Letters to the Editor

From the archive, first published Wednesday 12th Apr 2006.

Time we showed more compassion

SIR - I feel I must appeal to people to show a little more compassion and consideration, following an incident on the bus one morning.

Travelling to work on the Arriva 653 from Dewsbury to Bradford at about 8am, a gentleman boarded the bus on Manchester Road. Clearly he had difficulty walking and with the use of a stick he made his progress slowly.

All seats were filled and I immediately spotted the seats allocated at the front of the bus for elderly persons or those with mobility difficulties were taken up by other passengers.

The sticker on the window requests you should give up these seats if they are required. However, the two middle-aged, able-bodied passengers just looked right through the man. They didn't even acknowledge his presence - shame.

The girl sitting next to me, further back, kindly gave up her seat, although there was not much leg room for him.

Come on people, the smallest act of kindness costs you nothing! I'm sure we all give money to various relief appeals and charities all over the world but can we not give a bit more consideration on our doorsteps?

Shelley Turner, Post Office Road, Bradford.

We do speak out

SIR - E Mills (T&A Letters, March 22) is the latest complainant to decry the "situation whereby not one single councillor has expressed an opinion to support the campaigners who are leading the fight to retain the Odeon" although the first I recall to suggest the members of "the main political parties" were gagged.

I believe this to be wide of the mark. Has Mr Mills not taken into account the number of councillors who serve on committees which may yet have to consider the West End development and who consequently must maintain, at least publicly, an open mind?

Thus, those councillors knowledgeable enough to comment may be excluded from so doing whereas those free to speak may not have anything useful to say.

I can assure Mr Mills that individual councillors, including members of the "main political parties", do speak out vigorously when they can on concrete proposals put before them, but there is rarely a member of the public in attendance, while press reports are necessarily brief.

One might reverse the complaint, inquiring why the public concern at the Odeon's fate does not readily translate into involvement in the democratic (consultative) process!

Coun James Lewthwaite (BNP, Wyke), City Hall, Bradford.

Quango concerns

SIR - The story on the potential sale of St Peter's House in Forster Square (T&A, April 4) focuses on the commercial value of the building, but other important issues need to be debated.

I welcome the possibility that St Peter's House will be used for community activities, as there is a desperate need to develop new resources that offer first-class facilities.

This obsession with financial returns through the failed asset management strategy means other sites with potential community use, eg Wapping School, have been left to the vagaries of the market.

What is concerning is that a quango in receipt of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money can, apparently, carry on secret negotiations and that no public discussion takes place before the deal is concluded.

Kala Sangam is a widely-respected community arts group but it is simply wrong for the Millennium Commission to conduct these sorts of negotiations without consideration of how it might fit into a broader community strategy.

There should be a full public discussion of the future of the building and how taxpayers' money can be used in democratically accountable ways to develop community resources in the district.

Steve Schofield (Green Party candidate, Heaton), Park Crescent, Bradford.

Such kind people

SIR On behalf of Marie Curie Cancer Care I would like to express my thanks to the volunteers and people of Bradford who supported our Great Daffodil Appeal during February and March.

The charity held a number of successful street collections throughout Bradford during The Great Daffodil Appeal. The Bradford street collection in the Kirkgate Shopping Centre raised £568.65, Bingley Street collection raised £240.62 and an additional collection in Saltaire raised £400.12.

The collections could not have been successful without the help of our volunteers who kindly stood, in all types of weather, giving away the distinctive daffodil pin badges in exchange for a donation.

The money raised will help us maintain our special services, both here at the hospice and through the nurses in the community, for cancer patients and their families.

All the services we provide are free of charge and we rely heavily on the community we serve for support. Therefore, we are most grateful to everyone who supported the campaign this year.

Claire Priestwood, community fundraising co-ordinator, Marie Curie Hospice, Maudsley Street, Bradford.

Counter view

SIR - Gerald Goldsbrough (T&A, April 3) is sceptical about the way that six billion-plus humans are changing the climate.

His view runs counter to the research work of the vast body of scientists measuring away at the factual details, and if he can't accept their findings then he might be persuaded by the financial figures from the insurance industry which is already paying out in billions for climate-based disasters and has no doubt that something awesome is afoot.

However, his welcoming of the possibility of such change is misplaced as the 20 million now starving in drought-ridden East Africa could tell him, as could the 50 million Bangladeshis who will be displaced in the next few decades.

They will pay an enormous price for vine growing on the slopes of the Wharfe valley.

Keith Thomson, Heights Lane, Bradford

Thanks for help

SIR - I had a very bad fall outside the Co-op in Queensbury one Sunday in March when we had very heavy snow. I would like to thank the gentleman and his wife who came to help me, as I don't know their names. They thought I'd broken my back, Luckily I hadn't.

Mrs S. Milburn, Ashborne Crescent, Queensbury

Archive Home