Letters to the Editor

In this week's edition was an article regarding a whale which was transported around the UK on a lorry in the 60s and 70s.

I have a postcard album and in it is a postcard bought from this travelling show when it came to Keighley in, I believe, 1971. I was nine or ten years old at the time and have a very vague recollection of driving to Keighley with my family and walking to a piece of land, where the Keighley tax office in Worth Way now stands, to see this travelling show.

Behind a screen of old hessian sacks was a lorry with the carcass of a whale on it called Jonah, which was packed with ice to stop it going off I presume, and every day it was painted with formalin to stop it rotting away. Does anyone else remember seeing this freak show?

I have intended to send this picture to Ian Dewhirst for some time but seeing the article in the Express prompted me to send it now.

The writer in the International Express, Steve Deput, has written a book called the Barnsley Whale.

Mark Worden

Downs Road,

Geraldine, New Zealand.

SIR - It seems a shame that the financial outlay of Keighley taxpayer's money and the efforts of dedicated people such as Sue Brewer and her team who sought to provide a secluded spot for local children to play has been thwarted.

Praise must go to Keighley Town Council and those local councillors who worked hard with the thoughtful people who had wished to establish the memorial playground site in memory of Casey Mason.

The tragedy is that Keighley police, some Bradford Councillors, the Bradford planners and a few local householders couldn't, wouldn't devise a safe environment for the site but took the usual easy way out. Such slovenly action means that some children will now possibly play on crowded roads, totally unsupervised, their plight totally ignored.

It proves what I have been saying for many years in Keighley: planning and a thoughtful agenda by Bradford Metropolitan District Council towards Keighley have never been forthcoming.

With the rejection of the Casey's Corner project Bradford has once more admitted that it has no idea of the problems in Keighley and has no brain power to solve dilemmas when they at last discover them.

The Casey's Corner venture, a Keighley project, thought out and paid for by Keighley folk, with no financial recourse to the profligate spenders of Bradford City Hall reinforces my view that crass stupidity is sadly alive and flourishing in Bradford City's baroque gold-plated toilets.

David Samuels

Highcroft Gardens

Thwaites Brow

SIR - Like the Rain Man I have kept records of local rainfall, and according to my readings his are just about right.

My readings, taken over a period of 16 years, show an average rainfall of just over 24 inches per year.

Denis Briggs

Bankfield Cottage

Bankfield Rd, Keighley

SIR - I was lucky enough to win two VIP tickets in your recent competition, to attend the event at St George's Hall in memory of Sharon Beshenivsky.

I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of myself and daughter, to thank the Keighley News, Stuart Wade and Danny Coll, for a wonderful and memorable evening.

The reason behind the event was not far from my mind during the evening and our thought and prayers are with Sharon's family at this very sad time.

CAROLE McAVAN

Epworth Place

Oakworth

SIR - Robert Swindells is absolutely right to highlight the "dark age of violence" in which we live.

Due to a Parliamentary question I tabled, the government admitted that since they had introduced tagging in 1999, almost 7,000 crimes had been committed by people out of prison on a tag, including five killings and 134 assaults on police officers.

All of these crimes were completely unnecessary and would not have happened had these people been properly locked up. As a result of this information I have put down an Early Day Motion in Parliament calling for the government to scrap tagging and to ensure that prisoners serve their sentences in full. I hope Mr Swindells will support my campaign and urge his own MP to sign my motion.

Philip Davies MP

SIR - I read the James Gosling article about Airedale PCT Hospital.

I was pleased to see that Helen Morley said that outpatient waiting times would not exceed 13 weeks, by the end of November.

Since I had been "referred" by my GP for a hearing test on December 1, 2005, at Airedale, I checked with the receptionist at the Audiology department who advised "Yes Mr Smith was put on the waiting list on January 27, 2006."

When will I get seen, etc -- "Oh approximately another 10 months, sorry."

Looks like my total waiting will be around 12 months, from referral.

GEOFF SMITH

Highcroft Way

Farnhill

SIR - I was glad to read that Mr Boud has received his collection dates sticker as promised in the previous week's edition of your newspaper and a collection of his recyclables on the day allocated.

I would also like to thank him for pointing out the four week gap between collections in August/September, which is due to there being no collection scheduled for Bank Holiday Monday.

I am, therefore, pleased to let Mr Boud and our other customers know that the Company has this week taken a decision to collect on Bank Holidays in future (with the exception of Christmas Day). We will be reminding householders of this additional improvement to our service nearer the time.

I was concerned to see that Mr Boud had been given back a dirty box after his own box had been emptied and would assure him that this is not common practice. Our collectors are given strict instructions to return customers' own boxes to them on every occasion and this must have been an isolated oversight for which we apologise. Mr Boud's box has already been replaced with a much cleaner one.

I would like to assure all our customers that we are striving to provide an organised and reliable service and that, if we do make a mistake, please let us know by telephone or e-mail so that we can put it right straight away.

Richard Topham

General Manager

Aire Valley Recycling

SIR - On Friday, February 3, I bought two newspapers. I couldn't help but notice the difference in the way the different newspapers presented a headline ie the result of the BNP Party trial.

One paper has the eye-catching "BNP 2 cleared on race charges" whereas the other eye-catcher "BNP duo likely to face race hate re-trial". One positive -- the other negative. One a daily National and the other the Keighley News! No prizes for guessing which the negative reply was.

It would seem that, whilst country-wide readers are given a clear-cut result, local residents are presented with a head-line that isn't. I am not a member of the Party but I believe that everyone should be aware of the true facts of the case and let us, the non members, decide for ourselves what we think of their policy.

At the moment we only seem to have non-favourable points given to us. I wonder if any other readers feel the same way.

O C Mitchell

Crossfield Road

Oxenhope

Editor's note:- I answered this query in last week's Dear Reader column

SIR - A recent news campaign has highlighted a "bleak outlook for carers" in which they describe declining health in carers and the question of where carers themselves can get the support they need.

This is not just an issue in deprived areas. In Airedale alone there are over 12,000 carers -- unpaid people looking after a friend or family member with a disability or illness. The answer to ITN's 'Who Cares?' campaign, at least locally, is: We do.

The Carers' Resource is working with general practices across Airedale to improve support for carers. We have offices in Harrogate and near Skipton and we help many thousands of carers of all ages both practically and emotionally.

If you are a carer and would like more information, or if you would like to volunteer, please contact The Carers' Resource on 01756 700888

Anne Smyth

Director

SIR - What are Labour doing! Thatcher ruined the country, but Blair is making sure it stays ruined.

Privatisation has failed and we are all paying highly for it, yet Blair is still selling everything off to the money men, cheaply, at our expense. It's scandalous that foreign firms own most of Britain's best companies, especially our utility companies.

People are losing their manufacturing jobs as factories are being moved to Eastern Europe. This is bad enough, but as jobs go Blair is letting anyone into the country to take what jobs are left.

The Government (or rather the lack of it) should also be seriously concerned about our 'overpopulation'.

Everybody and everything suffers because of overpopulation. Are we going to carry on until all animals are extinct, with nowhere to live, or being hunted to extinction?

Also, the Government needs to wake up to the fact multiculture is not working.

The Government is elected and well paid to look after Britain and its future; there's not much evidence of this.

S MOSS

Thornhill Avenue

Oakworth

SIR - The creation and publication of disrespectful images of the Prophet Muhammad is extremely hurtful and strikes at the very heart of the noble religion of Islam.

Knowing that the regard for Prophet Muhammad by Muslims is inestimable, it is incomprehensible why a messenger of God should be depicted in such a way.

Islam teaches us to respect not just Prophet Muhammad but all the Prophets that came before him -- Jesus, Moses, Noah, Abraham and the hundreds of other prophets dating back to Adam. This is central to our belief system.

Respect for all religions is the mark of a civilised society. And, with the freedom of expression comes responsibility; however, sections of the media have shown scant regard and have sought to ridicule Islam.

We ask leaders of all faiths to join Muslims in safeguarding religions beliefs and values in societies where religion is being debased. There seems to be an agenda amongst some groups to provoke outrage and fan the flames of religious intolerance and hatred.

However, people want peace and community cohesion, and we appeal to all muslims for calm and to follow the example of the Holy Prophet of Islam himself in the face of personal criticism and ridicule -- which was to pray for God's mercy and justice on those who trespassed against him.

Aziz Rahman

President, Ahmadiyya

Muslim Association,

Broadlands

Keighley