Urged to give views on future of libraries Sir – Our members are keen to ensure that residents of Skipton and all users of our town’s historic library are aware of the ongoing “Consultation – 2020”, which is part of North Yorkshire County Council’s shaping of public services.

We recommend that your readers examine the Council Plan for 2014-15 and contribute to this present consultation document before the deadline of June 30. The county council announced a review of library provision as part of savings in February.

Your readers will have experienced for themselves how busy and well-used our library is.

Children, young people and adults of all ages gave feedback at National Libraries’ Day recently about its value as a public educational and recreational place for everyone who lives or works in Skipton or who visit the town.

Friends of Skipton Library have already contributed to this present consultation and have been assured that we will be included in further, more specific consultations about library services. We want to see Skipton Library, like many in the county, keep its trained professional staff.

Your readers can access the present consultation by searching for consultations of the North Yorkshire County Council website or via the following link: Consultation on future vision, values and objectives for North Yorkshire County Council – North Yorkshire County Council.

Ginny Wilkinson Chairperson, Friends of Skipton Library Whinfield Court Skipton They rely on the bus Sir – With the loss of the Pennine Motor Services, which will be “badly missed by many”, I notice most routes have been mentioned, but not the estates bus route.

This covers Horse Close, Greatwood, Shortbank Road and Moorview Way.

I speak out for the people who rely on the bus – the older people, those with walking difficulties, people who live alone – who use it as a social outing to get into town and meet up with friends.

Come on councillors, help the people you represent.

M Wooler Moorview Way Skipton Health move anxiety Sir – Having read the article in the April 17 edition, “Move for dementia ward is under fire”, I agree with Coun Shelagh Marshall. You can only access the health service at the point of need and for rural areas the point of need gets further away, which is creating stress and anxiety already.

Why inflict more social problems on patients and visitors? I am 87, but I would not like to go so far from my relatives, no matter how good the home, because they could not care for me.

As for freeing up a ward for functional illnesses such as depression and anxiety, are they going to fill it with the relatives and friends of dementia patients, who have begun suffering from anxiety because they are having to visit patients who are too far away? What is the point? I thought hospitals should not cause illness.

The clinical commissioning group need not think they are doing all that well compared with pre-health service care. At Hawes people were known for their longevity. My great-grandmother survived smallpox at the time of the Corn Laws and lived to be 88, but she then fell down some steps. In 1946 there was a centenarian. My school teacher aged 105.

I am now 87, but in spite of modern medicine I am not as healthy as my forebears.

The clinical commissioning group will not provide the things I need to keep well. I would remind them that balancing the budget instead of the best health care is now an offence. Help, send for the Calendar Girls!

M Metcalfe Threshfield Considerate driver Sir – I was driving on the A65 from Long Preston and Settle at about 10am on Friday, May 2, in a slow-moving line of traffic of about a dozen vehicles behind an agricultural vehicle.

The vehicle pulled over at Settle junction to let following vehicles go past.

I would like to thank the driver of the vehicle for pulling in, and wish drivers of other slow-moving vehicles with long lines of following traffic behind would take note, unlike the maintenance vehicle yesterday (similar time, same place) who didn’t bother.

Allan Gould Higher Halsteads Settle Wider issue on A65 Sir – The article involving Coun Chris Morley in your April 24 edition only covers half the subject of road conditions in Hellifield.

The main problem is the lack of funding to maintain the operational condition of the A65, since it was detrunked in 2007, as previously proposed by a Conservative government and unopposed by our local MP, when implemented by Labour.

On behalf of the Hellifield VPG, I wrote a number of times to the Highways Agency and to North Yorkshire County Council about the risks of taking over responsibility for this national route, carrying traffic from Leeds/Bradford to Skipton and Settle and then Kendal, and the financial implications of such a transfer of responsibility to a local authority from a government department.

Nothing happened and our Conservative MP at the time thought it of no consequence.

We now have the operational problems without the finance.

The volume of traffic, the lack of dual carriageways and the lack of suitable diversions when work becomes necessary were all highlighted recently with the drainage works near Settle.

Long queues of vehicles, with nobody working and loss of time (and money) to local businesses, national carriers and the travelling public. And North Yorkshire County Council blamed the delays on the weather.

Will HS2 Phase II solve this problem? No, it will exacerbate it. Unless we take more freight from road to rail and reduce the heavy axle loadings on our national highways and arterial routes they will continue to deteriorate at a greater rate than local authorities can repair them.

What is required is a toll dual carriageway from Kendal to Skipton and a separate, subsidised freight railway for the same route, with an intermodal terminal at Skipton. Then the road conditions in Hellifield will improve.

Paul Emsley Hellifield Concerns over HGVs Sir – Reading his district council campaign leaflet, we are pleased to learn that Councillor Richard Welch has identified the need to protect his constituents in Giggleswick from the disruptive effects of HGV traffic.

FOUR (Friends of Upper Ribblesdale) welcome this pledge and hope that, when the time comes to campaign for the county council, Mr Welch will remain equally vigilant on behalf of all his constituents, not just those in his home village.

FOUR is committed to campaign for the transfer of quarry aggregate from road to rail throughout Upper Ribblesdale and hopes Councillor Welch will lend his support.

Betsy Bell Secretary of FOUR Settle Being seen on road Sir – I have just driven back from Skipton on a dull drizzly morning and passed six separate cyclists dressed in grey or black without lights on their bikes against a grey road and to the motorist, quite frankly, frightening in their lack of visibility.

With the Tour de France on the way and the increased number of cyclists on the road visibility is of paramount importance to enable motorists to react well in advance of approaching them and those in a group all need to wear high-visibility clothing, not just the leader and back marker. I would also include joggers and pedestrians on the highway in the same category.

I am also very concerned about schoolchildren walking or cycling to school without high-visibility clothing.

When I was at school (and that is a very long time ago) requests were made from parents for a patrolled zebra crossing but nothing was actioned until a father dropped his daughter off just beyond the crossing and then had the horror of seeing his daughter killed by a lorry in his mirror. No parent should have to live with that.

I can still hear the headmistress saying to the assembled school when a policeman was appointed: “And be gracious, girls. Say ‘Good morning, Constable, thank you’ as you cross.”

Well, the probable gentle humour at the local police station at our expense was well worth the possible saving of a life.

Practising what I preach I have recently walked several times from Grassington to Kilnsey along the Conistone road wearing my high-visibility jacket and been passed by many cyclists, but few of them wearing high-visibility clothing (strips on helmets, gloves or shoes are just not enough), but what a cheery lot they have been, calling out greetings and really making the walk for me.

On one of my walks I stopped at a café for a cup of coffee and was asked (presumably as a result of my high-visibility jacket): “Did you come on a horse?” to which I replied: “No, just Shanks’s pony.”

The look of shocked surprise (no doubt at my grey hair and height) and response “On a pony?” led me to explain that the expression meant that I had walked. Well, I for one am quite happy to make a fool of myself if it means avoiding an accident which could well result in death. To me it is not a case of being dictated to but for the price of a high-visibility jacket (mine cost £2.99) just plain common sense.

When I got home I Googled ‘Shanks’s pony’ and found that it originated in Scotland and shank means the shin bone. When I next visited the café I found the assistant who had asked the question had also Googled it and it caused us both considerable amusement.

Gill Driver Grassington ‘Missing’ church clock Sir – The super clock that sits on the church tower at St Andrew’s, Kildwick, has been missing for the last two years because a beech tree has grown right over the clock face.

It seems such a pity that Craven District Council could not find an hour to trim back these branches when they were working there last week.

Lots of people stop to take pictures of this Grade I listed church. But at the moment they cannot see the clock face for the branches that have grown so long.

Christopher Law Main Road Kildwick Noise nuisance claim Sir – As the Skipton Waterway Festival gets longer and louder each year the organisers have no thought, regard or respect for nearby residents. The residents affected by it should be able to claim a council tax reduction for noise nuisance.

Mr R Reynoldson Manby Yard High Street Skipton Excessive charges Sir – As a visitor to Skipton, I believe the charges in Coach Street car park are excessive.

I drove over for the day last Wednesday intending to spend a reasonable amount of money, but had to pay £4.50 for a day’s parking – even though I arrived at 11.30am and intended to leave at about 4.30pm. I consider that daylight robbery.

I spoke to a warden at the car park who told me I should go to Morrisons where I could park for a £1 for three hours, but why should I do that? I would have to go and move my car if I wanted to stay for any longer. I had intended to come back on Sunday for the Waterway Festival, but decided against it because of the charges.

I Balkin, Prestwich Bury Remembering fallen Sir – The men of Glusburn and Cross Hills who died as members of the British Armed Forces during the First World War have no known memorial to their sacrifice on current public display in the parish. Some men, however, are recorded on the war memorials in Sutton and Kildwick.

Glusburn and Cross Hills Parish Council have agreed to the construction of a memorial, initially in memory of the men of the parish, who gave their lives in the First World War, with a view to the later inclusion of those dying in other conflicts.

The council is currently seeking external funding for a memorial and sites are being explored.

Glusburn Community and Arts Centre is supporting the venture and intends to mount a display during the Fallfest in September, about life in Glusburn and Cross Hills during the Great War and of those who served and those who died.

Research into the men who were born or lived in Cross Hills and Glusburn and were killed in the War, lists the following: Thomas ALLSOP Albert BACKHOUSE Charlie BERRY Albert BINNS Lewis BINNS George BLAND John BLAND Frank BOTTOMLEY Fred BOTTOMLEY Oscar BROWN Fred CARLTON Harold COWGILL Tom DAVEY Ben FREEMAN Tom FRIEND Ralph GLADSTONE Arthur HAPPS Smith HARDAKER Arthur HARGREAVES Maurice HARGREAVES Thomas HARKER Richard HESELTINE James HODKINSON George HOLROYD Cedric HORSFALL Percy JONES James MOSLEY Richard OLDFIELD James Henry PEEL Charles PETTY John READ Robert RICHARDSON John RILEY Edward SAMS George SANDERSON Algy SHUTTLEWORTH Harold SHUTTLEWORTH Lot SHUTTLEWORTH David SMITH John SMITH John Allen SMITH Thomas STEPHENS John STOW Francis THOMPSON Tom THOMPSON Matthew TOWERS Thomas UPTON Harry WALTON Herbert WATSON.

It has not always been easy to establish eligibility for the memorial. If anyone has relevant information which would help ensure the accuracy of the list, or who believes they are related to someone named above, if they would contact either Councillor Patrick Hargreaves 01535 632697, e-mail pat hargreaves @aol.com or David Birks 01535 634097, email david.birks@aol.co.uk David Birks would also be interested in any information related to the men and women of Glusburn and Cross Hills who participated in the First World War but survived to return home.

Patrick Hargreaves David Birks Glusburn l See story on Page 27 Be a Tour collector Sir – As the UK gets set to welcome the Tour de France to our shores Marie Curie Cancer Care, the official charity partner of the Tour de France Grand Départ, is encouraging the people in the Craven area to be part of the action and volunteer and become collectors at the official Tour de France supporter hubs.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to not only get close to the action and see some cycling greats, but also be raise vital funds for the charity. Marie Curie Nurses provide free care to people with terminal illnesses in their own homes and in the Marie Curie Hospice, Bradford.

Supporting the Tour is about getting everyone in the community involved, so come down and help Marie Curie put on the biggest party the Craven area has even seen.

If anyone would like to register to take part, it couldn’t be simpler. Just visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/tourdefrance or contact the local fundraising office on 01274 337017 Sharon Link Fundraising manager Marie Curie Hospice Bradford Making a grilling Sir – I am writing to invite your readers to get their grill on to support people with epilepsy and take part in the first ever Epilepsy Action Big BBQ, from June 9 to 15.

Statistics show that the average British family will have nine barbecues a year. Why not use one of yours to help people with epilepsy? Whether it’s a barbecue with friends and family, a grill up at the local sports club or an American-style cookout with your local community group, all you need to do is get grilling and get giving.

Every year, around 32,000 people are diagnosed with epilepsy; that’s 87 every single day. All the money raised from this event will help us to continue our vital work in supporting the 600,000 people with epilepsy across the UK. It is estimated that around 51,000 people in Yorkshire and the Humber have epilepsy.

Everyone who registers to hold a Big BBQ event will receive a grill-tastic fundraising toolkit. It contains a collection box, invitations, posters, recipe cards and even a branded chef hat for the king or queen of the barbie.

The Epilepsy Action Big BBQ is being supported by Napoleon Grills. Every Big BBQ chef will have the chance to win one of ten Napoleon Grills BBQ accessory packs, each worth £65.

To register for a free Big BBQ fundraising pack, visit epilepsy.org.uk/bigbbq or call the fundraising events team on 0113 210 8800.

Carl Foster Fundraising events officer Epilepsy Action