“Well i am pleased you enjoyed it , and it is good to see that you are not one of those negative Tamworh people that you speak of in your profile, Tamworh people are not negative and they are proud of their historic town , unfortunately Tamworth people have had to suffer one incompetent council after another, and they have watched sadly as those councils oversaw the building of substandard housing estates which in reality are no better than slums , ghettos and breeding grounds for violence .
I remember a gentleman with a name the same as yours who was a part of the council years ago , in fact that gentleman was credited by some people as being the man who made Tamworth what it is today ,a pitiful shadow of a once proud Anglo Saxon town.”

“The gentleman you speak of with the same name was indeed a relation, and their are still relations of ours on Tamworth Borough council, although without the Dix name, you may have heard of Mary, Mick and Jeremy Oates.

In response to your comment about Tamworth people not being negative, I agree that Genuaine Tammies are not but there are a number of people who are negative about Tamworth. Having lived in Tamworth all of my life, with the exception of two years in Nottingham during my time at Polytechnic there, I am exceptionally proud to call Tamworth my home town and sing its praises to all I meet.

I would just like to point out that one of the housing estates you speak of is where I live, have you actually been in any of these substandard houses on these estates which you descibe as no better than slums, ghettos and breeding grounds for violence. I admit Belgrave estate does have its problems, but as with anything it is generally the worst of an area that gets reported, which tends to lead to certain areas being branded in this manner. I assure you that I nor my family feel at all inclined to acts of violence and a great many of the houses were actually built to better standards than many private houses on these newer estates are today.

I just wonder how many other people you will unwittingly deride by responding in such a way, but maybe that is your intent. I wonder also whether you were actually present at Belgrave school for their show, as your response seems to imply that you may have had some part in the staging of it or been present. If you were present I would like to hear your thoughts on the show.”

“No i was not present at the show , no i did not participate in the presentation, and no i did not intend to deride anyone i was defending Tamworth people because i thought you were criticizing them ,and i have been inside one of those houses at Belgrave ,the inside of the house was nice but the rear of the house i went in left a lot to be desired .”

“I was not referring to the construction of the houses i have no doubt they meet building standards i was referring to the design of the estates ,if i would have taken my wife and kids to live on one of those estates i would have considered my self to be a failure ,and my wife would have agreed with me.
It might be a good idea to tell Jeremy , Mary and Mick that some people like a garden , somewhere to grow a few vegetables , roses , make a nice lawn , grow a fruit tree or two.
Some people have hobby's like wood turning ,they like a shed to keep their lathes , routers and other wood working tools in .
some people are pigeon fanciers , some people like an aviary ,you know life's little pleasures ,not much room for those things in those gardens is there ? a proletarian existence is what comes to mind when i think of those estates , i didn't see any youth centers or any other facility's for young people or any other age group.
I don't live in a mansion i live in a 100+ year old gold miners cabin it was originally a two roomed cabin ,i didn't buy the house ,i purchased the street , the magnificent mountain views and the tranquil way of life ,the house was a bonus , it took me eight years to get it the way i wanted it , structurally those houses at Belgrave would leave it for dead , but i have 800 square meters of land and nice gardens i am sure those people at Belgrave would rather be where i am than where they are .
If the council would have spent more time looking after the locals and less time pandering to the Birmingham City Council the locals could have had nice houses and good gardens like the houses at Hockley, Dosthill , Brook Avenue and other older council estates .
Have a nice Chrismas and a prosperous new year .”

“I think you miss part of the point I am making, I live in one of those houses on Belgrave estate. We have four children and as a result require a 5 bedroomed house, on our salaries we were unable to afford a house of that size within the more affluent areas of the town and as a result found a suitably sized house within the Belgrave estate, it was not our first choice however it meets our requirements for rooms. The house whilst it does not have a huge rear garden allows us to grow some vegetables and we have got fruit trees also growing. These are only just getting established but will hopefully provide a source of fruit for us and some enjoyment in the process. There is also a garage, although not of sufficient size for our car it proves to be a very useful space for storage and if I wished to set up a woodworking lathe i have enough space to do so. I know of a neighbour who has an aviary, so life here in Belgrave is not so dire as you may think.

I do not see myself as a failure and neither does my wife, I feel that we are pragmatists and have chosen an area of Tamworth to live in to meet our current needs. Our three oldest children all attend Belgrave High School and our youngest will also attend from September. I know that in the past Belgrave has been given a very bad press, but I am very much of the opinion that wherever children are educated they must want to be educated. Our children are all very academic and have always acheived highly, this I believe is as a result of our family ethos. We are not financially able to send or children to Twycross House school and in Tamworth there is no one school that I believe stands above all of the the others, but Belgrave is a very welcoming school that has provided excellent support to my children.

In life we are not always able to do what we want and have to make some compromises, but I believe that those that my wife and I have made have been the right ones, do not get me wrong life on Belgrave estate is not always perfect but as with many areas they are often tainted by a minority of people who drag the area down.

I am sure that even in the extremely picturesque part of Australia that you llive, it is not always perfect.

Hope you have a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year yourself.”

“I do understand the point you are making ,and if you have children at school you are obviously young enough to eventually purchase a house in an area that is more to your liking ,but maybe by the time your children have left home Belgrave may have solved it's little problems and may well become a suburb to be proud of , i certainly hope so ,i also agree with you that any child who wants to be educated will achieve that end.
I believe that towns like Atherstone had the right attitude ,they have council houses too but their attitude in the 60s appeared to be ,( if you want to come to Atherstone to live buy a house ) .
I don't live in the town of Mount Morgan I live in a very small place called Baree which is a very peaceful place , the town center of Mount Morgan is not a good place after dark and the teenagers who hang around there after dark are possibly worse than any Belgrave teenagers , the local teenagers there call themselves the (Untouchables)because they know the police have very little power to do anything about them.
About 30 minutes from Baree is the city of Rockhampton , a beautiful city with magnificent shopping centers a beautiful tropical environment, beautiful parks and a 30 minute leisurely drive to golden beaches , a local MP by the name of Robert Schwarten likened Rockhampton to Croydon ( during the riots there) and teenagers in the city have every available facility that is possible .Australia is actually rated as a violent country by the UN along with England and Wales, i agree that even places we liken to paradise have problems .
The problem is bad parenting and bad law makers who allow young people too much freedom the answer is some form of national service and the laws relating to teenagers need tightening up .”