Madam, I note, from the several letters in your recent pages, that the saga of The Chestnuts rumbles on. As an ex-staff member it saddens me every time I pass the building and see it slowly decaying – knowing that inside is clean and tidy, ready for the next generation of residents. Some of your readers are calling for a public enquiry. It is too late for that. What would it achieve?

At the time, not knowing all the facts, I blamed the trustees even though I appreciated they were unpaid volunteers. I felt they should have seen it coming, they should have introduced new, more experienced blood to their ranks, they should have been more open. Then I blamed the County Council as they seemed to be the bad guys, apparently presenting difficulties in renewing the lease. Even our local MP faced a lot of criticism – as much from me as anyone, but as the weeks went by we realised that he had been fighting for the home for several months, on several fronts. After the home had closed, in the battle to save the staff's redundancy and severance payments, our MP, along with Councillors Cutter and Atkinson, persuaded the County Council to make very generous concessions in a bid to save these monies. Although, in the end, their attempts failed, I think the staff did appreciate their efforts. 

At this point my blame was directed back towards the Trustees. The Chestnuts was formally declared insolvent and at the insolvency meeting more detailed information about the background to the whole sorry affair was made available. After studying that information and the state of the accounts over the months prior to closure, I was no longer convinced that any blame was, or is, to be placed in anybody's direction. A lot of mistakes were made, but, at the end of the day.....?    

As for the future, who knows? We are told there are still interested parties. Can another Phoenix arise from the ashes? Only time will tell.        

Michael Field, Ross