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Phil Mills on Cameron’s encounter with protesters, the helicopter crew finding a walkabout toddler and Albion banning the vuvuzela
Never work with children and animals, the saying goes, but Sussex Police did both and came out heroes.
A three-year-old boy who went walkabout with his golden labrador from their home near Uckfield was spotted by the crew of the Sussex Police helicopter. A full-scale search was launched and the helicopter crew spotted the pair more than a mile from his home.
The pair initially fled from police but officers quickly caught up with them. Crew member PC Amy Wright said: “The boy certainly enjoyed a tour round the helicopter.”
His mother said later, “I really can’t thank everyone enough – we’ll be making sure that he doesn’t repeat the escapade!”
Anti cuts protesters greeted Prime Minister David Cameron when he popped into town for a chat with members of the public – and gaffed when he declared that Iran had nuclear weapons. And while Brighton’s very own Katie Price was flop of the pops with her latest single, Pride was bursting forth with colour and fun all over the city.
Pride 2010 brought in record crowds and a myriad of stalls – one of them manned by a beaming deputy city council leader Dee Simson. Latest 7 reader, nurse Rose McCart, said: “It was one of the most packed affairs I’ve ever been to – you could only walk pigeon steps across Preston Park for fear of treading on someone.
“My granddaughter loved all the things being given away for free like pens and balloons but I had to stop her picking up what she thought were sweets but were, in fact, condoms.
“And one of the amusement rides was charging £15 which I thought was outrageous but, overall, Pride was brilliant.”
Fellow reader Gordon Taylor emailed in to rant about spy cars with periscope cameras being tried out by parking contractors NSL, who are employed by the city and East Sussex councils, to catch illegal parkers.
He said: “They were used outside schools to stop dangerous parking – fair enough, but how long before they are on the streets adding to the Big Brother forest of cameras already operating in Sussex?”
Armed police surrounded a house in Newick Road, Moulscoomb, Brighton, after a man allegedly kidnapped a woman – a suspect was later arrested peacefully – and a mother and son were barred from their own home in Hove by squatters. The case was heading for the courts.
Well done public and police who joined forces to nab burglary suspects after a break in Newhaven. Neighbours quickly raised the alarm and police had four in custody before you could say jemmy. It showed that the system does work when everyone does their bit.
Finally, good news came from Brighton and Hove Albion, who announced they are following other clubs and banning the vuvuzela – the horn-like instrument that caused such a din at the World Cup, and which would otherwise have been heard from one end of the city to the other.
