Sort out your differences

THE old Northern proverb that where there's muck there's brass is true in the South as well.

East Sussex County Council, along with Brighton and Hove Council, hopes to award a contract soon for handling waste.

It will cover the next 25 years and the cost is likely to be the staggering

figure of £1 billion.

Both councils are applying to the Government for a private finance

initiative scheme to help reduce the burden.

But that could be put at risk if the councils don't quickly clear up their argument over where the sites should be for disposing of all that waste.

After working together for well over a year, they split when it came to

locating an incineration plant.

While Brighton and Hove might be able to recycle more waste within its boundaries, it's hard to think of any site suitable or big enough to take an incinerator.

Yet there is land at Newhaven, and possibly at Beddingham, that could help to solve the problem.

No site is ideal and there will always be protests from neighbours of waste sites, but without agreement soon, this contract and the Government subsidy are at risk.

Hero Hartley

IN the early years of the last century, explorers reached the South Pole for the first time after feats of incredible endurance.

As every schoolchild knows, the British adventurer Captain Robert Scott not only just failed to be the first man there, but also perished, along with his team, on the return journey.

Now Catharine Hartley has just returned to Britain after becoming one of the first two women to walk to the Pole.

In Captain Scott's day, no woman would have been considered for such an expedition. Catharine has proved modern women explorers are at least the equal of their male counterparts.

Loving mum

Four-year-old Joe Hayler has to overcome enormous handicaps

including blindness and problems with co-ordination.

But his devoted mum, Melanie, has always tried to help him, which is why he went to Florida and swam with

dolphins.

His improvement since then has included using sign language and humming songs such as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

The big star in Joe's life is his mother who has never given up hope.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.