W A SANDERS, of Broadway Avenue, Kingsteignton, writes:

I, and many Kingsteignton people, want to know why Sibelco's development consultant Arnold Whites Estates (AWE) continues to claim that Sibelco is responsible for the playing fields and sports facilities at Abbrook and the building of our new hospital.

Abbrook and its facilities were gradually built up by the old Watts Blake and Bearne.

This company was held in high regard by its workforce and it's not hard to see why. Not only was the company genuinely concerned if a worker had family or health problems, but it also financed most of the clubrooms and the sporting facilities that surrounded the clubhouse.

All the then present workforce and retired employees had free access to this club. People like myself could join for a nominal fee.

My family played competition darts and euchre there and most of our family's celebratory meals were held in the lovely dining room. It was so popular there was a waiting list.

I can remember the first thing one did after Christmas was to pay the membership fee because we did not want to lose the use of this lovely facility.

Then along came Sibelco (WBB Minerals) and the club as we knew it was forced to close. This lovely old building was reduced to a shell virtually overnight and that was how it stayed until a small group of locals eventually persuaded Sibelco to let them reopen Abbrook as a club again. It was through the persistence and hard work of this group that Abbrook exists today.

So how can AWE claim that this is Sibelco at work for the benefit of Kingsteignton?

As for the hospital – the Plymouth land registry deeds no DN506308 show that the primary care trust paid £1.4 million to WBB Minerals for the hospital site. Hardly an act of charity, to me it was more a way of offloading some iffy land at a handsome profit.

As a result of my first husband and his father working in the pits, I still know a few members of the present workforce.

Conversations with them always leave me with a feeling of sadness for the good old days when one of our biggest employers was held in such high esteem.

Sadly those days appear to have gone forever.