General Chat

If this article is true, and that the teenager has not done anything that could be considered criminal, then it is yet another example of some jobsworth showing that they are totally void of any commonsense and are incapable of assessing the simplest of situations.

A teenager tends war memorial in his village for 12 years... then the council accuses him of criminal damage after he added a pipe to water plants.

For 12 years, Kurtis Green has diligently tended the war memorial in his village, cleaning up rubbish and planting bulbs at its base.

In January, the Queen congratulated the 19-year-old for his hard work revamping the memorial, near her Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

But officials at Dersingham Parish Council have taken a rather different view and reported him to the police for his unpaid work – which they have labelled criminal damage.

Kurtis Green has tended to the Dersingham memorial since he was seven
He was questioned by police for two hours after installing the water pipe

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317962/Teenager-tends-war-memorial-village-12-years--council-accuses-criminal-damage-added-pipe-water-plants.html

Idiots!

Not the ones tending the memorial, but the Parish Council :-|

I suppose it depends on whose water pipe it was, and how he connected to it.

Only to be expected from council officials, Most are fed a diet of stupidity pills daily for breakfast

He can come and criminal damage my garden anytime he likes, Tea, sandwiches, cake and biscuits provided free of charge

Roy

Penny,

He and fellow villager John Houston, 65, assumed they were authorised to do the work because the pipes for the water supply had already been placed in the ground as part of the restoration project.

They were accused of causing criminal damage by digging up earth to see if the existing pipe was OK, but they left the area just as they found it, and they can’t understand what the theft is supposed to have been.

All the soil they dug up was replaced in the ground and the only thing they took away was the dirt under their fingernails.

Who would have looked after the memorial if Kurtis & John didn't?

Not the council!!

I hope the Queen hears about this....... and locks the council people in the Tower :-D

Nice to have a good news story. What a fine couple of citizens they are. And I am amazed at the dedication of the young man who had done all that work since the age of 7 for no payment.

A credit to beautiful Dersingham.:-D :-D

Edit. Just remember story is a Daily Mail one. Therefore probably not true
:-( :-(

This is just another case of idiocy, given the facts the police should have thrown this out.
I do hope that the council are made to make a public apology to him & pay him compensation as well as covering his expenses.
Our war memorials are often only tended by the families who lost loved ones during wars, now that their comrades have passed on.

Roy - Parish Council are a group of people who give a lot of their time voluntary and from WITHIN that village are elected by the villagers. As a former Parish Councillor I can only say that
Council officials are a different breed tied up in red tape and would agree with you.

As I read it the only thing the two villagers did wrong was to attach a pipe to the water supply which had already been laid, possibly without informing the Parish Clerk etc beforehand.

A storm in a teacup which should have stayed within the village.

We need more young men of his calibre and hope that this incident does not put him off voluntary service.

Well done to Kurtis & John....they deserve awards for what they have done, especially Kurtis having done this since he was 7 yrs old bless him.
Lets hope the council see sense and apologise.

God what next,they need to get a life!!

jude

I have driven around the UK from Land's End to John o' Groats, I would hasten to add not in one journey, and during my travels I have come across many War Memorials that have been neglected :-(

Anyone who devotes their free time to mainlining these memorials should be thanked not crucified by some faceless official :-|

They are not only providing a service to their community, but more importantly they are paying respect to those who gave their lives, so that villages like Dersingham thrive today.

I think the idea was to discourage others from tapping into the water supply without permission or whatever you need.

They knew that this case would attract maximum publicity and make others think twice.

Another band of bodies been hit with a stupid stick,

If the villagers including the parish coucil dont stand behind these two then none seem to have an ounce of commonsense.....


thats two daft stories this week to waste public taxes.

Obviously officials at Dersingham Parish Council have nothing better to do, surely there are more pressing matters to be looked at. Is this the beginning of the silly season?

Hi James. I have left you a message on the "Clusker/O'Donnell" page, sorry I have never been on this before but someone said you were still on general chat. :-)

Hi Stella - as OFITG is a regular user, he will probably pick up both posts when he next checks his threads.

If you need to contact another user who has posted on the boards, then the best way is to click on their name and send a message. If a post was made some time ago (each post is dated) its sometimes possible that the poster is no longer a member. You send a PM (personal message) off board - GR will send a notification email to the address they registered with. :-)