm, between Easter and the end of September, and on Thursdays only for the rest of the year. Tide tables, bus times and a map of the town are available at the desk.

Lost property may be handed in or claimed at the front desk of Seabrook Police Station during the hours shown on the door. Inspector Wainwright asks that enquiries on any other matter be made in writing.

Tide tables for the year may be had from the Harbourmaster’s Office and from Bennett’s Chandlery on the quay. Persons walking on the shore below the cliffs are reminded that the tide comes in whether or not the tables have been consulted.

The daffodils in Seabrook Gardens are planted and maintained by the Council for the enjoyment of all. They are not to be picked. This applies equally to daffodils that have already fallen over.

Delivery drivers are reminded that waiting on the High Street is limited to twenty minutes. The use of hazard lights does not extend this period. Vehicles must not be left so as to block the street outside the butcher’s, or outside any other premises.

The Society would be glad to hear from anyone holding photographs of Seabrook taken before 1956, and in particular of the pier, the harbour and the High Street. Photographs will be copied and returned. The Society’s room above the library is open on Tuesday afternoons.

Letters to the Council are acknowledged within ten working days and answered in due course. Residents who have written more than once on the same subject are assured that each of their letters has been received. It is not necessary to write again to confirm this.

The noticeboard outside the Town Hall is brought up to date on the first working day of each month. Notices for display should be handed in at the desk. Notices that have passed their date are removed when the board is next brought up to date.

The steps from the promenade to the High Street will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday for repairs to the handrail. Pedestrians should use Pier Approach. The Council regrets that the alternative route is longer and, in one direction, uphill.

During the winter months sandbags are available to householders in Harbour Lane and the lower streets from the store at the Town Hall. They are issued empty. Sand is supplied separately and should be requested at the same time.

The football pitch on the Recreation Ground will be closed for reseeding for four weeks following the May Fair, as in previous years. Clubs with fixtures in that period are asked to make other arrangements.

The Council’s statutory notices are printed in the Seabrook Chronicle and displayed at the Town Hall. Where the two differ, the copy at the Town Hall is to be preferred. The Council has drawn this to the attention of the editor.

Seabrook Gardens are open daily from dawn until dusk. Dogs are permitted. Behaviour is expected. Ball games are not allowed on the lawns nearest the war memorial, and the bandstand is not to be used as a shelter except in rain.