A row has broken out in Sandown this week over the decision made by Sandown Town Council to refuse access to the Broadway Centre car park next week during the funeral of a much-loved and popular Sandown resident.
RIP ‘Butch’
A Mod through-and-through, 76-year-old Malcolm Butcher was very much part of the Isle of Wight Mod scene in the 1960s and still had a scooter up until a couple of years. Many people in Sandown knew him and his dog, Guinness.
Malcolm’s funeral takes place at Christ Church next Wednesday, 27th February, and will see the hearse driving slowly from Yaverland car park at 1.30pm, followed by a guard of honour of scooters all the way up the Esplanade and High Street, up Beachfield Road to the church.
“Jam packed” car park
The executor of Malcolm’s estate made a request to the Sandown Town Council for the scooters to be able to park in the Broadway Centre car park.
A definitive ‘No’ was given, the reason being because it was “jam packed” on a Wednesday.
The photo above shows the car park yesterday (Wednesday) at the same time as the funeral will be next week.
Parking at the Heights
However, it has come to light today that a possible solution has been found.
Tina Bailey has this morning confirmed to OnTheWight that a solution has been found.
She said,
“The Broadway Centre is not available due to the Town Council’s commitments with our regular hall hirers on 27th February 2019, but Cllr Ian Ward has arranged with the Isle of Wight council for the scooters to be parked in a specific area of the Heights car park for the duration of the funeral.”
Whether the space being allocated at the Heights will be sufficient won’t really be known until next week when the funeral takes place.
Our condolences go out to Malcolm’s family and friends.
