I feel sorry for Mark Hill’s next neighbours

01 May 2008

AFTER reading Mark Hill’s comments in The Standard dated April 25, I feel I have to take exception with several things he said.
Although not native to Redditch, I have lived here on and off for around eight years, and have been settled here properly for the last two. I have a public facing job in the town centre and come into contact with many different local people for the majority of my every working day.
I will admit that there are a small percentage of people I speak to who, no matter how friendly and courteous I am, will still come across as impatient and ignorant. I am happy to say though that this is an extremely small minority, and the hordes of pleasant people I see and speak to far outweigh the miserable.
My partner and I also live in Mr Hill’s ‘neighbourhood’ of Brockhill and have never experienced anything like the nonsense he seems to be spouting, and it makes me wonder just exactly what his ‘business’ happens to be?
Perhaps he knocks on the doors of hard-working people just after they’ve arrived home from work and asks them inane questions such as who they’ll be voting for, as my partner and I experienced the other day when just sitting down to our tea at six o’clock.
However, I will agree that some local people do seem to have a ‘chip on their shoulder’ (as Mr Hill put it) about something. In fact I noticed this within a very short time of living here.
After speaking to others about it, it seems that a lot of ‘original’ Redditch folk still have a problem with the overspill situation and New Town expansion of the 1960s, and still harbour a grudge against the Brummies who settled here 30 to 40 years ago.
I can imagine people thinking this is utter rubbish and will say it’s paranoia on behalf of those Birmingham folk, but my mother-in-law was in fact berated about this at work by a customer of hers very recently who was still moaning about the "invasion" by "you bloody Brummies" all these years later.
If this is the case folks, it really is time to got over it. Life is a gift, and a short one at that. Don’t waste it moaning!
I come from a very beautiful market city some 50 miles away which, on the surface seems idyllic, but believe me it has its our own set of social problems and a mix of good and bad people too, as does any other town or city in the country.
Therefore Mr Hill, to take exception to Redditch on this front seems ridiculously short-sighted. What did you possibly hope to achieve by offending 70,000 or so people who will most likely be thrilled to see the back of your whining?
I just feel sorry for the people in the next town you settle in!
Name and address supplied
Brockhill

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