By HILARY GAVIN
A VERY quick WordPress blog post today because I’m aware that I’ve been neglecting my writing to cover public interest stories in my Facebook vlogs that I feel need discussing locally.
Yesterday, I attended the Harvest Festival service at St Stephen’s Church in North Mundham when a little red-breasted robin made an unexpected visit.
The bird rather stole the show for me before he exited leaving the congregation to concentrate on an interesting sermon highlighting the importance of food production and sustainable farming to our local community.
At this point, I should say I know little about robins save to say that they tend to follow gardeners digging the ground in search of grubs to eat. I’m also vaguely aware that the bird was historically linked to soldiers in the British Army who wore red tunics and has more recently been politicised as a racial slur.
All I know is that I was captivated by the bold, inquisitive bird as it flew about St Stephen’s Church yesterday exploring its surroundings. After the service I started chatting to a fellow churchgoer about everyday life when we briefly touched upon the chronic and deadly occupational lung disease asbestosis.
Our chat reminded me of my time studying journalism at Highbury College in Cosham in the mid-1990s when I joined a team producing a campaign pamphlet examining the plight of ex-submariners in Portsmouth suffering from asbestosis.
At the time, I was shocked by the pitiful way the MoD was treating former Royal Navy submariners and widows over compensation and pensions. I won’t go into the ins-and-outs of the campaign here but my chat yesterday reminded me of the devastatingly charismatic Hollywood actor Steve McQueen.
I don’t know a great deal about Steve McQueen’s life but I do know he had an exceptionally tough childhood leading on to his wayward teenage years before he served with the US Marines after the Second World War.
During his service I’ve heard Steve McQueen was exposed to asbestos used, I presume, to lag pipes and I think this exposure might have contributed to his early death from stomach cancer in 1980. Of course, I’d have to go back to research the actor’s life but what a life he lived and what a movie legacy he left to the world.
Anyhow, that’s it for today as I’ve got to get on with my own life.
Before I sign off, I should say that I didn’t follow the Gosport and Pompey submariners’ fight for justice from the MoD but I did hear snippets now and again so I was proud to have flagged up their campaign all those years ago.
Naturally, there are so many Steve McQueen movies I could have chosen to accompany this WordPress blog – including the iconic prisoner of war blockbuster The Great Escape – but I’ve chosen The Thomas Crown Affair, not only because I like it, but because it speaks to me today in our greedy world.
By HILARY GAVIN
Copyright Monday, October 5th, 2026
- A public row is averted at Sidlesham Parish Council meeting over Bremere Rife culvert ‘flooding’ surveys and ‘scope of repairs’ – Hilary Gavin
- A public row is averted at Sidlesham Parish Council meeting over Bremere Rife culvert ‘flooding’ surveys and ‘scope of repairs’
- Public row over village culvert flooding averted at lively Sidlesham Parish Council meeting – Hilary Gavin
- Public row over village culvert flooding averted at lively Sidlesham Parish Council meeting
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A public row is averted at Sidlesham Parish Council meeting over Bremere Rife culvert ‘flooding’ surveys and ‘scope of repairs’ – Hilary Gavin
A public row is averted at Sidlesham Parish Council meeting over Bremere Rife culvert ‘flooding’ surveys and ‘scope of repairs’ – Hilary Gavin https://share.google/41MN2RypvOD1f2OJ8
A public row is averted at Sidlesham Parish Council meeting over Bremere Rife culvert ‘flooding’ surveys and ‘scope of repairs’
By HILARY GAVIN A PUBLIC ROW was averted at yesterday’s Sidlesham Parish Council meeting after two attendees voiced opposing stances on the cause of last winter’s flooding in the village. Local resident Mr Norman Robson, of Bremere Lane Management Company, told parish councillors that a survey had discovered “a jagged edge” in the Bremere Rife…
Public row over village culvert flooding averted at lively Sidlesham Parish Council meeting – Hilary Gavin
Public row over village culvert flooding averted at lively Sidlesham Parish Council meeting – Hilary Gavin https://share.google/oHuniKVvUshPEmAYR
Hilary Gavin
Freelance Journalist & Writer
6 Southover Way
Hunston
CHICHESTER
West Sussex
PO20 1NY
Tel: 07940 444664
Email: grumpywoman@hilarygavin.blog
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