Hail the helpers (From Craven Herald)

Hail the helpers

9:40am Saturday 13th June 2009 in

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Sir - Firstly we would like to take this opportunity of thanking you for the coverage by you and your staff of our Mayor’s Appeal, culminating in last week’s announcement of our close of appeal and your very gracious editorial on the subject.

However we really wish to state that it was not just down to the two of us.

When the decision was taken to try to raise this huge amount of money, we realised that we would need a dedicated committee to steer this and provide support and ideas during the year.

We approached fellow councillors and friends and so the workforce was formed. Everyone came up with ideas and support, some examples are as follows.

At the first meeting Councillor Paul English gave a presentation, pointing out our goals and the way to achieve them and designed our logo.

Councillor John Manley attended every meeting and was an important member of the team.

Councillor Betty Campbell helped serve teas, with the mayor, outside the Town Hall.

Alison Jerger had the bright idea for the balloon race.

Jan Bowers, from “Stylers” organised and decorated the Crypt, at Christ Church, for the very successful Turkish night, while her young son, Kobe, acted as interpreter to enable participants to order their drinks in Turkish on the night (otherwise people incurred a 50p “fine”).

Councillor Hazel Bulcock obtained the services of a belly dancer for the Turkish night and also organised a two-night stay at a hotel in St Annes as our main raffle prize.

Dave Oliver, from Herriots, was an enthusiastic member, organising raffles, collecting boxes, and supplying venues, for quiz nights and race nights, without charge and providing suppers for same, and was the instigator of many original ideas including the “Try to win a Car” at the Waterways Festival.

Les Steadman, from The Black Bull at Sutton, also organised a furniture sale and pool contest and collected well over £500 at his pub. He was a valued member of the group.

In addition, Shirley Taylor from Cross Hills, Catherine Dyer from the Breast Care Unit and Catherine Owens from Skipton, lent superb support All the above attended monthly meetings to ensure our targets were met.

Finally, many thanks to Dave Parker and staff from Skipton Town Council who have had one hell of a year supporting us!!

Sorry guys but it was worth it! God bless you all!

Carole Manley and Polly English, past mayor and councillors both, Skipton Town Council, Barclays Bank Chambers, High Street, Skipton

MRI questions

Sir - I have just read of the marvellous achievement of councillors Carole Manley and Polly English on raising the unbelievable sum of £42,000 towards an MRI scanner for Airedale Hospital (Herald, June 4).

Councillor English says that: “At the moment, people could go to Airedale for a mammogram and a biopsy, but if they wanted an MRI they would have to go to Bradford. This would make Airedale a one -stop shop.”

I dearly wish this will be the case. Do both councillors know that, out of hours, oncology patients at Airedale are being encouraged if the need arises, ie in an emergency, that they should travel to Bradford for any treatment they require?

The logistics of this move defies belief, let alone the risks to patients. I would urge both councillors and indeed all those wonderful people throughout the Craven District who contributed to this wonderful cause, to ask the managers at Airedale Hospital if the hospital will indeed become truly a “one-stop-shop” and will not be just an out-patients clinic for Bradford Infirmary and to give an assurance that all the patients’ treatment will be at Airedale and put an end to any thoughts of moving cancer patients between both hospitals.

And, much more to the point, that Airedale Hospital will have its own dedicated oncology ward.

Angus Brennan, Kelbrook Road, Barnoldswick

Moor menace

Sir - The many hundreds of walkers on Farnhill Moor will have been aware of the appalling amount of litter left by youths holding a barbecue in the old quarry area in recent weeks, being mainly empty lager bottles and cans.

The chairman of Farnhill Parish Council made reference to this in the last issue of the Herald.

Although this land is private, the moor is a public amenity which has been enjoyed by countless thousands for generations and it is the responsibility of everyone to help protect it for the benefit of all.

On Sunday morning I decided to try to clear as much of the mess as I could manage.

When I arrived at the site, at first I thought someone else had cleared up before me, but then I discovered that the bottles and cans had been thrown into the bushes and, worst of all, many bottles had been deliberately thrown against the quarry rocks, leaving masses of broken glass to injure exploring children, dogs and wildlife plus, of course, creating a potential fire hazard.

To make matters worse, the miscreants had obviously been using a garden gazebo (white, metal framed) which they had burned, and the metal parts were broken and strewn about the bushes.

Finally, there were two stackable plastic garden chairs (greyish in colour), one still intact, the other broken with the parts similarly thrown into the bushes. I tried to pick up as much as possible, but I am sure many other bottles, cans and piles of broken glass have yet to be found.

May I appeal to your readers to “shop” these idiots. If anyone knows of a group of (presumably) youths taking bottles of Stella, cans of Carlsberg and at least one bottle of Liebfraumilch, plus a white-framed garden gazebo and two plastic garden chairs out for the evening in the Farnhill area on (probably) Saturday June 6, I ask that they are confronted with the consequences of their actions (and hopefully report them to the police for littering).

This may be a cry in the wilderness, but unless someone takes a stand, this kind of yobbery will become more frequent.

Paul Haywood, High Croft Way, Farnhill

Housing shaker

Sir – Shoving the cart before the horse, which is what the new housing initiative for the Dales is all about, has badly shaken the ancient Craven jewels of Settle and Embsay who are ill-prepared for it and anxious about the preservation of their character and cherished greenfield sites.

What can be the point of building new houses in the Dales? In time it will only swell the number of those who moan about the lack of jobs and facilities on their doorstep and will pave the way for expansion, or “regeneration” as it is so sweetly termed.

Does every corner of tiny, crowded England have to rock?

Is it so unacceptable that a beautiful and fascinating stretch of land remain thinly populated and tranquil for our joy, recreation and communing with nature?

A genuine country fix is vital for thousands of town and city dwellers slogging it out in less privileged surroundings, keeping the nation afloat.

Why some of the existing housing stock can’t be made affordable is a mystery. We should hire an innovative champion who is expert, determined, resourceful and thorough to investigate how it can be.

Living in affordable, stabilised, old stock is infinitely preferable to living in affordable new-build with the usual constraints, bad design and natural light deprivation, and to having to endure the classic “them and us” situation because the few sad little affordables, probably all stuck together in a row, would be loomed over within spitting range by the better-looking, more expensive ones on the plot.

Incidentally, do we even know yet how much is considered affordable for a house in these parts?

The four three-bedroomed affordables at Primrose Glen in Embsay cost £175,000, complete with tenure restrictions and on a brownfield site, which probably means they’ll kick off with squatters and, ironically, from outside the locality.

The housing plight of the farmers’ newly-wed offspring which an MP had us sobbing over could be resolved by building sympathetic extensions to their parents’ handsome farmhouses – generally the best dwellings in the Dales, if not the country – provided of course that the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority would cease its delight in rejecting practical and aesthetically unthreatening applications.

Lois Brothwell, Old Union Square, Belmont Wharf, Skipton

Capital parking

Sir – I noted and appreciated the letter (Kevin Burnett, June 4) regarding the cheap – by Skipton’s exorbitant levels – parking charges amid his recent holiday in Northern Ireland.

No doubt other Craven tourists to locations elsewhere in the United Kingdom could quote other shining examples.

Our party was recently among the massive exodus of Craven folk descending upon the capital to watch Burnley play at Wembley.

Endeavouring to avoid the crush around the stadium and also other well-known football traffic parking locations, we decided to go ‘up-market’ – or so we thought – price-wise and park at one of London’s most aristocratic places, Harrow on the Hill.

Two minutes’ leisurely stroll to a high street brimming with shops, pubs and restaurants and only five minutes to the station – one stop from Wembley – we thought in advance that we might have to stop back and sweep the streets in order to be able to afford to pay for our “all day” parking ticket.

As sanity appears to prevail elsewhere, though,the answer was “thankfully not” as the price was barely a third of what is charged in Skipton.

And – if we thought that we had managed a bargain – then hark to the message of other friends pitching at Canons Park – three stops from Wembley on another line.

They parked all day for free!

Roger Ingham, Aldersley Avenue, Skipton

Care commission

Sir - I am writing in response to the letter from Mrs J Sturgess, of Eshton Road, Gargrave (Craven Herald, May 28).

I won Nurse of the Year, and last year a Gold Award through the Association of Colleges from attending Craven College.

I won Nurse of the Year as I’m a lymphoedema nurse. I set up services in Leeds several years ago and nine years ago again in East Lancashire.

Eighteen months ago I left the NHS to open my own independent lymphoedema service which operates from my family home at Slaidburn (not too far from Craven).

I have a purpose-built lymphoedema clinic and I am currently commissioned by two primary care trusts in Lancashire to deliver care to NHS patients; therefore the patient still receives care free at the point of delivery.

It is very possible for this to be the case for Mrs Sturgess and many others like her for their care to be commissioned to be delivered at Northern Lymphology. She just needs to ask her GP who will in turn contact the PCT to get this sorted for her.

Lymphoedema is a chronic condition and requires committed long-term treatment and monitoring and she is very much entitled to it and in a very strong position to have this funded as it is not delivered locally.

Justine C Whitaker, Director and Nurse Specialist, Northern Lymphology, The Forest of Bowland Treatment Centre, Dunnow Hall, Newton Road, Slaidburn

Walking to school

Sir - I read with astonishment your story (Craven Herald, May 28) about encouraging parents in Bradley to walk their children to school.

Good on the two parents who instigated the initiative, but I have to say it’s scandalous that people living in a village have to be encouraged to walk their children to school.

I grew up in Bradley and everybody walked to school – even those who lived all the way up Crag Lane (past the pub).

It didn’t even enter the equation to be driven to school.

As a working parent myself, I understand the time pressures of the school run. But with a little more thought, parents could make this small sacrifice for their children’s health and the environment. That is if they live in Bradley, of course…another scandal in itself.

RL Heseltine, Farifax Street, Skipton

Election thanks

Sir - I would like to thank all the Cross Hills, Glusburn and Sutton in Craven voters who have both supported and given me a strong mandate to represent the North Yorkshire County Council Division of South Craven for another four years.

One of the benefits of the election period is the opportunity to canvass and ascertain widespread public opinion on the doorstep.

This time around it will be of no surprise to your readers or myself (also a district councillor) that there has been considerable concern expressed regarding Craven District Council.

This included its proposed move to new offices at Belle Vue Mills and the pursuance of the Skipton Developments agenda which includes the disposal of valuable public assets at a time of depressed land and property values.

I would, therefore, hope Craven’s political leadership will take heed of this public opinion and embark on some meaningful public consultation on both these issues before it’s too late.

After all, the political leadership must not forget it is dealing with public assets and as such needs to be accountable to the public.

Philip Barrett, Beanlands Drive, Glusburn

Care gratitude

Sir - We are writing to express our most profound gratitude to the nurses, doctors, and other staff at Castleberg Hospital for their care of Arthur Lupton during his final illness.

Everyone at the hospital treated him with real warmth and humanity, making his last few days as comfortable as they possibly could have been. He was emphatic in his praise of the hospital.

We are all convinced that his experience of death, as well as ours, was made far easier because there is such a wonderful, welcoming, professionally-staffed place so close to home.

We were very lucky that it had just re-opened, and we believe that it is extremely important that it should remain open.

Helen Lupton, and family, Constitution Hill, Settle

Bridge paint plea

Sir - Skipton Conservatives have charged me with the task of trying to get the shady metal railway bridges painted. So could I take this opportunity to thank Mr Manley for bringing this to the attention of all the people of Craven.

We need the help of all your readers and maybe your paper, too, to lobby Network Rail into committing to an earlier start date.

Its telephone number is 08457 114141; job number 1193830 Chris Harbron, Long Meadow, Skipton

Race for Life

Sir - At the recent Race for Life in aid of Cancer Research, I raised £160 for the charity.

I would like to thank my relatives, friends, neighbours and others who kindly sponsored me in the event.

Sandra Fox, Victoria Street, Settle