Recently I went to stay with friends who have a home in North Cornwall. Now, I have to confess that I am not a TV addict and when I am in our house in the Suffolk countryside I hardly ever switch on the television.

However, one afternoon I was taken for a walk to the delightful Cornish seaside village of Port Isaac. We leaned on a wall by the old school house and my friend pointed across to the other bank. ‘That’s Doc Martin’s House’ she said. ‘Who’s he’, I replied, ‘and how do you know him?’ Well, my ignorance was soon corrected and later that night we found on YouTube one of the first episodes of what I now know to be a really popular television series set in this little Cornish port. I learned that it had been running for about five years and was immensely popular even though some of the stereotypes portrayed annoyed some of the Cornish people.

 

What I liked about the programme was that Martin Clunes played a brilliant 
part as the local GP renowned for his extremely brusque manner and if one appreciated the fact that the characters were extreme stereotypes, then it was all very enjoyable.

 

As I can’t stand the constant diet of violence that comes across our screens, Doc Martin was a delight but as TV and radio go, I have to say that we still have one of the best outputs of any country in the world. I am worried, however, about some of the recent changes proposed for BBC radio. I heard the Chairman of the BBC say recently that nothing would be changed until there had been a full public consultation, so let me start the ball rolling in this column.

 

Radio favourites

My two favourite stations are Radio Four and Radio Three with an occasional dip into Radio Four Extra once called Radio Five. I assume that many listeners tune into Radio Four because they appreciate a thoughtful station largely devoted to speech, with occasional forays into music via Desert Island Discs and the like.

 

On Radio Four one can get all the news and commentary that any individual would require and for respite one turns to Radio Three. Now can the BBC please tell me why, oh why, do they consider it necessary to inflict short bursts of news and items from the newspapers on us on what I thought was mainly a music channel?

 

Many of us turn to Radio Three to get away from the news but the BBC seem insistent that we will listen and we will like it. If I was the Director of Programming I would have one fifteen minute news programme on Radio Three in the morning and that would be it! As for the Radio Three phone-ins! We all know that phone-ins are a cheap form of broadcasting but are they necessary on Radio Three? We can hear all the opinions from the public we want on Four and Five and on countless commercial stations. Why invade Radio Three?

 

It is often said that stations must attract younger people but does no one in the BBC recognizes that young people grow older! There was a time when my own children would not consider listening to Radio Four. Today, now they are much older, it’s a different story. I believe that in the past years the BBC has spread too widely, excellent though it is. It ought to concentrate on quality programming and stop worrying about ratings.

 

Perhaps some of the Doc Martin grumpiness has rubbed off on me in this column but I would be interested to know what readers think. Am I being too old fashioned in my views? I certainly would like to know and I guess the BBC might be interested also.

 

 The world has changed almost beyond recognition since the 1930s when Guide Dogs was founded. A bungalow could be purchased for £225 and a semi-detached house for £450. The middle classes had just started to be able to afford radiograms, telephones and three-piece suites. Steam power was gradually replaced by electricity and transport became petrol engine powered, but there was no driving test!

 

It was in this era that two British women, Muriel Crooke and Rosamund Bond sent for a dog trainer from the Swiss organisation ‘The Seeing Eye’. In October of 1931, the first four guide dog partnerships were created in the UK.

 

These dogs had an immediate impact on their owners. Musgrave Frankland was one of the first four guide dog owners in the UK, and said ‘A guide dog is almost equal in many ways to giving a blind man sight itself. My dog was worth her weight in gold… I wouldn’t have been without her for a day.’ 

 

In the following years the number of guide dogs continued to grow. In the 1960s, many people’s first encounter with Guide Dogs was through Blue Peter. Children across the country followed Labrador puppy ‘Honey’ on the programme, as she completed her training and became a successful guide dog.

 

Today, Guide Dogs supports around 4,500 life-changing guide dog partnerships, and at any one time, looks after 8,000 dogs, including puppies, working guide dogs, retired dogs and guide dog mums and dads. However, what has remained constant is the unique bond between guide dogs andtheir owners. In 2006 Andrea Cooper became the youngest person to qualify for a guide dog, at the age of 15. With her guide dog Cara’s help, Andrea is able to attend university. She said, ‘Cara changed everything and made it possible for me to be where I am today’, echoing what Mr Frankland had said about his dog 80 years earlier.

 

What has also stayed the same is Guide Dogs’ commitment to guide dog owners, supporting them through the process of matching them with a dog, working together, and staying in contact through the lifetime of the partnership. However, none of this would be possible without their supporters – the guide dog service receives no government funding, and relies entirely on donations. In fact, two out of three guide dogs are paid for by gifts in Wills. Without people helping in this way, Guide Dogs would be unable to keep its lifetime promise to each guide dog owner – to provide them with a guide dog for as long as they need one.

 

And despite the successes to date there is so much more to do – there are still 180,000 people with sight loss who never leave home alone. As a result they often become totally isolated from their community – and it is the charity’s aim to change this appalling statistic.

 

If you would like to learn more about Guide Dogs, and how a gift of any size in your Will can help, please contact Joette Emerton on 0845 603 1477, or e-mail  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ."