FOR decades Otley people have fought tooth and nail for their Wharfedale Hospital.

While communities across the country have lost their hospitals and had their patients sent to impersonal city complexes, Otley through sheer determination has managed to hold onto its own treasured hospital.

It may have lost its 'general' status. Maternity services and major surgery now take place at the larger Leeds hospitals where expertise is centralised, but Wharfedale Hospital is still very much a valuable asset to the town and the wider community.

Now, the replacement hospital is due to be completed by the end of the year. Many doubted it would ever happen, but it has and the new building is being touted as a hospital par excellence and something for the town to be immensely proud of.

Now, those interested in the hospital are being called upon to once again give their support. Although the hospital will be fully fitted, the equipment, desks, furniture and beds will be transported from the old hospital. How much nicer to have sparkling new beds, more equipment and impressive reception desks in the new building?

There is no question that people are being asked to fund necessary items; the new hospital will not be under stocked.

This will be the icing on the cake and people of Otley and all those from the surrounding communities who have ever visited Wharfedale will surely feel the same - this is our hospital and we want to make it the best we possibly can.

Who can have failed to have been shocked by the story (Page 5) of a lamb ripped apart apparently by a pet dog?

Someone, somewhere will know their pet has savaged another animal - if the owner wasn't there at the time, the dog must have returned home agitated and covered in blood.

Now, who is kidding themselves here? A dog which has killed once- and in such a frantic way - is likely to do it again. That dog is no longer a loving pet, but a menace.