Letters to the Editor

SIR - If a company sponsors an amateur football club, say for £200, can that company claim the money back from the taxman?

I have heard so many times that this is true. If so, then where is the generosity towards the amateur clubs that helps to keep our youngsters off the streets and interested in our national game?

At our club's recent presentation evening, I was voted Clubman of the Year. This was because, as secretary, I do a lot of running about for the club in my spare time and as a lorry driver I don't have much of that.

Recently I drove around Queensbury, Clayton Heights and down Cooper Lane, writing down names and addresses of companies, shops and small businesses, all within a couple of miles of our ground at Westwood Park.

I typed out a letter on headed note paper, photocopied it 30 times and as a good clubman paid for the postage myself and sent them off.

That was a month ago. I have still not received one single reply. How on earth do I obtain a sponsor? Is there anyone out there who can help with a donation?

B Barraclough, New Works Road, Low Moor.

Missing plaque

Sir - In August 2002, my family purchased an oak tree to be planted in the proposed memorial wood at St Ives, Bingley. This was in support of the Bradford Can Cancer Appeal and was intended as a memorial to our son, Christopher.

At the time of the purchase a promise was made that on completion of planting the wood, a plaque showing the location of each tree and the name of the person it was to commemorate would be placed on the site.

We visit regularly and are delighted with the woodland, which will be a place of real beauty when matured. However, after well over a year since planting finished there is no sign of the promised plaque.

Could I ask the relevant organisation when this is likely to be rectified?

Derrick Hargreaves, Middlebrook Crescent, Fairweather Green, Bradford.

l Richard Dunton, Trees and Woodlands Manager, said: "There had been a slight delay in siting the plaque, but it will be put in place during this summer."

Epidemic scandal

Sir - The National Audit Office (NAO) recently produced a new report on hospital infections.

Experts believe hospital infections such as MRSA kill 5,000 patients a year and leave thousands of others seriously ill. One in ten patients now contracts a hospital infection.

The NAO report says: "The NHS still lacks sufficient information on the extent and costs of hospital acquired infections."

It goes on to say: "Many of the survey responses from senior management identified difficulties reconciling the management of hospital-acquired infection with the fulfilment of Government performance targets."

I know Airedale NHS Trust takes the issue of infection control very seriously. They have introduced a number of practical measures to limit the spread of infection and they achieved the key target of hospital cleanliness in this year's star ratings.

However, across the country lives are being lost by Labour's incompetence. After 20 separate initiatives since the last damning report by the NAO on the same problem, it is scandalous that people are still dying and that the NHS has failed to collate information on the scale and costs of this 'epidemic of neglect' in our hospitals.

Robert Collinson, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Keighley, Churchill House, Keighley.

Bin those bikes

Sir - Re your article covering unlicensed and illegal motorised scooters causing mayhem on roads and footpaths (T&A July 26), there is a surfeit of these vehicles and illegal motorcycles everywhere in Bradford and possibly in every other town in the country.

The riders are all ages, some maybe under ten years of age. The problem here is that when parents turn a blind eye to their children's illegal and stupid activities one of them could cause an horrific accident.

This could lead to a massive claim for compensation running into possibly tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds.

As a parent, is it worth facing the prospect of having to work the rest of your life paying off a huge debt and maybe also losing your child - also possibly having the death of someone else on your conscience?

There is a strong possibility that this could happen soon. The odds are stacked against you. Act now and bin the bikes before it's too late!

Coun Trevor Williams-Berry, Vice-Chairman Wrose Parish Council, Bredon Avenue, Wrose.

Who will pay?

Sir - How supremely deceitful of John Prescott's office to 'postpone' the regional assembly vote because of the unreliability of the all-postal balloting system (T&A July 23).

The truth is they knew the electorate would give them another good hiding and decided to cut and run.

Perhaps Shipley MP Chris Leslie would like to tell us who is going to pick up the bill for the millions of pounds of tax-payers' money his government has already wasted on this ridiculous scheme?

And as his master has now put his spin on the matter and pointed the finger at the dodginess of the all-postal ballot system, perhaps this would be a great opportunity for Mr Leslie to publicly apologise for the pantomime he inflicted on us in the June elections.

But I'm not holding my breath as no-one in this government ever admits to doing wrong.

Liz Balding, Ellar Carr Road, Cullingworth.

Time to apologise

Sir - The government's decision to abandon the referendum on a Yorkshire Assembly is in reality because they knew they would comprehensively lose. However, instead of being honest, they still cannot resist resorting to spin. They claim it was due to ballot security.

Does this mean that Chris Leslie will now finally admit that his ridiculous all-postal voting system was a failure and blighted by fraud and other problems, which is what his Conservative opponent Philip Davies said on this letters page recently?

Ken Patchett, The Avenue, Bingley.

No sympathy...

Sir - Hearing the news of the Odeon's demolition, one can only conclude that we are incapable of learning from past mistakes.

It is to be replaced by an "iconic" building - what is this exactly? Would an example be the blocks being demolished in Forster Square, the new one opposite City Hall, or the hideous filing cabinet-like structure going up in the Interchange, which actually manages to make Jacobs Well look good?

While one need only look at the Alhambra to see what can be done by sympathetic adaptation, where is the example of a new building which has enhanced the appearance of the city?

The only example I can think of is the new mosque on Westgate. Perhaps the people responsible for that should be put in charge of future planning decisions.

Tom Johnstone, Barraclough Buildings, Greengates, Bradford.

Well said, Mike

Sir - Bravo Mike Priestley for articulating so clearly what so many of us feel about Tony Blair and Michael Howard (North of Watford July 24).

So long have we suffered the torrent of Words of Mass Deception, even opponents of the war seemingly unwilling to call a lie a lie and a liar a liar.

I laughed with a sense of relief at your words, barely able to believe my eyes. It is as if we are solemnly assured every day that the sun goes round the earth and the moon is made of green cheese.

Please don't leave the country! We need honest Yorkshiremen and others in the public eye with a taste for straight talk.

Alex Eaton, Tower Road, Shipley.

Thank you friends

SIR - I am writing this letter to pay a tribute to my friends and neighbours of St Hilda's Terrace for their kindness and generosity while I have been laid low after undergoing total joint replacement.

Especially my friend and next door neighbour Mrs Jean Lenton for providing me with three tasty meals a day and for all the running about she has done and Mrs Joyce Hudson who has helped by doing housework and shopping, making cups of tea and helping to get me mobile each day.

I want the people of Bradford to know that there is still kindness and generosity around, especially in my small corner of the world and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I will never forget their kindness.

Julia Murray, St Hilda's Terrace, Thornbury.