Parker Pen has produced hundreds of jobs in the town of Newhaven for the best part of half a century.

It is a household name and it has also provided security in a town whose economy has been over-reliant on the seesaw fortunes of the port.

In recent years, there have been problems at Parker Pen with changes of ownership and regular rumours that the business would be moving.

Gillette has sold the business to the giant American company Newell Rubbermaid which also makes pens and office products.

No one knows yet what the deal will mean to Newhaven but every effort should be taken to persuade the new owners this town is a good place for its specialised operation.

There is an excellent workforce committed to producing a world-famous product. If Newell can inject a bit of life into a concern which has been ailing, more jobs could be provided in a town which has had high unemployment.

People power When the Hangleton and Knoll estates were built between the wars and in the Fifties, most people were thankful simply to have roofs over their heads.

These days, residents need more to keep communities going. The Hangleton and Knoll project has managed to achieve that with great success.

Community centres on both estates have been expanded. Traffic calming has been introduced along with landscaping.

Computer training is being offered to scores of people while hundreds more have found employment through an innovative job search scheme.

The secret of this project's success is that much of its energy and many of its ideas come from within the community. This makes people fiercely protective of improvements such as trees which have been planted in the streets.

Naturally there are problems and occasional failures but these are openly discussed in the hope and expectation that they will not be repeated.

Other areas without much community life in Sussex would do well to study what the project has done and see if they can learn from it.

Out of the frame Telscombe Town Council expected scores of entries in a contest for the best photograph to go on a calendar for 2001.

Eight months into the new year, just one snap has been received of three children sent in by their grandmother.

Are residents of Telscombe proud of their beautiful downs and shore and do any of them have photographic skills?

The answer must be in the negative.