Let's make some hospital progress

The most important thing now is that the matter remains settled and progress towards the new hospital continues at a faster rate.

I hope that the authority will quickly find a PFI Partner for this excellent venture. Many of the people that I have met in Otley have raised the issue of the slowness of the process and the ongoing uncertainty as a concern and I know that they will be relieved to be keeping the Wharfedale Hospital where it is.

As to an alternative site, it would be an act of enormous cruelty if the Health Authority were to change its mind at this stage.

You cannot go on raising and then dashing people's hopes in that way. I am convinced that the current site offers the best solution for the area and I am confident that any PFI Partner will agree.

Adam Pritchard

Conservative Prospective

Parliamentary Candidate for

Leeds NW,

460A Roundhay Road,

Leeds, LS8 2HU.

Friends need help

SIR, I am writing in connection with the recent article in the Wharfedale Observer concerning the Friends of Prince Henry's.

It may appear to some people that the chairman, secretary and treasurer have walked out on the committee, but this is far from the truth.

All three individuals were elected in 1999 for a 12 month period and we made it clear at that time that we would be standing down after our term of office had ended. The three of us, myself, Jill Allman and Heather Scurr all have other commitments and additionally all of us have had a change of job in the last 12 months which has given us less time available for meetings and organising events. All three of us are, however, continuing to serve as general committee members.

A vice chairman was also elected last year but had declined to take on the role of either chairman or vice chairman for the next 12 months, which leaves us without a chairman for the next 12 months. One person offered to come forward as minutes secretary, but nobody was forthcoming as treasurer.

The Friends Committee, or PTA as most people would call it, is a vital part of the school and over the last ten years has raised over £150,000 for the school. Items this money has been used on include equipment for the Newall technology Centre, language college equipment, PA system in the main hall, books, art and technology items, sports equipment and transport to away matches, music stands and television and video equipment.

Without this funding, the school would have been unable to supply students with the large range of equipment and facilities they are enjoying at present. It is vital, therefore, that more parents come forward to support this group which has declined in numbers from the more than 40 who were on the committee when I joined seven years ago, to the present figure of about ten at most meetings over the last year.

There are some 700 families connected with the school and therefore the present attendance represents only 1.5 per cent of these. Surely we can do better than this or are people just not bothered about what facilities and equipment their children have to support their education?

John D Burland

(Former chairman, The Friends of Prince Henrys)

76 The Whartons, Otley.

Trendies blamed

SIR, It was very nice to see in the Wharfedale Observer, October 26 (Across the Years), the 1960s nurses in their uniforms.

How smart, efficient and happy they looked. Now, in some hospitals it is difficult to tell which are nurses and in some, plain impossible.

I feel that the trendies who have done away with things like grammar schools, and uniforms, have done society a great disservice.

In some hospitals, the so called nurses slob about in denim and slip on shoes and do very little for patients' confidence. I am sure if standards of dress improved, so would standards of care.

C Jackson

Hill Top Farm, Adel.

Stones a mystery

SIR, - May I thank your member of staff (didn't quite catch the name due to a hearing problem) re the Yeadon location of New Anstey Houses, Gateway Drive, Whack House Lane.

I checked this out the very same day, but located nothing remotely resembling standing stones. The only stoney eye-catcher was a pile of assorted boulders dug up in clearing the site and which would fool nobody.

I reported my findings (or otherwise) to the October meeting of the Aireborough Civic Society, and at least two members promised to try to look further.

However, the eagle eyes, or personal knowledge, of your readers would still help in this matter, even though many are new to the area over recent decades.

Thank you again for your help and assistance.

DONALD WAGSTAFF

Retired Secretary, Aireborough

Civic Society,

Lilac Cottage,

Apperley Lane,

Rawdon.

Support fuel fight

SIR, - Three and a half years after he was elected and the twenty days before the deadline set by the fuel tax campaigners, Blair made his first speech on the 'environment'.

Is this a coincidence and is it sincere? The answer to both is a resounding no. As with all things, New Labour this is a carefully calculated piece of manipulative propaganda to brainwash the public and split the protest. We have a mass of hypocritical propaganda where Blair says one thing to the public and another to capitalists. If ever there was a two-faced politician, he is it.

Not long ago he was telling OPEC to increase oil production to bring down the price so we could use more fuel and now he talks of expanding renewable energy sources but puts up totally inadequate funds to back his statements. This is cynical manipulation of the worse kind.

The Government spin machine is up and running at full speed and we can expect much more of this as the fuel deadline draws nearer. Don't be fooled by Blair and his Tory cronies.

If you want democracy, stand up and fight for it. Whether you are a car or public transport user, or a shopper, this affects you. This is a direct tax which hits the poor the hardest and have had their overall taxes increased from 35 per cent to over 40 per cent since New Tory Labour came into power.

Please continue to support the fuel campaign and show Blair dictatorships will not be tolerated.

MALCOLM NAYLOR

21 Grange View,

Otley.

Memories

SIR, - I was sorry to read of the death of Bobbo the Clown (Alfred Robinson) who entertained so many people, especially children.

When I was one of the first pupils of Newall School in the top class, he must have been one of the younger ones. At that time, another Robinson was a magician and he had a shop at the bottom of Billams Hill and Farnley Lane, Otley.

I was only at the new school for a year and left to go to the C of E school in Cross Green. Newall was a delightful building, big windows facing south painted with cream and green, such a comparison with Otley with its dark rooms and the nearby leather works.

Thanks to the wonderful teachers, it was back to the brightness at the Grammar School in a couple of years.

As a volunteer worker at Nidderdale Museum in Pateley Bridge, I still see an old classmate from Newall School. Eileen Burgess (nee Rhodes) is the secretary. I was also reminded of my schooldays by the article about Myrle Boyington (Across the Years).

As new school clothes became unavailable during the war, we were able to buy 'hand-me-downs' and I was honoured to get Myrle's sport shorts, hoping her prowess might rub off, but no such luck.

This year, I completed 50 years on the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. I served my apprenticeship with Fairfax Fearnley in Manor Square, part of which is now an opticians. I was there when the NHS started.

We were supposed to finish at 7.30pm but it was often 8pm before the last prescription was dispensed. Luckily, I got two nights off to study.

It was a fascinating place to work and I got 10s a week. When qualified, I had a wonderful boss at Scotts in Brook Street, Ilkley, until I married and left Yorkshire.

When we retired we came back to Yorkshire and wonderd however we found time to work as we have been in the Inland Waterways Association for 30 years preserving and restoring canals and cruising on our narrowboat in warmer months and working at Bolton Abbey Station in the colder ones.

I was reminded by the picture of the Market Place in Otley in last week's paper of how proud my late father, Clifford Houseman, was of the fact that he was born in the Market Place in 1903 when his parents ran the Leeds House.

Now that Otley is trying to attract visitors, may I say how horrible I find the ladies'toilets in Orchard Gate. I realise that they are vandal proof, but how dreadful those cold steel rims are for children and the elderly to sit on. Surely, an alternative could be found as this is no way to attract families.

In view of the expansion of the town, I was surprised to see that Otley Library is still so small, that no progress has been made on a decent swimming pool and that the hospital is being run down. It seems that being part of Leeds has not been an advantage to my home town.

Cecily D Helliwell (Mrs)

formerly Houseman

26 Grange Road,

Dacre Banks,

Harrogate.

Never forget

A 78-year-old woman has sent us this poem for publication. It was written during World War Two. She has asked to remain anonymous and we agree to the request in these circumstances so we can share her work with you in the days before Remembrance Sunday.

SIR, God bless the boys in khaki, in navy and in blue,

And all the rest who did their best for liberty and you,

Salute the brave, so loyal, who died to make us free,

Let us rejoice and sing this song a song of victory,

The Red Cross too, we all look up to you,

You done your part right up from the start loyal and true,

We won't forget the women, who helped to fight the foe,

God bless you all including boys who sleep where the poppys grow.