IT has come to our notice that some very silly people have been using our beautiful little historical cottage as a climbing frame.

Please do not do this. The building is very old and is also very fragile. It will not, I stress, not take the weight of someone climbing on the roof.

This is a very dangerous thing to do. You are taking the risk of falling through the roof and possibly injuring yourself, and not being found for days. Do not do it By doing this you are causing untold damage to the oldest building on Canvey, possibly in the whole area.

It would be a very costly business to repair the roof which was re-thatched a couple of years ago to the tune of £25,000.

In the present Covid-19 climate that sort of money is more useful to the doctors and hospitals, not used to repair damage caused by brainless, selfish idiots who think it is fun to climb all over the cottage.

It has to be pointed out that the upkeep of the cottage is helped by public subscription and that this year we have had no donations coming in because of lack of visitors and social distancing. You cannot distance inside the cottage.

So please, think before you start climbing on top of our beautiful historical little house.

ALISON HARRIS

Curator of the Canvey Dutch Cottage

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