THE news last week of the impending closure of the Jeld - Wen formerly Boulton & Paul factory early next year this is yet another body blow to the Lowestoft economy and the town becoming a retirement area.

THE news last week of the impending closure of the Jeld - Wen formerly Boulton & Paul factory early next year this is yet another body blow to the Lowestoft economy and the town becoming a retirement area.

This factory was opened in 1962 the processes on the site were regarded as the most modern and efficient in the industry at the time and were the envy of manufacturers and suppliers from around the globe including Scandinavia, Canada, South America, Africa.

Among notable visitors to the factory over those early years included high ranking industrialists the local mayor, and government ministers.

Over recent years the manufacturing family wage jobs have been disappearing from the town at an alarming rate with little to replace them apart from shops and supermarkets a sad state of affairs.

There will no doubt be talk of retraining for these people who are to lose their jobs, you have to wonder to do what, considering people that have been working in a manufacturing environment for many years lifting handling and working with heavy materials hands become hardened and joints malformed perhaps little hope of these being retrained to be nimble fingers moving swiftly over a keyboard or similar.

So there are two hundred or so families facing a bleak New Year in Lowestoft with the demise of this once flagship factory, all very upsetting making you wonder where or when will all this come to an end and we can look forward with some optimism and future prosperity for this town.

TERRY BARRETT

Ashburnham Way

Lowestoft