HAVE you had a letter from your child's school about academy status? Somerset secondary schools (and some primaries) are now queuing up to leave the control of the local authority.

Odds are that, if you have children between the ages of 11 and 16, by this time next year they will be attending an independent school accountable directly only to the Secretary of State for Education.

Why the rush? Well, it's money, of course. There's a substantial incentive on offer – more than £500 per pupil for schools that are able to convert to academy status before September this year; about half of that for those that follow shortly after.

You may have recently had a letter from your chair of governors inviting your opinions on this revolutionary shift in direction, but don't be fooled. The requirement for schools to consult with the local community is minimal – they just have to consult whoever they think "appropriate", and they don't have to take any notice of what you say.

Anyway, they have probably already applied to the Government to make this irreversible move – in order to have a chance of making the September deadline, they have to get the application in before Easter.

And what's the reason? Money, of course. No one except the coalition Government is pretending that there is any sound educational reason for taking schools away from your local council, other than to put them into the market place. Like our National Health Service when the GPs take over commissioning, schools will be looking to private providers of all their services.

If you get an honest answer from your school about why they're making the move, they'll tell you: "There is no alternative". However poor we've become, this Government will always find enough of our money for these self-serving projects.

Our response as a nation to the bankers' debacle is to put all the services we need– health, transport, and now our children's education – and the money from all the taxes we pay into the hands of private equity firms and hedge fund owners. Your school staff will be busy choosing between Capita, Serco, Tribal and the notorious Southwest One to provide their essential support services.

If you have a concern that the school isn't dealing with, don't go to Somerset County Council – it will have only a skeleton staff and won't have the powers anyway.

Welcome to Cameron's Big Society, the milch cow of the millionaires.

WITH reference to the Freedom of Information request to police forces regarding the number of firearm certificates approved to children where the headline figure was 13 under-ten year olds were granted a firearm certificates.

This is a concern as the Countryside Alliance is probably the most pro-active pressure group for the blood sports industry and it continually boasts of its educational campaigns to get more children involved in hunting and shooting in the countryside.

One has only to cast one's mind back to our youth and remember the cruel acts we committed away from adult supervision, whether it be placing a lowly worm in an ants' nest or bullying the fat member of the gang; within each human lies the basic primeval instincts of survival with the weakest members ruthlessly singled out as they are expendable for the good of the group.

It's during our development phase that most of us acquired a more pleasant and socially acceptable personality. The primeval instincts are well catered for in our many and varied sporting and recreational activities. A trip down to the local park and you will soon see the regular battles between opposing teams and duels on the tennis courts

The Countryside Alliance has in the past used during its Top Ten Local Heroes a ten-year-old boy fitted out with a shotgun. Many of the population have great unease with activities such as hunting and shooting with our planet under climate change pressures and natural disasters.

To promote these activities to children seems totally unnatural and undesirable and will ultimately saddle our society with individuals with a more uncaring and cruel element as current research now shows that links exist between animal abuse and wider social abuse of one's partner and children.

AS many of you know I did not standing for re-election to Beaminster Town Council after 22 years as a councillor.

Through this short letter I would like to thank everyone in Beaminster, especially my wife Lynda, for their help and support during my time as a town councillor, especially during my time as chairman.

I have really enjoyed being able to represent the people of the town in my capacity as a councillor but I believe this is the right time for me to retire and allow new blood and younger people to come forward into the council with fresh ideas and new points of view.

I have had the opportunity to serve the people of Beaminster through my council work, having held all the offices of the council and especially being elected as chairman of the council for the two years from 2007 until 2009 which was a very proud and privileged pinnacle to my time on the town council. I hope during these years I have been able to play my small part in making Beaminster an altogether better place to live and work in.

I wish to spend more time with my wife doing things together and also to have a new direction, putting my energies into other worthy causes within the town.

In closing this letter I would like to send the new town council good wishes for the future.

WELL done to Chris and Julie and everyone who has worked so hard to get the "shop in the pub" up and running at Stourpaine. I would never have believed such a variety of items could be stocked in such a small space.

Something like this brings the community back together. I hope it will get the support and success it deserves.