Sir - Many, many congratulations to Skipton Rugby Club on their promotion. Fabulous news.

Many moons ago, I trained as a reporter on the Craven Herald and Pioneer and was secretary at Sandylands in the days when the Prestons, Tosneys and Henry Fowler kept the place afloat. They were hard times, especially as Upper Wharfedale as they were then known were becoming such a force. But they were happy days and I have kept abreast of Skipton's fortunes via their website and of course via the Craven Herald.

After I left the Herald, I worked at the Yorkshire Post and then went into radio and television - the latter where I continue to earn a living as a sports presenter and reporter for both ITV in the Midlands and for Sky Soccer Saturday. But I am a regular reader of the paper's website, the Dalesman and miss my days not only at the rugby club, but also appearing on stage at the local theatre groups in Gargrave, Grassington and Skipton.

Happy days indeed - summertime could not have dawned on a better day for Skipton rugby.

Robert J Hall, Sports Office ITV, Gas Street, Birmingham

Sporting praise

Sir - As a regular and interested reader of the sport section of the Craven Herald, I always like to see how local sport is getting along and I applaud you on your coverage of such diverse sports as rounders, pushbike trials and even croquet etc.

It is always good to read about the success of a local youngster at local and sometimes national and international levels. People may be unaware then that we have a new international sportsman in the area as there has been no mention in the Craven Herald of Chris Walker, of Settle College and North Ribblesdale Rugby Club, who was selected to play for England under 16s against Wales in the Four Nations Tournament in Bourgoin, France, and also chosen as Pack Leader.

All too often these days we have to read of youngsters in trouble, so it is equally important to congratulate a young man who is representing Craven with great distinction in a more favourable way.

Unfortunately, Chris was injured whilst playing, so good luck to him, and a speedy recovery!

Chris Sharp, Miresfield Farm, Malham * Editor's note: We will be featuring more on Chris's achievements in a future edition of the Craven Herald.

Doctors know best

Sir - Regarding the story "Doctors in protest at closure of hospital" (Craven Herald, March 28), I believe that social services and particularly medical services should, so far as is possible, be kept local.

The National Health Service works in Settle because we have a very good health centre, district nurses and facilities like the Harden Ward at Castleberg Hospital, plus the larger local hospital at Airedale.

Some facilities are obviously not provided locally. Some cancer patients, for instance, have to go to Leeds, which is a burden for patients already ill, but that is at least understandable. But what I am sure many people in Settle feel is that on the edge of the catchment area, we are victims of accountancy and that it is financial, not clinical considerations that result in so-called improvements. "Hospital at Home" sounds like a marketing slogan to me.

If the Settle doctors believe that there are good clinical reasons for keeping the Harden Ward open, we should support them. They know the area and they know best.

Alan Bennett, Playwright, Clapham

Invaluable service

Sir - We view with concern reports about the future of Castleberg Hospital in Giggleswick. The stories of possible refurbishment and delayed decisions lead people to suspect that there is a hidden agenda of closure by stealth.

The "Hospital at Home" scheme has echoes of "Care in the Community", both of which smack of "Alliteration in Accountancy", a technique in which the public is conned by catch phrase into accepting economies at the grass roots imposed by an overbearing management. We feel that this is just one example of the failure of the various authorities in North Yorkshire to appreciate the needs of the western fringes of the county.

The Settle area is not well connected with the seats of power in North Yorkshire (Northallerton and Harrogate), and is, in many ways, better connected to West Yorkshire, as evidenced by the way in which hospital facilities are better provided for us by Airedale Hospital rather than a hospital in North Yorkshire. Having Castleberg as a local outpost of Airedale Hospital is an invaluable element in the medical infrastructure of North Yorkshire's western edges.

As viewed from Settle, this looks like a bad decision, badly communicated by a disconnected quango.

David and Hilary Holdsworth, The Green, Settle * This is a copy of a letter sent to Dr Janet Soo Chung, chief executive of the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust.

Enough is enough

Sir - I write about the threatened closure of Harden Ward at Castleberg Hospital, in Giggleswick.

Much has been said about the superb treatment and after-care given to those who have been fortunate to get a bed there for many different reasons. I wish to not only support these statements but to widen the issue.

The doctors here have unanimously spoken out about the advantages of such a facility out here. They are the acknowledged experts and have to deal with health problems on a day-to-day basis, so why are the bureaucrats taking no notice of what they are saying?

The practice in the medical world now is to try to assemble experts in specific fields in one place. Reason: that more people can be expertly dealt with if facilities are in one place. To my mind, the decision to go for "Hospital at Home" flies directly in the face of these ideals. How can a patient access immediate help at home when that home can be up to 15 miles from the control point - possibly 30 miles if the person responding is at the other end of the catchment area?

Harden Ward is a field of excellence dealing with specific problems in one place and should remain so. Where else do you hear of people being moved out from a ground floor area in order to repair a roof two floors above and those based on the floor immediately below the roof remain?

I have to say it, but this is prime building land and we are not far wrong in suspecting that this is what will happen to it and for why? To balance the books now the PCT has grown and is in the red.

We live in a beautiful and generous part of the country, but we are as deprived as any inner-city area because of the lack of facilities. Because of this, people here help one another, making decision-makers think "oh, they can manage". Well, it is time the worm turned and the powers that be were told enough is enough. Please listen to us and our doctors and respect our needs rather than letting what we are saying fall on deaf ears.

Finally, can I remind all those who are making the decision because the books have to be balanced, please take a look at the donations you have received as bequests or fundraising when you have required some new or replacement piece of technology.You will find that this area has given freely and generously to requests for help. It is our turn now to ask for help in keeping Harden Ward and the facilities it provides open for the foreseeable future. Please treat us like people and not numbers on a balance sheet.

Coun Barbara McLernon, Kirkgate, Settle.

Keep up the fight

Sir - The reports about local hospitals and the serious concern registered by your readers prompts me to report an experience of mine: Before Christmas, a lady teacher in her early forties in a rural district in the south was struck down with an aneurysm on the brain. Consistent with government policy, she was rushed 80 miles to the nearest specialist hospital by road for urgent brain surgery. Several weeks later, it was deemed safe to transfer her to a hospital nearer her home where further treatment would continue.

Eventually, when a bed had become available, a special arrangement was made for her husband to provide transport by car. He had been obliged to abandon his employment to care for their young family of four.

When they arrived at the hospital, admission was refused. The husband had no option but to take his seriously ill wife home. Their GP advised him that, if she had a headache, he should give her an aspirin. There appeared to be no-one interested in re-admitting her to hospital; all approaches to the medical authorities met with no help or therapeutic treatment.

From my remote vantage point in Yorkshire, I thought I saw an excellent opportunity for our beleaguered Prime Minister to redeem his battered reputation in the healthcare field, so I wrote to him, emphasising the seriousness, hoping he could use his influence to help. How naive I was!

My letter was mailed on December 31, by recorded delivery, marked personal'. His secretary's reply, dated January 18, merely stated my letter had been redirected to the Health Department. The reply from the Health Department, dated January 28, merely supplied routine information about how the NHS is organised and that applications for help should be addressed to the local PCT - the very organisation at fault and which, by that time, had failed to respond for six to seven weeks and whose abysmal performance had prompted my letter in the first place.

The moral I infer is that we in Craven, being especially fortunate to be served by a high quality hospital, are right to be fighting to retain it; but no help or sympathy should be expected from our Prime Minister or Government. Mr Aneurin Bevan, who originally devised the NHS, must be turning in his grave.

J R Jones, Kirk Lane, Eastby

Big is not best

Sir - Sandy Tod made some interesting points about wind energy (Craven Herald, March 21). We at Friends of Craven Landscape support a range of renewable energy choices and would like to learn more of Malhamdale's community-owned projects. Unfortunately, when it comes to wind turbines, we can't agree that big is best.

EnergieKontor's giant turbines are only 26 per cent efficient, which is the same as older and smaller turbines operating across the Yorkshire Dales. However, big turbines work well in one respect, and that's raking in subsidies. The system is convoluted and very stealthy, but in essence it works like this: electricity companies - yours, mine everyone's - must, by law, take about eight per cent of their power from green energy suppliers like EnergieKontor. To prove they've done this, they must obtain Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs). Each ROC costs about £50 and certifies one Megawatt/Hour of green energy. Who sells ROCs - the wind farms do. Who pays for them? Like I said, the electricity companies do and they recover the cost the only way they can - by slipping it into our electricity bills. It's not itemised, but it's certainly there. I figure Brightenber Hill will earn EnergieKontor about £1.4 million a year in ROC subsidy alone. And that £1.4 million will slide quietly and invisibly into our electricity bills.

Right now, the ROC levy is a smidgen below the VAT rate, but this month it's due to rise, and will continue to rise year on year until 2011. Civic bodies aren't exempt - hospitals, the police, schools, even our street lighting, all must pay the ROC surcharge. We pay twice - once through our domestic bills and again through our council tax.

Friends of Craven Landscape's website will be up and running in a day or two, but for now anyone wanting to know more can e-mail me at FCL@Hotmail.com.

Chris Emmett, For Friends of Craven Landscape, Bank Newton, Gargrave

Rules of safety

Sir - Re John Sheard's report (March 28, Dales Folk), may I make the following observations?

1. CDM regulations have been in force since 1995 and have been revised in 2007 to incorporate the construction (health, safety and welfare) 1996 regulations, so we can hardly refer to them as New Labour new laws.

2. CDM applies to all construction work (as defined by the regulations) and places duties on several duty holders: client, designers and CDM co-ordinators, not just builders or civil engineers.

3. HSE inspectors who witness a breach of the CDM regulations on site may also prosecute duty holders for failure to discharge their duties under the regulations, again not just the contractor.

These regulations are intended to focus attention on planning and management throughout construction projects, from design concept onwards. The aim is for health and safety considerations to be treated as an essential, but normal part of a project's development, not an after thought.

G Haworth, Hawkcliffe View, Silsden