Burleydam WI hears of concerns about local justice

Carolyn Wilde writes: "Members at the February meeting were saddened to hear of the death of Nancy Lightfoot who had died in hospital not long after celebrating her 80th birthday.

"The speaker for the evening was Judith Clayton JP who highlighted her concerns at the whittling away at the concept of local justice. Once upon a time magistrates were seen as part of their community, dispensing local justice without fear or favour. Their decisions reflected local concerns. Over the years, however, whilst the magistracy has become more and more representative of the population, there has been a corresponding decline in local justice. "Court Houses have been closed all over the country. The reasons given – the need to save money or the lack of money to make changes to the buildings to bring them up to standard. When she retired Judith was Chairman of Market Drayton Bench but she had moved there from Whitchurch after the fight to save Whitchurch Magistrates' Court was lost. "All criminal cases start off in the magistrates' courts. They also have a role in settling sensitive issues through family courts and for that reason are represented on the committees of child contact centres. These enable both or either parent to have supervised contact with their children when concerns for their welfare might prevent them from seeing them. Judith praised the excellent work done by these centres.

"The competition was a piece of modern jewellery which was won by Sheila Beeston, Carolyn Wilde was second and Eva Sadler was third.

"Sarah Lunt announced that Jean Cornes had kindly agreed to host the meeting of volunteers to discuss the Cheshire Show entry. Members of the Quiz team were selected for the first round on 18th February at Faddiley. Good luck to all concerned!"

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