Sad to see name go from the High Street

The name of Whitakers was one of the first I learnt when I came to live at 3 High Street in 1948, at the age of 16.

I was employed by a well-respected couple, Dr John and Joyce Goodall, as nursemaid to their children.

I was thrilled to live so close to the castle and the parish church, where the clock chimed 24 hours a day outside my bedroom window.

I heard the name Whitakers every day, it being the bakery and cake shop at the top of the High Street where we bought two small white loaves and a small brown loaf - no sliced bread in those days - plus a Sally Lunn (not being from Yorkshire, I had never heard of this), a milk twist and perhaps an almond teabread, which was a long breadcake with icing and a rope of marzipan laid along the top. It was cut into slices and buttered.

Coming from an isolated cottage on the Westmorland Fells and growing up during the war, I was enchanted by this shop and always pleased when it was my turn to go for the daily order.

I would try and look at all the different breads and cakes and enjoy the wonderful smell of freshly baked bread which was always there. I was always glad when there was a queue so that I had more time to take it all in. The delivery man would pull up on the setts - no stalls in those days - and with more trays from the bakery, would weave his way through the customers who all knew him by name.

When I married in 1952, many of our wedding presents, which we still have, came from Whitakers Art Galleries, a high-class glass and china shop established across High Street near the Craven Herald shop.

Eventually the bakery closed so that the company could concentrate on the thriving chocolate side of the business and the shop sold only chocolates and sweets.

Now, in 2015 and continuing to move with the times, means goodbye to Claire Whitaker’s shop and the loss of the name Whitakers from the High Street for the first time in 88 years.

Many of you will have enjoyed your chocolate this Christmas without realising that many of them are produced by Whitaker’s for other companies as well as under their own brand.

They have just celebrated 125 years of trading and long may this local Yorkshire family firm continue to be based in Skipton and continue to provide much-needed jobs for the town.

Sheila Parker Roughaw Road Skipton Allotments mourned Sir - So the bulldozers moved in and crushed the allotments of Langcliffe that have been toiled on for over 100 years.

The estate owner may believe that this act is his right, but whilst he sits protected within the walls of his hall he should reflect on the further demise of the village beyond. The allotment was a place of hard work and effort, of solitude and relaxation, and production of local fresh food by villagers and their families.

More than that, my children have simply lost the place where they went to dig and plant with their grandfather.

Those in privileged positions should realise their responsibility to the local community and to society as a whole, and if there is no acceptance of that then the modern democratic generation will no longer tolerate the feudal-like system that sustains them. We will watch it disappear, as my children watched their flower patches disappear.

Gareth Croll Western Terrace Long Preston l Final gathering: Page 19 Lunch treat thanks Sir - I am writing to show our appreciation for the great Christmas lunch we enjoyed at our luncheon club at our community centre in Earby.

It was served by our splendid, hardworking volunteers, who worked so hard to look after us, as they do every Friday.

So thanks a million from we two wrinkly 80-plus kids, mere babies compared to our sprightly lady of 102.

Francis and Margaret Forrest Earby ‘Disturbing’ move Sir - It is deeply disturbing that North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) is consulting on refusing to pay transport costs for school children travelling less than three miles to school.

The link to respond is: http://m.northyorks.gov.uk/schooltransportconsultation Do they really think that young children can safely walk three miles every day on our local roads in the rain? Or do they think parents can afford to drive twice a day and that this will be good for road congestion or the environment? Helping parents with the cost of getting their kids to the school of their choice is something that ought to be affordable.

Central government austerity measures have resulted in £325,000 of cuts to this NYCC budget. If this is what is happening before the election what will it be like after another five years of austerity?

Andy Brown Green Party Candidate for Skipton and Ripon in the General Election Main Street Cononley Different choices Sir - The latest announcement of massive cuts to local council funding by central government are a sad indictment of the attitude of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties towards the basic idea of a civilised society.

Julian Smith and his colleagues wash their hands of responsibility whilst library services are being slashed, community centres are closing, nurseries are shutting, street lights are being turned off and bus services are decimated. The cuts are cascading down through every level of society and there is much more to come if the current plans are allowed to continue.

The government has tried to cover up the extent of the funding cuts by double counting. North Yorkshire County Council’s corporate director has been quoted as saying the Government’s latest figures are ‘highly misleading’ and ‘blatantly not correct’.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have found the money to give millionaires a tax cut. They’ve also found the money to help the big banks repair their balance sheets after their greedy speculation came crashing down, so that they now carry on as if nothing had happened.

A Labour government would make different choices. It would act responsibly on behalf of the majority, not the vested interests of a rich few, and it would support the building blocks of a civilised society, built on the fundamental principle of fairness.

Malcolm Birks Labour Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Skipton and Ripon