What an extraordinary letter recently from J Gardener,  "Disgusted" of Tonbridge.

Aside from his/her attack on the Bowls Club, plus all and sundry, what critics forget that is the club has enough members to make the club a viable one.

Whatever it's faults  the Bowls Club  has probably been the Trust's main source of income for a good number of years. The rent  must have been an amount agreed with the previous trust management, so it seems logical to me that you do not destroy such an asset until you have something better to replace it with.

J Gardener then  states the Recreation Ground Trust must get the best return from their assets and  supports the idea of a cafe. As soon as you open any business you are  immediately  faced with overheads and these can soon run into thousands of pounds a month – heat lights wages, rates etc. A lot of teas need to be sold to cover these costs which  have to be paid from profits, not takings, and it also has to make the shortfall of income lost from the axing of the Bowls Club.

The proposed  tea shop has competition not only from the many excellent tea shops in Coleford and the other nearby towns but also those dotted  throughout the  Forest and Wye Valley  such as The Yat, campsites, Beechenhurst, The Speech House, Cannop Ponds etc. Unlike these places, The Rec,  even with the proposed tea rooms and heritage centre,  is  not itself a major tourist attraction. Those who have any business know-how will tell you that the proposed tea room and heritage centre is not a feasible business plan.

So, I  ask, how do you propose to attract the right  visitors in sufficient numbers?  Advertising perhaps? More overheads! I have seen thousands spent on advertising and it has not produced one extra customer. Perhaps J Gardener is suggesting a supermarket  at the Rec that  would attract the required  numbers?

I have lived below the Recreation ground in Victoria Road for 40 years and have run two retail businesses in the Forest. I cannot see how anyone can make a viable business from  the proposed tea rooms and  heritage centre.

Your vision and the Trust's legacy is already there for all to see when you look at the old industrial container dumped opposite the Bowls Club.   I have never seen anyone using this container and already the interior lining is hanging loose – the first of many unused buildings, I believe.

The Trust has been fortunate recently to have been left a substantial amount of money by a few well respected local benefactors who we know supported the Bowls Club and will be turning in their graves at this current unpleasantness.

"Disgusted" and the Trust Committee will move on  and us Foresters will once again be left to pick up the pieces.

"Disgusted", while you are off supporting your other bowls club you will be spending your money there and not at the Rec.  If you wish to see  a tea shop with or without the existing Bowls Club survive, you had better do more than buy the occasional pot of tea and piece of cake.

– Charles Ballard, Coleford.