I FOUND councillor Sue Lissimore’s explanation of why Connor Barrett’s sculpture was removed from Colchester Library as clear as mud.

The sculpture was not in the foyer but up a large staircase and cannot be seen unless you are standing in front of it.

Therefore in the redesigning of the “foyer” there was no need to remove it at all.

I am also concerned about the statement made that says none of the designs in the competition included the sculpture.

Were they told not to include it? Was the staircase in the design brief?

Now we come to the secondary reason the sculpture was removed; a slow verbal drip of complaints.

Despite being enjoyed by people over several decades, a few unverified verbal complaints were enough to aid in the removal of this important work of art.

How narrow minded of the council, and a bit slow on the uptake.

These statements are just not holding water.

I read with the added introduction of the registration of births and deaths it was also felt the imagery might upset people.

What about the people who would draw comfort from it?

I feel I have to bring up the thorny issue of the sculpture’s religious merit.

With our society diversifying, I can understand how tremulous councils feel about having art or imagery of a religious nature in their buildings.

I feel its Christian themes have aided in its removal.

But what next? Removing St Helena from the top of the Town Hall?

Some stain glass windows in churches can be quite graphic, shall we board them up, after all, they can be seen from the street.

Connor Barrett’s Crucifixion of Mankind is reflective on many levels and we should not be frightened of it.

Wendy Buck Greenstead Road, Colchester

  • Odds on who will dig road next

After the resurfacing work it is a nice change to see Ipswich Road and East Street looking so pristine, although why East Street had to stop at the Old Siege House and could not have been continued to the Brook Street junction to join with the recently provided new surface there is baffling. 

Probably the road section of Essex County Council could not get hold of the bridge section to liaise with them, assuming of course that the word is in their prescribed vocabulary.

This work has however resulted in a new online betting forum called bet-u-men giving prices on who will be the first to dig it up. The odds at the moment are: Anglian Water- 2/1 on, British Gas - evens, an electricity company - 3/1, BT - 5/1, any other -10/1

The real outsider is an elderly person with a metal detector and spade looking for Roman artefacts at 5000/1.

The only racing certainty however is that it will be one of them. The only real question is when?

Richard Hart Harwich Road, Colchester

  • Baby Boxes are great, minus wipes

Well done to all involved in the boxes for babies at Colchester General Hospital to prevent cot death.

It is a great idea, however a bit more thought to the gift pack included is required.

Wet wipes are probably the biggest single cause of nappy rash, I see it all the time as a GP.

Cotton wool and water works better and is considerably cheaper.

They are also not environmentally friendly to say the least.

The same goes for disposable nappies which is what I’m assuming they mean by nappies.

Reusable nappies are now widely available with plastic outers and Velcro straps - no more pins.

They work out considerably cheaper (though there is an initial outlay) and are infinitely better for the environment, as disposable ones have to go to landfill.

By all means have a small packet of disposable nappies and wet wipes for when you’re out and about but we should not be encouraging this as routine for everyday use.

These babies will grow up and have to live in the environment that we leave them, it should not be full of unnecessary landfill and pollution.

Dr Linda Mahon-Daly Bounstead Road, Colchester

  • Hitler showed off mountain mansion

Mr Beeton may be right regarding the Crittall window in the photo (Gazette, October 13), but who knows?

Apparently, the small chalet Haus Wachenfeld, which Hitler had bought in 1933, was transformed in 1935/36 to a grand residence.

Ready enough, in fact, to be shown to Lloyd George and Neville Chamberlain in 1936. In 1938, other guests were the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Autarky, as mentioned by Mr Beeton, did not last very long, and was contradictory.

Food prices fell substantially, but the Nazi rearmament race soon made this irrelevant as the price of raw materials rose by 10 per cent.

In England, times were changing, Frinton was becoming the place to be seen!

It had a top rated tennis club and many grand houses, one of which was Maryland.

This was visited many times by Prince Edward and Mrs Simpson, and Winston Churchill.

In 1934 they started to build the Frinton Park Estate, Art Deco houses, with “must have” windows that let in more light.

Von Ribbentrop was a regular visitor to Colchester. Remember, Edward and Mrs Simpson had visited the Berghof’ retreat.

Ribbentrop could well have had an invite to Maryland and been taken to the futuristic development close by. Regarding the last paragraph of Mr Beeton’s letter: “Who would be brave enough to deny Hitler anything?” He would be showing the many visitors to his Mountain Mansion back in Germany that: “This is the new world.”

Brian Dunt St Bartholomew Close, Colchester