Letters to the Editor

These wonderful youngsters give up their Spring Bank Holiday each year. Wearing their bright yellow sweatshirts and neckerchiefs, which are so easily recognisable, they stand out like a badge of courage, they come to help so many people among this large crowd of at least 6,000 every day.

So please be proud of them. Each week our local newspaper tells us of the difficult times facing our youngsters, but here are our ordinary everyday children doing a wonderful and caring duty. They deserve every praise, as do all the staff at The Holy Family School for their dedication and sometimes unrewarding work.

But I know how hard they have all worked. I was there and I am so proud to be associated with this wonderful group and God Bless each and every one of them

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

SIR - 'Europe' is actually about the creation of a system of governance for over 350 million people.

It is based on Social Democracy, Rhineish Capitalism, Corporatism and other ideas historically associated with Continental thinking.

These concepts, when applied through the proposed Constitution and the Euro, will produce a regional power bloc with very clear characteristics, values and objectives.

EU institutions should explain precisely what they are trying to create and the subsequent winners and losers. They should also explain how the chosen methodology will guarantee the peace, stability and prosperity so often cited as the fundamental reason we must have a 'Europe' at all.

If the British people then wish to be part of this system we should embrace being 'European' and join the Euro regardless of any consequences.

If the UK population does not know what it means to be 'European' then how will they know whether or not to be comfortable?

Multinational companies operate globally. They invest where the return will be greatest, and this is increasingly outside 'Europe'.

As an exporter I know the Euro is a large Floating Currency like the US Dollar. It can be manipulated, bolstered or destroyed by speculators in exactly the same way as the pound in 1992.

The currency does not allow 'Europe' to operate as a giant Siege Economy, has not increased in-zone stability or protected against global economic change.

Like Diana Wallis I want a debate. We must be given information about all available options for the UK. There are alternatives to 'Europe'.

NEIL RAMSDEN

Cavendish Street

Keighley

SIR - Good gracious me, whatever next! A Bradford Met councillor has finally realised that we have a traffic problem in Keighley.

Yes councillor, it is not beyond the realms of possibility for councillors, highways, and bus company management to sort out some solution. They have been trying for years to do.

Here are some suggestions which may help.

Firstly:- Moving out of the town centre slightly to Hard Ings Road. When I was at school two into one did not go, so we had to borrow one.

So why not borrow Royd Ings and make Hard Ings Road a one way system (think about it). Perhaps if the planners of 30 years went to the same school as me, they would have known that two into one doesn't go.

Secondly:- We have the same problem at East Parade, a one way system has got to be devised here.

As a simple test, why not try switching off all the traffic lights at peak times from South Street, Worth Way, and the rest of Keighley and at the following strategic points replace them with officers on point duty? They are South Street / Worth Way, Coney Lane / East Parade, Bottom of Cavendish Street, Top of Cavendish Street, Top of Low Street.

Perhaps they could use the Traffic Wardens, who won't be needed on North Street because we have no yellow lines there.

MR G DYSON

Keighley

SIR - I was amazed to see Cllr Ellison-Wood calling for something to be done about traffic in the town.

It seems she is just jumping onto the bandwagon started a few weeks ago by Graham Mitchell, and she obviously has a short memory.

The late Dr Fred Kidd, Graham Mitchell, and I served on a Bradford Council committee with highway engineers for some five years, trying to find solutions to the Keighley traffic problem.

The answer we found was an eastern by-pass, to take through traffic out of the centre.

This plan was immediately debunked by the ruling councillors of the day, namely Barry Thorne, Andy Mudd, John Prestage, Irene Ellison-Wood and others. Rather than serving the town I think they just didn't see any votes in it. No attempt was made to even protect the route, which has now been built on.

By all means lets find some answers to the traffic problem, but let's not pretend it's something new.

DAVID PETYT

Hanover Street

SIR - Each year the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Regimental Association battlefield research section organises pilgrimages to the battle areas of the First World War.

We still have a few seats left on our Pilgrimages that leave in August and also in September. We plan to visit the battlefields of The Somme and the Ypres Salient, Vimy Ridge, Loos, Arras and Le Cateau, also any other area of the battlefield that might be requested.

The trips specialise in visiting specific cemeteries or memorials on request, and an experienced guide will accompany us, to commentate on the various battles and events.

We can assist in the tracing of war graves, and wherever possible we operate a grave or memorial photography service for those people who are unable to travel.

The Battlefield Research Section was formed in 1990 by ex-service men, who have many years experience in conducting visits to the battlefield areas of France and Flanders, and we actively support a variety of ex-service charities and Institutions. We welcome all enquiries.

Anyone interested and requiring further information should contact - Joe Street, 7 West Grove, Royston, Nr Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S71 4RY. Telephone 01226-723860 We ask for a medium sized SAE for postal replies.

JOE STREET

KOYLI & LI Association

Battlefield Research Section

SIR - Have you noticed recent pictures of Tony Blair shown by the national press? Gone is the phoney smile attached to his plea of 'Trust Me'.

In it's place is a hound dog look of guilt like a pet pooch who has been caught depositing outside its own back door.

In going to Iraq to tell British troops whose blood he said he was prepared to spill what a grand job they had done in winning the war against Saddam, what he was really saying was, please go out by the back door and try treading in the deposit I have created, so that I can share with you responsibility for spreading the smell. He really is a generous man.

Mind you, he is a man of his word. He did spill the blood of our British boys and he did kill civilians which involved the old, the young, females, the innocent, in fact he gave everyone the same chance, although I am not sure what his logic or point was. Then having covered every aspect of a brutal war, he let Saddam escape. That was kind of him.

The freedom promised the Iraqi people has not turned out to be all it was cracked up to be. No water, no electricity, no jobs, no food, factories and homes flattened, and the only place where business has increased is the cemetery.

Although much more can be said, I make one last point. It is the fundamental rule of the UN which contains more doctrines than a dalmatian has spots, war between members is not accepted.

Break the rule and you lose your membership. Blair has already given instructions once to have his resignation drawn up, but now seems reluctant to take the plunge. Will he go or will he take his party and this country with him? If not there is no way out for the UN. It must disband.

F HIRLAM

Gloucester Avenue, Silsden

SIR - Re page 4 of last week's KN - 80,000 gullies cleaned over one year.

I hope they can now sort out some of the streets and roads that are an eyesore and a health hazard to any pedestrian who has the misfortune to have to walk on them. I refer to one in particular, Bronte Street, which adjoins Chesham Street.

There is only one drain that you can see and it doesn't work very well, as the residents and me and my fellow workers at Teconnex will vouch for.

Mud all over the pavement each season of the year. The water build up is horrendous and it spills onto the pavement, carrying mud and waste with it.

One or two people have had near misses sliding on it, and I'm surprised that no-one has been seriously injured.

So could someone from the department responsible have a look at it and sort it out, and soon? It's been a disgrace for three or four years now and the residents and people who have to use it deserve better.

KEVIN O'NEILL

Church Street, Keighley

SIR - We would like to thank everyone for their support at the Friday old time dances at the Keighley Library Lecture Hall, which made it possible for the last dance before the summer recess to raise £90 for Manorlands.

The next dance in Keighley is the Festival Dance in Victoria Hall on Friday, June 20, and the new season starts at the Lecture Hall on September 12.

JOYCE and DERYCK

FEATHER

Hainworth, Keighley

SIR - When I hear people talking about GM Food I think of Chernobyl, the nuclear disaster in the Ukraine which spread radiation across Northern Europe and the British Isles.

Sometimes the wind brings sand from the Sahara desert to our shores. Every spring aphids are blown across the Atlantic from Texas and the Southern States.

Maize is a grass, grasses use the wind to spread their pollen. If sand can blow from the Sahara, surely grass pollen can blow more then a few hundred metres.

In the 1950s we were told that Nuclear Energy would be cheap and safe and solve all our future energy requirements.

In the 1970's it was Thalidomide, the miracle drug, which was going to be safe.

Viruses reproduce by invading the cells of a host and programming these host cells to produce virus cells instead of cells of the host.

I believe that sometimes a fragment of DNA from the host is passed to the virus, or from the virus to the host. The spread of virus throughout the world is not fully understood.

JOHN WEBB

Kennedy House,

Ingrow.

SIR - I recently became aware that Bradford and Airedale Mental Health Advocacy Group was closing its Airedale office in Scott Street Keighley.

Staff will work from the Bradford office.

This means that service users in Keighley will either have to meet advocates at Airedale Hospital or travel to Bradford, as the neutral ground provided by the Keighley office will no longer be available to them.

Once again services do not appear to have taken the needs of their clients into consideration.

NAME AND ADDRESS

SUPPLIED

SIR - Over 50 years ago, a letter sent to a newspaper from three concerned parents of disabled children, and the hundreds of responses it generated, led to the formation of The Spastics Society, now known as Scope, one of the UK's leading disability organisations.

Half a century later, Scope is still responding to the needs of disabled children and adults.

As a patron of Scope, I am writing to tell your readers about the launch of a new website to support parents who have disabled children.

Face 2 Face is a befriending service which gives parents who have disabled children the chance to talk to other parents who have been through similar experiences themselves.

The scheme is now being launched on line at www.face2facenetwork.org.uk to reach out to more parents across the UK.

Parents can visit the site to find out about local befriending schemes, obtain information sheets, volunteer as befrienders themselves or to seek support and guidance.

I would also encourage professionals working in health, social care or education to visit the site so that they can help parents access the support network.

I really do believe the Face2Face website will make a big difference to the lives of parents.

LORRAINE KELLY

Scope Patron