Letters to the Editor

My wife and I live in Oxenhope, about 1.5miles from the centre of Haworth, and frequently walk on to shop or just look round.

Over the last few years the number of public toilets has steadily reduced until there is not even one gents urinal in the village.

This is very inconvenient for the visitors, both local and from away, particularly as Haworth is a tourist centre.

Can our beloved Bradford Met not provide at least one working convenience for our convenience, or are we supposed to wee in the streets?

PETER H YOUNG

Moorhouse Lane,

Oxenhope.

SIR - In Agatha Christie's book the ABC Murders, written in 1936, the year I was born, appears the sentence: "I think I shall remember the 11th September all my life".

So will we!

M ARMSTRONG

West Lane, Haworth.

SIR - The recent vacuous comments of Zafir Ali reveal that the gentleman suffers from selective amnesia.

He accuses David Blunkett of making ethnic minorities the scapegoats for our current social unrest. He added that the Home Secretary's remarks added fuel to the BNP.

May I remind him that in Oldham, thousands of Muslims saw fit to riot and burn.

This fuelled the BNP to the tune of 11,000 votes at the last election.

Furthermore, we then suffered Muslim uprisings in Bradford, Halifax, Burnley, Stoke and Leeds.

On bonfire night in Leeds, white families on their way to a firework display were stopped by armed gangs and ordered to repeat: "Osama bin Laden is great."

If they didn't, they had a lit firework thrown in the car and their vehicles were damaged. Deeds such as this, along with the attempted arson of a Bradford church and the racial attack on its vicar, hardly serve to strengthen the broader argument do they?

The creation of 'no go' areas in Keighley's Lund Park, Devonshire Park and Lawkholme districts go a long way to weaken Zafir Ali's viewpoint.

The word 'integration' has been violently resurrected with everyone absolutely clueless as to how we achieve it.

Personally, I never cease to wonder at the overwhelming tolerance of the indigenous British. It is, quite frankly, awesome.

Zafir Ali and other 'community' leaders have a huge responsibility to all of us. Empty knee jerk bletherings laying blame at the wrong door will not provide answers.

FRANK BRAMMAH

Haworth.

SIR - How about making 2002 a year to remember by asking all your readers to take up Breakthrough Breast Cancer's £1,000 Challenge?

They'd be in good company - many of Breakthrough's celebrity supporters have already raised £1,000 or more for Breakthrough's crucial research, including us.

This year is Breakthrough's 10th anniversary year. Ten years ago its dream was to establish the first centre in the UK dedicated to breast cancer research.

Breakthrough's centre was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1999. Teams of world-class scientists are now working hard looking into the reasons why breast cancer happens and how we can prevent it. To fund this very important research, Breakthrough needs to raise over £5 million every year.

This is where your readers can help. It doesn't matter how long it takes to raise £1,000. They can do it with friends, at work, at school.

Once they sign up to become a Challenger, Breakthrough will send them lots of information and tips on how to raise money and organise events.

And for every £1,000 raised Breakthrough's corporate partner Kodak will contribute an extra £100 up to a total of £100,000.

So please make that new year's resolution now and call the Kodak/Breakthrough £1,000 Challenge hotline on 0207 557 6611.

Thank you very much - and Happy New Year to you all!

GABY ROSLIN

JANE HORROCKS

BARBARA WINDSOR

Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

SIR - I have noticed in the columns of local newspapers that young bloods are now at long last challenging the idiocy that in many cases is local party politics.

Smugly I would like to think that I, and others of the Aire-Worth Reform Association who have chivvied Keighley-based Bradford politicians about Aire-Worth's affairs, may have been instrumental in indicating that independent and constructive actions can have an effect on local issues.

Persons who feel that I, in particular, have deliberately slighted their intellectual and political ability have accosted me in the supermarkets and streets of this area, condemning me for causing ripples in Bradford's stewardship of this region, yet some of these same people admit that they don't bother to vote at elections due to the lethargy of the political system.

The good news, however, is that one lady who feels that I have insulted her is allegedly ready to stand for the forthcoming Keighley Town Council.

Becoming involved in local issues is vital.

Facts prove that people who are willing to stand up to the sloth of party politics and a now demoralised public officialdom can have an effect.

For instance, planning laws, relevant local committees and public officials are now under scrutiny, which can allow a semblance of democracy, if only party politicians were to allow such a thing.

Bradford City still claims and spends a high percentage of Aire-Worth rates and rate support grant in its own area. Thankfully, due to local public indignation and outrage at such prolific injustices, the situation for this region, is, I understand, very slowly being looked at.

Finally, may I say to my many party political enemies and to my few friends, have a healthy and happy New Year.

David Samuels

Aire-Worth Reform Assn

Station Road, Oxenhope

SIR - This Christmas local members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association visited churches of various denominations in the Keighley and surrounding areas with the intention of delivering a message of peace and goodwill.

We would like to thank them for their warm welcome during these unscheduled visits at this very busy time of year.

There have been many debates around the issue of race, religion, culture and integration, and this was one of the subjects discussed during these visits.

We live in a world of competition and jealousies with growing uncertainties and concerns for peace.

The general consensus that we can fight it out among ourselves for our respective rights, and thus establish world peace is absolutely false - it is a fool's dream and nothing more.

The Islamic concept of unity amidst diversity can be compared to a rainbow, where the different colours are miraculously blended together to generate an inexplicable beauty and a heavenly splendour.

The blending of the different colours is so refined and so harmonious that the lines of demarcation between the different colours totally disappear, yet at the same time one can see the independent existence of beautiful colours.

Elimination of diversity would empty the whole world of meaning, for it is the conscious effort to search for unity within diversity that enables an individual to achieve the purpose for which he has been created.

That is why Islam does not believe in dead-level equality, economical, social or political as envisaged by Karl Marx. This would defeat the very purpose.

Fundamentally, the way to tackle the problem of diversity is not to abolish it but to consciously regulate it.

It is the responsibility of each individual to bring his ego under control and regulate it in a proper manner using reason and understanding, and hence become a 'moral' being.

What is relevant for individual peace is not a relationship between desire and its satisfaction, but rather a relationship between thought and action.

MUJEEB RAHMAN

Ahmadiyya Muslim

Association Shann Avenue,

Keighley

SIR - May I take this opportunity to publicly thank the very generous people of this town and surrounding areas for supporting our Keighley Lions Christmas Charity Appeal and making it into a roaring success yet again.

The support you continue to give to us never ceases to amaze, and for that we are very grateful.

May I also thank Wm Morrisons for allowing us to hold our tombola, Stephen Smiths Garden Centre for our Santa Grotto, Colin Appleyards for sponsoring and towing our sleigh, the Fire Station for housing our sleigh, to Safe and Sound, FX Graphics, and David Peel Auto Electrics for donating their services to our sleigh, to HB Clark for their donations, to Cullingworth and Long Lee Scouts for their help and to Keighley and Worth Valley Railway for their help on our Santa Special.

Last but not least, the families and friends of Keighley Lions who have turned out to help us and to the members of Keighley Lions Club for the giving of their time.

To the generous people of Keighley at this special time of year, thank you very much and a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to you all.

JANET WALTON

President,

Keighley Lions Club

SIR - Worth Valley Eisteddfod, (KN 9/3/29).

In these days when the 'enrichment' of our cultural life by a mixture with traditions from other parts seems to be the order of the day, I was interested to read the following account suggesting that our traditions were already fairly diverse as long ago as 1929.

'The arts and crafts exhibition and eisteddfod in connection with the Haworth & Oakworth Wesleyan Circuit concluded on Saturday evening, in the Bridgehouse School, where awards were made by the judges ...(Needlework, Cookery, Penmanship, Drawing). The prizewinners will have their work sent to the Keighley area in April.

'Two soloists in the eisteddfod section were also judged... (boy soloist, and baritone).'

The Bradford and District St David's Society (Cymdeithas Dewi Sant, Bradford a'r Cylch) will be holding an exhibition in several libraries in the district following St David's Day, March 1, 2002, to celebrate the Society's centenary.

We would be very interested to hear from anyone who has any memories or knowledge of the Eisteddfod pattern of competition used in the Keighley area in the 1900s. Who started it? What was the original inspiration? How long did it continue? Were there any direct links with Wales?

Please phone 01535 665829, e-mail Mrs E Walker on jimwalker@mistral.co.uk or leave a message on the Society's website: www.communigate.co.uk/brad/stdavidssociety.

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! - Happy New Year!

MRS E WALKER

Laycock.