Letters to the Editor

From the archive, first published Friday 3rd Feb 2006.

SIR - Many local residents will remember the time when a visit to Haworth was mainly to the Church and Brontë Museum.

Many came from Lancashire via Laneshawbridge with the help of the Brontë Bus Co, and after visiting sat in the park with their lunch and flasks of tea.

They could not understand and were amazed that Good Friday was not a religious day's holiday in this area owing to the five-and-a-half day working week in the mills. The time off was added instead on Tuesday.

It would be interesting to know the benefits visitors who do not attend events in Main Street get from tourism these days.

The recent quote that "Traders do not welcome visitors who are not prepared to spend money" should not be levelled at families with children, but more so at those motorists who do not observe the rules and complain.

F SLACK

Station Road

Haworth

SIR - I would like to acknowledge Andrew Dundas letter 27/01/06 and confirm his accurate prediction that Mr J Joy of the BNP is quite rightly not a Labour Party member.

I mean how could he possibly support a party that utilises its time proof reading letters.

I would like to personally thank the two letters submitted by Mr Speller and Mr Dundas for their fantastic analysis of Mr Joy's previous letter, and we in the BNP accept that in future we really must try harder.

Finally I can confirm that I am not a member of the Labour Party.

Cllr C Kirby

Worth Valley District

Councillor

British National Party

SIR - May I through your newspaper appeal for help. I am trying to trace my late grandparents' relatives. Their names had been Barry and Edith Jepson, who at one time lived in Whitwell, Derbyshire, then moved to Shipley before the Second World War.

We know there are still relatives living in and around the Sheffield, Nottingham and the Derbyshire area. When the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864 happened, many of the Jepson family perished and others who survived, may have possibly moved to other areas. I would appreciate any help your newspaper can offer me.

BERYL BARKER

8 Festival Avenue

Windhill

Shipley, BD18 2HU

SIR - Do you have a dramatic Second World War love story to tell? I am looking for people in their eighties, nineties and hundreds to take part in a major television series about the British in love between 1939 and 1945.

In the war the ever-present threat of death helped create an atmosphere of living for the present, encouraging the most dramatic love affairs.

Perhaps yours was a forbidden or secret love? Did you risk sex before marriage? Did you fall for the glamour of a GI, an officer or an RAF pilot?

Maybe you had an affair with someone who was married? Or did you fall in love with someone from another country? If you have a moving personal wartime love story to tell - whatever it is - please contact me, Lisa Lipman on 0117 925 8589 at Testimony Films, 12 Great George Street Bristol BS1 5RH.

LISA LIPMAN

SIR - With reference to the letter from Andrew Dundas, Chair Keighley Labour Party.

Possibly I may be old fashioned, not cool or something, but I always thought that charity began at home.

Mr Dundas says that we are a rich country so how is it that our pensioners are paid a pittance after contributing most of their lives. Would the Labour Chair explain to those who are now wondering how the next council tax bill will be found, just how good it is for them giving money to the new countries is?

The NHS is a mess. Many people are being denied treatments, the reason of course is costs. Dental treatment is now beyond the means of some. Can Mr Dundas explain why modernising the Warsaw Underground takes priority over their health?

What about law and order? We cannot afford to build more prisons, the cells are full to bursting, apart from the few reserved for the unpolitically correct.

Criminals are let out early to wreak havoc and we can not afford enough police officers to protect the law abiding public.

As for the US, no they are not a benevolent country, they have not given anything away, before the war or after it, there is always a price to pay unless it is in their own interest. Stop trying to fool us Mr Dundas.

As I said to Mr Lindley and now to yourself, it is high time that your party got its act together, sooner than later.

R P BEALE

Hainworth Shaw

Keighley

SIR - The dance at the `Mechanics' was not the cause of the fire. Dancers had to be out by midnight and the fire was in the early hours of Sunday.

The fine building, along with the town, avoided bomb damage in the war but nevertheless someone burnt it down in peace time.

We have never been told the truth about whose door this crime should be laid at.

Then to add insult to injury they stole our clock!

Now Keighley does not have a decent dance hall, in any case no other building could replace the loss of the memories of the thousands of people whose `dancing feet' echo down the years.

MARTHA SCOTT

Boothman Walk

Keighley

SIR - During winter it is important to keep vigilant to the symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia as cases of these life-threatening illnesses are at their height.

Recent research supported by Meningitis Research Foundation shows that along with non-specific symptoms like fever and vomiting, there are three "red-flag" symptoms of early septicaemia - the blood poisoning form of the disease:

l Limb pain (especially leg pain)

l Cold hands and feet

l Pale or blotchy skin colour

These generally appear earlier than classic symptoms like rash and neck stiffness, but your readers may wish to highlight the red flag symptoms as early markers of the disease.

While we hope that these red flag symptoms will help in the early recognition of these devastating diseases which can kill in hours, it is important to remember that every case is different, symptoms can appear in any order and may differ according to the age of the patient.

For a free pack of meningitis and septicaemia symptoms call Meningitis Research Foundation's Freefone 24 hour helpline on 080 8800 3344 or log on to www.meningitis.org

Julia Warren

Meningitis Research

Foundation

SIR - The RSPCA is urging members of the public to help prevent the senseless slaughter of thousands of badgers -- which could start as soon as this summer.

Badgers are protected by law, yet the Government is now consulting on whether --- and how -- badgers should be trapped and killed. They could be shot, snared or even gassed. Although people have until only March 10 to write, public outrage could stop the killing before it starts.

The problem is that badgers are being scapegoated for a rise in bovine TB in cattle -- despite the latest scientific evidence that killing them is very likely to make matters worse. And this latest evidence comes from the Government's own research, which took more than five years, cost taxpayers £34 million and involved killing about 12,000 badgers.

A whole range of scientific studies show that infected cattle are the key source of infection in other cattle.

All members of the public are entitled to respond to the current Government consultation. The RSPCA is urging people to write to Defra at: Bovine TB and Badgers Consultation, Defra, 1a Page Street, London SW1 4P0 (email:bTBconsultation@defra.gsi.gov.uk). Another way to help would be to raise the issue with your local MP.

RSPCA Regional

Management

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