Letters to the Editor

Is this the same Skipton Properties who have half of Keighley up in arms against the inconsideration in their new developments? Surely not!

CATHERINE ROWEN

Laycock Lane, Keighley

SIR - I have recently noticed beside the road from Menston and Hawksworth towards Keighley (not long before Dick Hudsons) what appears to be the remnants of an old public service vehicle.

It is located on the left hand side as you travel towards Keighley, towards the edge of a field. It used to be shielded from view by another shed.

It has four windows each side, those on one side being painted over, and what is possibly a rear entry door. It is quite dilapidated but the lower body sides have a distinctive curvature reminiscent of older buses and such like.

Does anyone know what this was? Or am I mistaken and it is merely the remains of an up-market summerhouse?

I would be interested if any reader could assist.

R TICKNER

Florist Street,

Keighley

SIR - The Quaker prison reformer of the 19th Century, Elizabeth Fry, has been chosen by the Bank of England to appear on their new £5 note from May 21, 2002.

Local Quakers have agreed to support the call from their Yearly Meeting to give the first of any such notes, plus more if possible, to support the much needed work that Quakers are doing today in the fields of crime, community justice and prison ministry.

For women and children, including new born babies, life in prison in the nineteenth century was cruel.

They were hungry, cold, often without clothing or bedding. Elizabeth Fry, as a result of her visits to Newgate prison, brought both practical help and loving care to the women and children. She started the first ever prison schools and provided occupations for the adults.

Her practical campaign arose from her deep spiritual strengths.

These ideas and practices were to be influential and effective throughout Europe and, eventually, the world.

Quakers, persecuted and imprisoned in their thousands for their religion in the 17th Century, have always had a special concern about the criminal justice system.

Unfortunately, there remains much to be done within our criminal justice system today.

Support for the "Fiver for Fry" Appeal will enable this work to continue.

SYLVIA BOYES

Wimborne Drive,

Keighley

SIR - After reading your article in KN May 17th 2002 on South Craven School missing out on technology status I gave a sigh of relief .

I feel the school has already lost its ability to maintain a stable environment for its existing students, and by gaining technology status I feel this will only get worse.

I was even more shocked to read that the new head master, Mr A Cummings, is to concentrate on ensuring a successful bid in October.

As a new head I would hope he would be more concerned in tackling important ongoing issues first, such as bullying and controlling unruly students. These issues need looking at sooner rather than later as many parents are or have already considered moving their children to other schools.

I wish the new head good luck in all issues and hope he can make South Craven School a respectable school again.

NAME and ADDRESS

SUPPLIED

SIR - Scott Street car park, not far from your Keighley office, looks very attractive after refurbishment by Bradford Council. All praise to them.

But ... where have all the disabled places gone? We often used to park on such a place close to the street, to spare my disabled wife a long walk to North Street.

Now those formerly disabled places are always being taken by other motorists. And the bushes there, which gave a nice shade for the car and the shopping, have also disappeared.

But worst of all are the ticket machines. If one wants to see lots of frustrated people, look no further!

The notices on the machines not only tell us that we have to pay and the amount, but they tell us how to do this as well. And there the frustration starts. "Press the numbers of your car, four will do" or words to this effect.

But there are not four numbers on my number plate. And I don't think there will be four or more on any number plate. Do they mean letters as well, perhaps ??? Let's see! But there are no buttons for numbers.

A photograph of a machine would perhaps reveal something that I might have overlooked?

Most probably your readers would like to learn what went through the Council's mind by installing these machines. Perhaps we might get some disabled places back as well.

Ben Borghuis

Changegate,

Haworth

SIR - Imagine if every single car driver in the Dales was pulled over by the police on a regular basis to check, firstly, if they are driving a diesel car and, secondly, if red diesel was being used illegally.

Imagine if the police and HM Customs obtained warrants to enter every single house in, for example, Horton-in-Ribblesdale to search for drugs, illegally imported drink and cigarettes and pirate DVDs and video games.

Would this be deemed acceptable behaviour by the police in order to catch a small proportion of lawbreakers? Of course not - there would be a public outcry!

Why then, is it deemed acceptable for the police to pull somebody over for simply riding a motorcycle?

My understanding from fellow motorcyclists was that the police and DVLC were not stopping "suspect vehicles", they were indiscriminately stopping virtually every bike passing through Ingleton for checks, not just the ones with noisy illegal exhausts.

Only 13 people charged out of the thousands of bikers out on the roads on a Sunday proves that the perceived "problem" is, on the whole, caused by a tiny minority with illegal exhausts, yet all motorcyclists are being persecuted.

I am becoming increasingly concerned about the witch hunt being waged against motorcyclists in the Yorkshire Dales by NIMBY parish councillors, which results in police resources beings diverted from real crime.

For these people to ask for even more police resources to be channelled into the persecution of motorcyclists is simply outrageous - will they only be happy when this country becomes a police state?

The police could eliminate the use of illegal exhausts using minimal resources by wandering around the biker gathering spots like Hawes and Devil's Bridge and issuing tickets as appropriate.

There is no need to stop people going about their lawful business - this is, after all, a free country.

S Normington

Haworth

SIR - Thank you for printing the Gillard - Baldwin wedding picture last week This excellent picture featured my rather fine brass octet with timpanist in addition to the bride and groom.

Your last paragraph says the bride's arrival was heralded by a nine-piece brass ensemble. This could imply we only played one piece as she arrived.

In fact we played all the music for the entire ceremony, including a mini concert before, three hymns, a solo song accompaniment, register singing music, even a eucharistic item as well as entry and exit music. Praise for our efforts was heaped upon us by all and sundry afterwards.

JENS HISLOP

Haworth

SIR - As interested parties in the planning dispute concerning the Skipton Properties development at Box Tree Grove, Long Lee, we would like to thank the Keighley News for its factual report of May 10, 2002.

You state that, "A letter has been sent by Bradford Council to the 45 homes it considers most affected by the situation ...".

We can only hope that any representations made by the home owners will be objective and will not be influenced by the vitriolic attacks on the developer which have appeared in the Keighley News leader articles and Opinion pages over recent months.

Hed and Brenda

Hickling

Stockport, Cheshire

SIR - The deadline for the first part of the Government's consultation period into the future of hunting with dogs has now passed. DEFRA Minister Alun Michael has stated that he wishes to frame legislation based on the twin issues of 'cruelty and utility'.

As veterinary surgeons concerned with the welfare of both wild and domestic animals, we hope we will be able to make a positive contribution to this process.

Our input will stem from our strong belief that the proposed ban on hunting will have a negative effect on animal welfare in the countryside and will inevitably cause an increase in suffering.

As all recent evidence has shown, the ban would lead rapidly to the demise of properly open, accountable and regulated wildlife management and its replacement by methods which reach none of these criteria.

If Mr Michael and the Government are sincere in their objectives to produce legislation which is both 'robust and practical', the laws they produce will be based on how hunting should proceed in future, not on whether it should continue at all.

Irrespective of personal views on hunting, those of us whose careers, livelihoods and experience are based on the welfare of animals will be urging the Minister to case aside the ignorance and prejudice of backbench MPs and focus instead on genuine animal welfare and management.

Prof WR Allen

DVSc, PhD, ScD, DESM,

MRCVS

Dr L H Thomas MA,

VetMB, PhD, FRCPath,

MRCVS

SIR - Just as the accident-prone Minister Stephen Byers gets embroiled in another high profile Parliamentary storm, his White Paper proposing regional government slips out.

Entitled "Your Region, Your Choice...", it proposes elected regional assemblies, followed by a wholesale reorganisation of local government.

These assemblies are to have the right to impose local taxes, although the demand will somewhat stealthily be rolled into our Council Tax demands.

The choice we will be denied will be on whether our taxes are spent on a layer of regional bureaucracy and salaries in the first place.

Evidence shows that the prototype regional assemblies that the Government has set up in the North are basically talking shops, and I'd much rather my taxes were spent on what local people, not politicians, want.

Although majorities feel national and local identity more strongly, we must not be pushed towards an artificial regional set up that is EU-inspired - and therefore convenient for 'Brussels' work programmes. Write opposing these plans to DTLR Regional Policy Unit, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU or email: regions.whitepaper@dtlr.gov.uk.

George Nicholson,

Whalton,

Morpeth, Northumberland