Settle's early morning wake-up call damages health

Imagine dear reader, if you will, a 10-ton lorry driving in a northerly direction along Duke Street. As it reaches the chapel, the lorry falls over onto its side and its precious load of empty oil drums cascades down the road, bouncing its way through the double bend at Halsteads and coming to rest outside the Golden Lion.

This may give you some idea of the noise which is suffered by residents abed in their homes in the area surrounding these bends.

Today between the hours of 04.16 and 07.00, 26 empty quarry lorries performed this task. I know, I counted them. Four years ago when I came to live in Station Road this was not the case, so don't say "Why come and live in these circumstances?"

The conditions have worsened greatly during the past nine months particularly. My health is now suffering. Try surviving on about four hours' sleep a night. To get eight hours' sleep would entail my retiring to bed at 20.00 hours - not much of a life.

Who is responsible for this time scale? Is it the individual lorry drivers? Is it the transport companies? Is it the quarry owners?

This is not being done for altruistic reasons. This is being done for money. If these are the times when it is essential for empty lorries to pour through Settle then I require some compensation for the deterioration of my living conditions. If the lorry drivers are paid a premium rate for early work, would they like to share it with me? Or perhaps the transport companies or quarry owners would like to pay me for my discomfiture.

Who is responsible for allowing this to be perpetrated upon us - Craven District Council, North Yorkshire County Council, or perhaps the Minister for Transport (Johnny, two Jags, Prescott)?

Is there a clever Dick lawyer out there who knows the answers? One who would sue on a no-win, no-fee basis? Are the noise levels against the law? Could my Council Tax be reduced? Could this noise be stopped by banning the lorries from traversing through the town prior to 07.00 hours each day?

This is not about jobs, this is about health. Roz Maude, in her letter to the editor last week, wrote of the possibility of someone being killed in a road traffic accident.

There are other ways of dying - being tortured by one's sleep being curtailed every day until one's health is destroyed (if this happened in a military prison it would be against one's human rights). If a gang of hooligans stood in the street every day from 04.16 to 07.00 hours banging oil drums they would be stopped very quickly. Where lies the difference?

I would like those who could alter this situation, but won't, to spend a couple of weeks sleeping in this vicinity. How would the drivers, company bosses and owners, councillors and ministers feel if I went round to their homes and disturbed them, their wives, loved ones and children by banging metal dust-bin lids under their bedroom windows from 04.00 to 07.00 hours each day?

Is there anyone out there who can hear this cry for help above the noise of the lorries?

Sandra M Price,

Station Road ,

Settle.

Support for bakery

SIR - I would like to register my support for the seating area in the newly enlarged premises at Holme Lane Bakery in Sutton.

It is incomprehensible why an innovation which encourages people to walk in the village rather than take a car should be removed on what appear to be such feeble grounds.

Planners, councillors and elected servants of the village should remember that not all parishioners drive from door to door and that those who don't are entitled to some amenities.

A place of shelter from the elements could be a major factor in persuading parents to walk to school with their children, something even Downing Street is trying to encourage, can the short-sighted objectors not see further than the bonnet of a car?

Dealing with retired people, as I do, I believe Sutton has an abundance of very senior people who endeavour to look after and fend for themselves. Numerous of my clientele have told me what a boon this refuge has been in its short life and how much is appreciated.

I doubt they will write in to support the proprietors, but a survey of the elderly could prove to be a very useful exercise before any decision is made.

Parking on the roadside has been mooted as one of the main grounds of contention. This is just impossible to comprehend, people drive to a take-away, be it chip shop, sandwich shop, off licence or grocers, not by any stretch of the imagination can I envisage someone driving to a small caf for a cup of coffee!

Does this mean we close down the three shops we still have in Sutton on the same grounds?

Annette Craven,

High Street,

Sutton-in-Craven.

Amenity to village

SIR - I write regarding the planning application for Holme Lane Bakery, Sutton.

I am writing in support of the above application.

From reading in the Craven Herald, it would appear that this village amenity is to be abolished at a time when it can prove most beneficial.

In our village news I wrote a relevant article concerning the premises, prior to any objection being made, and which I believe points out the benefits provided to the many villagers not welded into car seats.

It may be that new premises need off-street parking in this day and age, however, like all things this has to be brought into perspective with the availability of space in the area. There has been a seating area at these premises for a number of years, it is not a new thing, and it would appear no major congestion has been caused by it, I wonder what has suddenly altered the space on the road.

Please do consider the young mothers and fathers on school runs, the pensioners shopping and the numerous people who do not drive everywhere before you close down something which provides for this large portion of villagers.

Hazel Renton,

North Road, Sutton-in-Craven.

Editor's note: The application for a seating area at the Sutton bakery will be discussed at Monday's meeting of Craven District Council's planning committee. A full report will be in next week's paper.

The yes vote

SIR - Mr Rankin is wrong to imply (Craven Herald Letters, July 14) that those who voted 'Yes' to the Common Market in 1975 did something morally wrong but, being "but a schoolboy", he may be forgiven for that.

The people who voted 'Yes' in 1975 did so because they were told that it was best for Britain. They should not have any feeling of guilt, just a profound sense of anger that they were never told the truth.

Perhaps Mr Rankin should re-evaluate where the moral blame lies and thereby not alienate the very people he needs as allies.

John A McKay,

Bransghyll Terrace,

Horton-in-Ribblesdale.

The scales police

SIR - I read with interest Mr Rankin's letter entitled 'Imperial Stance' and I'm sure he had a valid point of view in lamenting the passing of aspects of the British way of life.

However, is Mr Rankin correct in his assertion that the police seized a set of scales from a Sunderland market trader because these scales were of imperial measure? If he is right, then the concept of an Orwellian scales police is alarming.

As I understand the incident, the scales were seized by officers of the local trading standards service and, perhaps not surprisingly, the police attended in order to prevent any breach of the peace.

Rodger Alcock,

Skelda Rise, Ilkley.

Turn back time

SIR - I do not have a 'yes' vote on my conscience Mr Rankin because I voted 'no' and if I could be transported back, in H G Well's time machine, 25 years to the polling station at Grassington, I would place my cross in the same box.

I thought there was a test case taking place about the legality of forcing traders to only weigh in metric. Any news of that Aidan?

Wendy Milner,

Church Street,

Gargrave.

Coniston race track

SIR - Yeehaa! Poop poop! Excellent!

Yes folks, I have just driven through Coniston Cold and what a treat it is.

Used to be a boring little village which I could hardly remember driving through...but not any more.

I counted twenty five big day-glo road signs and someone had done a magic job on the road .

Girlfriend bought me one of those "drive a racing car" days last month. The track was covered in pink rubber stuff at the start and there were loads of big signs and lines all over it showing you the fastest path to follow.

Cost a packet, but now its for free...in Coniston Cold! I loved it so much I had to go back and go through again. You can really chuck it into the corners on that non-slip stuff.

No worries about pedestrians either, pretty obvious now who the road is for, eh? Ha ha!

Mate of mine works for a firm selling that rubber stuff, says its a real giggle. He's got two lots of brochures for the same gear; one says it helps Formula One cars go 50mph faster on corners and the other goes on about how safe it makes pedestrian crossings. Had me in fits telling me how gullible the highways blokes who buy it were.

"Any new toy", he says "they'll 'ave it. Big splash on the road makes 'em look good, keeps 'em in a job".

Now he tells me they're doing Settle. Wahey, can't wait! Vroooom!

Yours, Speedy Gonzales

Doug Macleod,

Halton Gill.

Solution to mystery

SIR - Regarding the letter from Mr Wareing about the meaning of "Dick a' Joabs".

When I was young I spent all my holidays in Dent. There was a man there whose name I thought was Tom Asals. When I got older I discovered that he was called 'Tom a' Sals' - Sal's son. Presumably Dick a' Joabs was Joab's son, Dick. I hope this puts Mr Wareing's mind to rest.

Joan Salterthwaite,

Main Street, Embsay.

No cancer support

SIR - I have followed with interest the letters in this newspaper regarding the facilities for oncology patients at Airedale Hospital and can say that my wife and myself encountered much the same as your correspondents.

After leaving the clinic with the diagnosis of mestatic cancer we found no support. In fact, rather than return home we ended up doing our shopping.

It is difficult trying to imagine how the victim must feel on receipt of such news. As a carer I felt devastated and even now the emotional strain is horrific for both of us, a nightmare we never wake from.

I was shocked to read the letter from Dr. Crawford consultant oncologist and of June Toovey, specialist nurse, they just seemed to close ranks offering excuses and "I am tomorrow", in other words nothing.

I do feel that the sooner Airedale employs Macmillan nurses on site the better, there are no excuses for not doing so. Unfortunately all we hear from Airedale is Manorlands and more Manorlands, a long way from Craven.

My own opinion is that specialised centres are the answer, but there again the problem is travel. In the meantime will Airedale Trust get its act together and supply oncology patients with the facilities they deserve?

Name and address supplied.

Thanks to council

SIR - Through the Craven Herald may we at Bolton Abbey Cricket Club publicly express our thanks to Craven District Council for their grant which has helped our club to purchase much needed equipment.

We now have a thriving junior section and without this grant we would not have been able to provide sufficient sports equipment for their use.

Roger Tiffany,

Secretary,

Bolton Abbey Cricket Club.

The Craven Mitchells

SIR - On holiday with my wife I stopped off briefly for the first time in Skipton ten days ago on our way to holiday in Devon - we were very taken with the area and will be back very soon!

My mother, who died last year in Edinburgh, and her sister, who lives in London, are the last of their line of the Mitchell family. Their grandfather, John Mitchell was a dedicated biographer of the family and we still have all his records and memorabilia compiled 100 years ago. In particular we have copies of the Skipton Register dated 1680 to 1812 published in 1896 at the Craven Herald office in which my great grandfather John Mitchell is listed among the subscribers.

The three volumes contain many of his hand-written comments on the baptisms, deaths and marriages relating to the family.

The Mitchells were farmers from the west of Scotland - they prospered with the cattle trade and lived for several generations in Skipton, They married into local families...the Chippendales, the Heelis family (one of whom was keeper of Skipton Castle) and the Birtwhistle family.

John Mitchell's mother was Ann Birtwhistle. John's father, Thomas Mitchell, and Ann's father had a successful wine importing company 'Birtwhistle and Mitchell' which was active in Skipton in the mid 19th century.

It was an extraordinary experience to visit Holy Trinity Church and find for the first time that I was literally almost walking on and amongst my ancestors. The Birtwhistles commemorated in splendour on the wall of the church are all close relations to Ann Birtwhistle. Two Mitchell gravestones are sadly now only just partly legible and are now part of the pathway that the congregation must walk every Sunday into Church.

During our short stay it was not possible to access the area behind the church where many gravestones are collected - in particular that of Thomas Mitchell my great great grandfather and father of John Mitchell mentioned above.

It was fascinating to read 'Skipton 2000 - The Millennium Walk' compiled by Ian Lockwood. Page 25 deserves special mention as it quotes from a meeting of the parish council of Holy Trinity in 1771 to discuss problems with the behaviour of the clerk - Thomas Mitchell and John Heelis giving evidence against him. These two are both almost certainly both direct ancestors (but not the Thomas Mitchell mentioned above).

Birtwhistles also lived in Dumfries where they owned land and traded extensively in cattle - one John Birtwhistle (Ann's father or uncle?) "the celebrated Craven Grazier" having contacts in the Highlands and Hebrides. One was the deputy Lord Lieutenant of Kirkcudbright (see memorial on the wall at Holy Trinity Skipton) and in the previous generation Alexander Birtwhistle is mentioned twice by Robert Burns .....once in the 'Election Ballad for Westerha' "To end the work, here's Whistlebirk, Long may his whistle blaw Jamie" and also in the "Second Ballad on Mr Heron's Election" where he is called "roaring Birtwhistle"

My family are trying to tie up loose ends and put together a record for our own archive before perhaps making the material more generally available for research - possibly to an academic institution or university.

One thing that intrigues me is the very large numbers of Mitchells in the local Skipton telephone directory - far more relatively than for example in our local Edinburgh directory. To further illustrate the point there are very few Campbells, MacDonalds, McCleods etc in the Craven area. Are most of these Mitchells descended from a single family who moved to Skipton at the time of the Act of Union?

Additionally we only have sketchy information about Ann Birtwhistle - presumably her gravestone in her married name of 'Ann Mitchell' is also at Holy Trinity. She must have died around the turn of the last century. We also wonder what happened to the wine importing company 'Birwhistle and Mitchell' - did it fold or perhaps it was sold on and continued in another guise.

Successive generations of the family seem to be linked to major historical events. The huge economic impact of cattle droving, the Act of Union (possibly the reason why the Mitchells moved to Skipton as England threatened to cut trade with Scotland thus destroying this largest source of revenue), the Industrial Revolution in Northern England and the opening of the canal network.

Once this branch of the Mitchells used their prosperity to educate their children at boarding school (John and his brother William were sent to Edinburgh in 1865) the family seemed to leave farming and the wine business altogether. They also sadly moved completely away from Skipton by the early 1900s. John's brother William was the nearest at Silverdale where he died in 1932.

I write all this as it may interest you. Also you may be able to help us tie up the loose ends and also suggest an institution where we could make the archive more generally available for research.

Geoff Sharwood-Smith,

Thorburn Road,

Edinburgh.

Editor's note: Any readers who wish to respond should send their material directly to the Craven Herald, who will forward it to Mr Sharwood-Smith. Please indicate if you do wish the reply to be confidential.

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