LETTER: Interpreter needed in my home town

My wife and I took a stroll through our home town of Spalding on Bank Holiday Sunday.

The town was busier than normal with the fair attracting the normal bank holiday crowds. Our stroll in the spring sunshine took us some three miles through the centre of Spalding from east to west and a return via a differing part of town.

During our walk we saw or came across many families, couples, young teenagers and the odd group of young men. In all, we must have passed or intersected with perhaps 20 or so groups as well as a quick spin around Aldi where there were around perhaps another 15 or so couples and families. Nearly everyone was under 40.

The sad point to this brief letter is that Spalding could have been anywhere in eastern Europe, as during the hour plus walk we came across just one – yes, one – couple and a cashier in Aldi who spoke English.

Everyone else had a precise eastern European language chattering to each other in their groups. One simply wonders how this is about integration into the English ways of life. Sadly, Spalding is fast becoming what Leicester was in the 50s.

For those who want to remain in Europe just take a look at our town and then add on Turkey and other eastern states who wish to have free passage to our shores. Is this really what you want, your home town where you need an interpreter to understand its occupants?

One urges common sense and an exit from this daft EU where we are becoming lost as a nation. Identity? Well, that’s already lost by this experience which is not a unique experience.

Wayne Seaborn
Spalding

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