MADAM,

Recently the Beacon published a letter from Nick Frost (‘Open Space Lost,’ 15th June) concerning a “public” footpath running along the River Monnow.

Delightful memories were stirred. The local people used that footpath for a hundred years, possibly, more than that. We could walk over the Vauxhall from the Rockfield area, crossing over the bridge at the back of Woolworths then, into town. Or from Barber style (opposite the fire station) the pond wasn’t there then.

My father would take us fishing along that path to the forge, and we kids played and swam just below the slaughter house, no payment needed, and little thought to the bloody hides dripping off the slaughter house walls, with some good size eels waiting below. Learning to swim in the river was accepted as part of our childhood. I remember certain kids whose parents could not afford the entry fee waded across Monnow to get into the Monmouth Show. The gate keepers, often turning a blind eye.

To my knowledge, the Ministry of Defence never stopped anyone on the Vauxhall. I always thought that if a path had been used for many years it would still be available to the public. Whilst change is inevitable, those were days of real community feeling and understanding. I bet some of us older people could tell many stories about that area, yet, I understand from Nick’s letter, this path is no longer available to people. What a shame!

S G Gilbert

(Monmouth)