Poppy Day is as relevant as ever

The poppy as a symbol was inspired by the poem 'In Flanders Field' written by John McRae.

Earl Haig launched the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal to raise funds to be used for the benefit of ex-servicemen, women and their dependents. Since 1921 many millions of pounds have been raised and man, many persons have benefitted as a result.

Some £21 million was raised last year but, despite these huge sums, the Royal British Legion Benevolent Fund spends more in benefits than the amount amassed by the Poppy Appeal.

We in Skipton branch are proud of the contribution which we make to the national total and that is due to the generosity of people in Craven district and, of course, to the many kind people who give their time in order to join the large number of "poppy sellers" in the area.

We extend our thanks to all our helpers and ask members of the public to give generously as they have done in the past.

The Remembrance Parade in Skipton will take place on Sunday November 9, led by Skipton Brass Band, and will assemble in Sackville Street at 10.30am. All of our services will be represented including a large contingent of our American friends from Menwith Hill.

After the wreath laying ceremony at the cenotaph and the service at Holy Trinity Church conducted by Rev Botwright, the parade will march past the civic dignitaries and finally be dismissed in Newmarket Street. All who wish will be welcome to join us at the White Rose Club and we are greatful to the committee and members of the club for their kind co-operation.

Gerald Thornhill,

President,

Skipton branch,

Royal British Legion.

Fine achievement

SIR - I would like through your paper to pay tribute to the Aireville School Theatre Company on their recent production of the Chappel Warner musical 'Bugsy Malone'.

The time, effort and rehearsals that must have been put in were evident throughout the whole two and a half hour show.

It was a remarkable achievement and an absolute credit to the school as over 120 pupils and great number of staff displayed their talents in various ways.

The show bounced along at great pace with the 17 strong band and choir ably led and conducted by music teacher Mr J Moreman. The supporting cast and the dancers all performed with confident ease and enjoyment, notably Rachel Steadman who produced a solo dance that was quite exquisite.

Daniel Simcoe as Bugsy, Kerrie Jackson as Louella and the character Dandy Dan played by science teacher Mr Mike Fergus were all outstanding. Claire Brewster as Blousey, Nikki Armstrong as Fizzy the Cleaner and Stacey Thomas as Tallulah all acted and performed their songs with great feeling.

But the star of the show, for me anyway, was Michael Holmes, who played the part of club owner Fat Sam, his performance was so assured, delivering his lines with an authentic Bronx accent and striding around the floor as though he owned the place, actually he did!

The only disappointing aspect was the fact that your paper was not invited along to give them the publicity and praise that they all deserved.

Kirk Humphreys,

Hurrs Road, Skipton.

Decline in church

SIR - I would be grateful if readers could help with a study which is being carried out to discover why church-going is on the decline in the British Isles.

Attendance has been in steady decline in the mainstream denominations since the 1960s making the UK different from most of the rest of the world where church attendance has continued to grow.

It may come as a surprise, but no satisfactory answer has been found to explain this religious trend in Britain.

For example, the idea that church decline in Britain was due to growing scientific knowledge has been made invalid by American statistics.

The US is the most advanced scientific nation on earth, and yet in some States, church attenders now make up almost 50 per cent of the population. (Science and religious belief are seen as compatible, hence the high numbers of scientists involved with NASA who are also church-goers).

The suggestion that decline was the result of growing wealth in the UK, was also disproven by these statistics because America is the richest country in the world.

Then again, the idea that increasing awareness about "world suffering" was putting people off the church, failed to explain why church-going is often strongest in those parts of the world where major suffering occurs, such as Northern Ireland and Third World Countries.

Until recently, the church in this country was an integral part of British culture.

The purpose of this study is to identify what lies behind this change by inviting people across the British Isles to give their answers to the following:

1 If you attend a church regularly, what are the main things which encourage you to attend? If your attendance is merely out of a sense of duty, what could be changed so as to make it more appealing?

2 If you were a church-goer, but now attend infrequently or not at all, what were the main things which led to this decline? What could be changed in order for you to attend regularly again?

3 If you've never been a church-goer what things would encourage you to begin?

4 The traditional custom of "clergy visiting" has steadily declined in spite of the maxim "a house-going minister makes a church-going people". Although a combination of factors will have led to dwindling congregations, do you think the demise of this customary role is significant?

Please send your views to the above address, marking your envelope "Church Survey UK". Thank you. A summary of the study will be publicised next year.

The Rev J Willans

The Vicarage,

Clayhill Road,

Leigh, Surrey. RH2 8PD.

Peaceful protest

SIR - On behalf of the residents and tradespeople of Settle, may I offer heartfelt thanks to the large number of quarry truck drivers who avoided travelling through the town during the 'Peace in our Town' protest this week.

It was clearly an excellent idea to disclose the time and date of this protest in advance.

A final thought; as the truck drivers presumably found another route to the quarries, might they use it in future?

AR Fawcett

Skipton Rd, Settle.

Affordable homes

SIR - Let's suppose I am a builder. To look after my wife and children, I must build. Without land, they will starve.

Though many landowners would be glad to sell me a plot, planning regulations prevent them because the council and national parks have a clear obligation to protect green sites in accordance with ratepayers' wishes.

I am now aware that their view has changed to allow "affordable" cheaper housing to selected local people presently living in crowded conditions. To balance the sale of land and produce lower class houses, consent is also to be given to me, as a builder, to erect upper class housing on the same site in accordance with an agreed ratio.

This process is certainly an arbitrary way of discrimination between rich and poor people. Presumably the council will allow me to sell to the rich at my own figure, while they set the level for the poor. Clearly the council cannot oblige me to build at a loss, but will they have any say on fixing the level of non-affordable houses? I'm tempted to shift my loss on affordable to charge the non-affordable.

If the council can specify selling prices, they are acting like an unassailable property agent who has torn up the rule book. And will the council be totally free from financial incentives in their dealings?

Once the houses are occupied, one can imagine the dichotomy influencing children at school, resulting in consequent social divisions such as "we got our house cheaper than you because my dad works in the village" as opposed to "we've got a better house than you because my dad makes a lot of money".

The selection process will probably cause a threat to the maintenance of green ecological areas as, from the little I have so far read, there doesn't seem to be any indications to when the scheme would stop assuming it were to start.

I fear several aspects of this proposal:

1 It may encourage social divisions.

2 Who will be responsible for the beautifully designed rich house as opposed to the cheaper council house next door?

3 Who will be responsible for maintenance of the cheaper house?

4 As national economic levels fluctuate, will the council adjust their selling price accordingly?

5 What increase in council staff will be needed to operate the scheme?

6 Will the affordable house owner be required to keep his land and building in good order, and even paint it in an approved colour?

My son intends to follow me into the building trade. What if he ultimately is allotted an affordable house and needs to erect a store for his equipment, would this be allowed?

Superficially, the proposals may have some attraction, especially from a political aspect. My view is that the scheme would clog up the works.

Perhaps all those concerned could run a dummy programme on paper to simulate an actual project to see if the scheme is workable or not, to detect signs of social damage, reveal whether councillors have enough knowledge to run the scheme.

Certainly it would reveal any potential increase in council costs and in say one year's time, present a realistic picture for examination by a committee none of whose composition is builders.

Donald Wilcox

Garrs End Lane,

Grassington.

Sorely missed

SIR - Your otherwise admirable tribute to Ken Willson mysteriously omitted to mention the fact that Ken was not only a founder member of the Yorkshire Dales Society, but its first vice chairman, later its long serving chairman, and over the last decade, its president.

Ken's contribution to the success of what is now one of the leading environmental organisations in the Dales was incalculable. His knowledge and love of the area combined with a common sense approach to many of the problems of the countryside, were an inspiration to us all. He will be sorely missed.

Colin Speakman

The Yorkshire Dales Society

The Civic Centre,

Cross Green, Otley.

Statistical juggling

SIR - The figures on foxhunting are simple indeed! Craven Herald Letters October 24. Supposing that some, several or even all of the 18 per cent agreeing with the first question are also among the 41 per cent that agree with the second question.

Then, surely, in the worst case, the final figure supporting hunting could be as small as 23 per cent! We need much more information on the raw data before we can draw any sensible conclusions.

Oh! And on Page 5 In Brief: was that S Moran who was done for speeding at 113mph or S Moron?

T Hall,

Haw Park, Embsay.

Proper poll

SIR - The thousands of letters in the press re the hunting with hounds debate could all be replaced by the only sensible one ever read (Craven Herald October 17).

Indeed this is not a ban on hunting going through Parliament, it is a ban on hunting with hounds. I agree with it, how could anybody call it a sport where one animal is terrorised and then torn to shreds - come on, that is not "fair game".

Vermin do have to be controlled and can be without such suffering at the hands of the predator. Well said, Peter Hobson, let us have a poll carried out by a democratic organisation and then see what percentage of the public condone this barbaric sport.

Daphne Murgatroyd,

Marton Road, Gargrave.