Just put it all in the bin!

DOG owners are ruining a picturesque walking and cycling route in Weymouth by carelessly slinging bags of mess into trees by the Rodwell Trail.

Their actions are nonsensical since if a dog owner can be bothered to pick up and bag their pet’s waste, why can’t they be bothered to put it in a bin?

It is possible that some of these bags may be acts of vandalism, but the Friends of Rodwell Trail tell me that the problem is too widespread for that to be the sole cause.

Up to 50 bags have been spotted in trees along the trail and each one clearly will take a bit of shifting to remove never mind the distasteful image it gives for everyone using the route.

I’m sure hard working supporters or council staff will eventually deal with the bags, but it isn’t something they should have to do.

A campaign has just successfully seen an £800,000 pedestrian and cycle bridge built over Newstead Road to remove a bottleneck for people using the trail so they don’t have to come down an embankment, negotiate a busy road and slog up the other embankment to get back on the trail.

The bridge has improved users’ enjoyment of the trail no end, but until the dog waste bag problem is dealt with then that enjoyment will be tainted.

. . . put this in the bin as well

THERE’S gold in them thar’ bills if you walk around almost any street in Weymouth town centre.

A recent documentary highlighted the problem of people spitting out their chewing gum and just leaving the wad to be trodden underfoot into a hard unsightly mass.

Unpleasant but hardly a bank busting problem you might think. Well think again.

The documentary worked out that once those responsible for street maintenance had paid for highly specialised steam cleaning equipment and the services of operatives to use it then the average cost of power steaming away just one blob of gum was about 50 pence.

So how serious is the problem in Weymouth? It didn’t take long to find out.

A simple walk to sample a few points up St Thomas Street and down St Mary Street with a couple of detours in to side streets revealed that if all the discarded gum I saw was cleaned off at the cash rate claimed by experts then the overall bill would run to more than £20,000!

What I found particularly bewildering were gum blobs near rubbish bins as if the chewer had suddenly become so exhausted that putting their gum in the bin was beyond them.

The sheer scale of gum discards has left Weymouth town centre streets looking like they’ve had an attack of leprosy with whitish blotches almost everywhere you look.

I’m sure we won’t reach a situation where gum wardens are sent out on patrol but some action needs to be taken because we can’t afford to carry on footing any level of bill which is so preventable.

What did you say?


WEYMOUTH and Portland’s annual Mayor Making ceremony at Weymouth Pavilion unfortunately included several farcical moments thanks to a shaky sound system.


All too often people spoke and part or all of what they were saying was completely inaudible to hundreds of watching guests.


The new Mayor Margaret Leicester told me she often couldn’t hear what councillors in front of her were saying while one councillor told me that not be able to hear what some of their colleagues were saying was actually a plus!


One comment everyone heard came from Mrs Leicester who detailed a school visit made while she was Deputy Mayor.


Apparently one precocious pupil was so taken with her gold chain of office that he asked her: “Can I have a look at your bling misses?





Make way for the King of Weymouth


CHILDREN are a constant source of joy and humour no matter where you are as outgoing Weymouth and Portland Mayor Graham Winter recently found out.


He had donned his spectacular gold chain to carry out official mayoral duties during a visit to Weymouth’s twin town of Holzwickede in Germany.


His hosts were suitably diligent in making sure he was able to visit plenty of places, one of which turned out to be a primary school.


All the youngsters there were left in awe when they met this imposing stranger covered in gold and they were a bit tongue tied to start out with.


Then one of the braver boys spoke out and shouted to his friends: “Look! The King of Weymouth!”


Mr Winter said later: “It was amazing. That’s the first time I’ve been mistaken for royalty!”


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