Letters December 8 (From Craven Herald)

Letters December 8

6:36pm Thursday 8th December 2011 in Letters

Thank you to all Sir – My husband and I would like to say a big thank you to the people of Settle and surrounding areas for their attendance at our son Matthew’s funeral on Tuesday, November 22.

It meant a great deal to us both and we are sure that Matthew would have been really proud to see such a turnout for him.

We have been very touched by the all the cards and messages of condolence that we received from everyone. Matthew had only been in Afghanistan for just five weeks and his last words to me were “I’m loving it Mum, don’t worry”.

We know that as in everything he did he would have given 100 per cent in all that he was doing over there.

We would also like to thank the military for all their help in arranging the funeral etc, especially our visiting officers, Tony and Steven. Those two made it so much easier for us and our families to get through this awful tragedy.

Since Matthew’s death there have been six more soldiers killed. Let us just hope and pray that there will be a speedy end to this war and no more families have to go through what we have had to go through.

Jill and Alan Haseldin Amazing support Sir – I along with many others from Airedale Hospital where I work, reluctantly went on strike today and stood on the picket line.

As a nurse it’s something I never thought I would be doing but the proposed changes to our pensions have caused real anger. To pay more, to work longer, to get less (effectively paying a tax to cover the bankers’ deficit) is not acceptable. While we knew of the strength of support within our unions what has been heart-warming has been the support from others we have met.

From the passers-by who have sounded their horn in support or even shouted, to the man who moved me the most. At the rally in town a man who stated he wasn’t in any union stood and spoke. He said he was there to simply give us his support because we all provided the services we needed and for that he thanked us. Sir, I thank you too. You proved that the Government’s lies and rhetoric are being ignored. Perhaps the people’s voices will win in the end.

Louise Foster-Wilson Keighley and Airedale GMB Branch Secretary, Granby Drive, Riddlesden, Keighley Join our boycott Sir – We refer to the letter by two ladies, regarding Caffe Nero, which appeared in the Craven Herald recently.

We have every sympathy with the writers and the situation in which they find themselves but not with their criticism of Craven District Council in this instance. We are well known as observers and critics of the council but believe in giving credit where credit is due. Craven District Council has been robust in the matter of the unlawful opening of Caffe Nero. They have acted properly and as far as we know intend to ensure that due process is observed.

Unfortunately due to the faulted framing and planning laws people like Caffe Nero with their backing of limitless financial power are able to use a loop-hole in the planning law to drive a coach and horses through the law as it is intended to operate. This is not the fault of the council, it’s the fault of a system that cries out for change.

There is however something you, I and every other Skiptoner who cares about our town and its relationship with conscienceless businesses can do. We can withdraw our trade from that business. If we buy coffee from Caffe Nero we are giving them financial support and condoning the way they do business and we the undersigned are not prepared to do this. We ask all of you who feel aggrieved and offended at the arrogant way in which this company is treating Skipton to join us in our permanent boycott of Caffe Nero.

John Kerwin-Davey, Tony Dickinson, Tim Atkinson, Bernard Clarke, Ruth Dickinson, Kathleet A Pitt, John Garton, Andy Grant, Julian Hotchkiss, Martin Emmerson, Newmarket Street, Skipton Traffic is not to love Sir – Re the logo I Love Skipton. I used to love Skipton but am rapidly becoming very disillusioned with the town due primarily to the fact that our streets are clogged up with cars, annoying for residents and frustrating for visitors to the town.

When Craven District Council gave planning permission for Belle Vue Mills to become partly office and partly residential accommodation, car parking space was allocated for residents but only approximately nine spaces for the office staff employed there. We now have CDC, North Yorkshire County Council, Medacs and further office space being advertised with the result that nearby streets are simply clogged with cars, some even parking on pavements. Some CDC staff are still parking in the grounds of the old Granvillle Street offices. Where will they go if and when the Granville Street development goes ahead with the proposed 59 residential units? NYCC have proposed putting a yellow line down one side of Brook Street prohibiting parking there between 8am and 6pm but cars are parked on both sides of the road all day and night.

The derelict land to the left of Brewery Lane which I understand is to be the site of yet more houses should have a multi-storey car park built on it with concessionary parking for staff working in the Belle Vue Mill and spaces for visitors to the town. I do realise there will be access problems from Broughton Road but good planners can find a way to obviate this difficulty with traffic lights etc.

Something must be done soon or you will find Gargrave Road absolutely gridlocked. Traffic approaching Brewery Lane from Gargrave Road does not seem to realise that Brook Street is two-way and come down it towards the canal bridge hell for leather.

If my street is just to become a parking area for cars then I will ask for and expect a reduction in the council tax I pay. So very many of us are falling out of love with Skipton!

S Sanders, Brook Street, Skipton I was fishing for pike Sir – I write in reply to the letter from Mr J Preston regarding the trout I caught.

Having caught the fish whilst pike fishing I personally arranged for Mr Preston to attend the riverbank. He, after hearing how the fish was caught, apologised to me for assuming I had been fishing for trout, accepted the fish had to be killed and weighed it for me.

I have fished for pike for over 30 years all over the UK including the River Aire. Any responsible pike angler will use line from 15lb upwards and a wire trace. I do not and did not use three treble hooks but a single and a semi-barbed treble. I fish the River Aire on a day ticket and have done so on 20 to 30 occasions. Nowhere on this ticket does it say to use one rod and on the four-to-five occasions I have met Mr Preston when he has asked to see my ticket, he has never commented on my use of two rods.

My river board licence permits two rods. We anglers never know exactly what fish will take our bait but I never dreamed of a trout taking a 4in mackerel. It was clear that the fish had swallowed the bait before ‘running off’ so the fact that the hooks were deep was through no lack of attention on my part. I dearly wish I could have released the trout but that was sadly not possible. Deep hooked pike are easily unhooked with long forceps which I carry and entry to the hooks via the gills of a pike, trout are not built that way. I have never killed a pike or needed to.

This was a magnificent fish and I am glad it had spawned as not having done so would have been even worse. There was nothing I could have changed about this catch as I was fishing correctly for pike. I would go so far as to suggest it is wrong to fish for pike with a single hook and 8lb line. The Aire has produced fish way in excess of 20lb.

I see nothing wrong in supplying your paper with a picture of this fish.

I had a long chat with Mr Preston and we both agreed how sad it was for this fish to not be returned to the river. He did not place any blame on me. His letter is incorrect in parts and unnecessary.

I am a responsible angler who leaves no trace on a river bank. How could I have imagined this catch? Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Robert Clark, Foulridge News about Johnny Sir – I am writing to you about Johnny Silvo.

Johnny is an international folk, jazz, blues star who, over the last 25 years we, in Craven, have been fortunate to have had in our midst. Every year he had come over from Norway where he lives with his wife and son.

He has performed on an annual basis at various venues, and brought tremendous pleasure to all who have been fortunate to have attended his gigs.

Regrettably I have to inform you that Johnny has cancer of the kidney and lung and has been given only a few months to live.

It is his wish that as many of his friends/fans be advised of this.

He wishes to spend his remaining days remembering his friends and all the good times he has enjoyed with them.

Updates can be obtained on perrotts folly.com and for those who use Facebook there is a facility there for leaving messages for Johnny.

He has been instrumental, through his annual concerts, in raising a huge amount of money for charities within Craven, not least for Carol Manley’s Mayoral Charity for components for the MRI Scanner at Airedale Hospital for breast cancer, which in total raised £43,000 and Johnny did two concerts in aid of this!

We are devastated by this news, particularly as he was with us in May raising money at a concert at Herriots for the Craven Recycled Furniture Store and at Burnsall for the Village Hall fund.

I, with my family, are honoured to have had his love and friendship over 25 years.

The music and entertainment world will be losing a great performer.

There will only be one Silvo.

Polly English, Burnside Avenue, Skipton Blind eye turned Sir – The recent controversy about local roads being inundated with council employee cars reminds me that, way back on March 19, 2010, I made a submission to the Craven District Council’s policy committee, during the public participation slot at the start of the meeting, about the lack of provision for council employee parking.

My concerns about the lack of provision for parking after the move to Belle Vue Mills and the effect on local roads are shown in the minutes of that meeting.

I was told by council officers that the previous hard winter with snowed-in roads etc had shown that employees had been willing and able to use public transport, and that car parking wouldn’t be an issue as the employees would continue to use public transport.

I was also assured that there was a green transport initiative (or words to that effect) and that, again, this initiative would mean that my fears were groundless. I remember replying that if they thought that their employees would continue to use public transport once the weather had improved then it was ‘fanciful’. Very few councillors openly supported my concerns during that meeting.

Why does this council not listen to valid concerns? We are seeing now exactly what I predicted but, for their own purposes, at the time, they turned a Nelsonian blind eye to the problem and now are going to have to do something to sort it out or allow it to continue to blight local streets.

Roger Millin, Navigation Square, Skipton Hidden history Sir – The Craven Radio Amateur Group has recently been taking part in the 20th anniversary of the commemoration of the disbandonment of the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) who were stood down in the September of 1991.

The ROC role in World War II was to observe the skies looking for enemy aircraft and when the UK moved into the Cold War they then took on the role of monitoring the threat of nuclear war. This is where the hidden history of Gargrave comes in.

On the summit of Butterhaugh Hill lies the site of the Gargrave ROC monitoring post No43 in the York cluster. The underground bunker was opened in May 1962 and closed in September 1991. The bunker was then filled in during 1998 and the phone repeater mast built upon it.

We have been using our amateur radio station during October 2011 as part of a nationwide commemoration of the 20th anniversary by making contact with other amateur radio stations in the UK who were also activating other ROC bunker locations. It was an amazing month with 120 ROC bunkers on the air by over 45 amateur radio operators. The scale of interest shown in the activity was a real surprise and we finished with 1,590 contacts in the month. We believe the high level of interest was due to the Cold War being within living memory and many of the stations we contacted had served in the ROC or had family who had served. One contact had said that his father had the contract to build lots of these bunkers in the South of England. It was a fantastic commemoration of our hidden history (rocbunkers.co.uk).

The Gargrave ROC monitoring post No43 was part of the York cluster controlled from the York HQ Group 20 at Acomb. This HQ bunker is now a museum owned by English Heritage and looks as it was at stand down in 1991. It is also the most modern museum that English Heritage own (english-heritage.org.uk/ daysout/.../york-cold-war-bunker/.

There were other ROC posts in Craven at High Bentham, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Settle, Buckden, Grassington, Bewerley (by Chelker reservoir) and Cowling. So as you can see there is more of our Cold War hidden history in the Craven district.

Have any of your readers been involved with the Gargrave ROC post as an observer or any of your family? If so we would be interested to read any information that you may have such as stories, leaflets, books, photographs or even the building of the post.

We have one further request. Looking back to World War II, do any of your readers have any information regarding the searchlight battery that was located in the field across the A65 from the Anchor Inn. It was on the 1945 aerial photographs and we have failed to find out anything further.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about part of our history that is often overlooked. We have found it truly fascinating learning about Gargrave and its role in the Cold War.

Kevin Jackson, Chairman/Secretary of the Craven Radio Amateur Group, Gargrave