Letters to the Editor

Bulls chairman Chris Caisley has stated repeatedly that Rugby League is a business and if the Bulls control Odsal then he will want to generate the most amount of income he can and maximise on the use of the stadium with the local community and also further afield.

For the detractors who might say that the money could and perhaps should be used in other areas, ie Social Services and the Elderly, let me also say that I am a home manager of a care home for the elderly and the recent decisions to close some local authority homes within the area do not emanate solely from the Council but are part of a wider political strategy by national government to put funding into keeping older people at home rather than allowing them go into care.

I believe that the elderly should have choice, but whether or not the Bulls return to Odsal will not alter this particular political hot potato.

Leah Corboz, Roundfield Place, Thornton.

SIR - Once more the council taxpayers of Bradford are forced to bankroll Bradford Bulls and that obscene hole in the ground they like to call their home. For too long the supporters of this minority sport have bemoaned the superior facilities at their rent-free home at the Bradford & Bingley Stadium.

This City is the heroin and riot capital of the country. Yet the Council fritters away yet another handout, this time an enormous £4.6 million.

When are the Bulls going to learn to stand on their own feet? Bradford City FC nearly went out of business recently. Not once did they ask for or get offered taxpayers' money to help them. And believe me there is far more interest from the Bradford taxpayer in City than in the Bulls.

Bradford needs money spending on its services and facilities, not wasting on the Bulls and the ridiculous Capital of Culture campaign. And if a few more police on the streets or better education for the children means the Bulls moving away from the city, then it's a small price to pay.

David Hobbins, Gain Lane, Bradford 3

SIR - So our Council have found £4.6 million to pay off the Bulls, plus of course the £600,000 already agreed to bring Odsal up to minimum standards. Where is this vast sum coming from? More care homes to close, less money for education, less money for local sports grounds etc?

There are plenty more deserving causes that this pot of gold could be used for in preference to Bradford Bulls Holdings Ltd. Indeed, once again I question the legality of taxpayers' money being handed to a limited company no matter what its business is.

I urge all taxpayers who are against this so-called deal to write to your councillor and Member of Parliament making your views crystal clear.

After 17 years it is time the "monkey" of professional rugby at Odsal was got off taxpayers' backs once and for all.

Barry Wood, Knights Fold, Bradford 7.

SIR - So Bradford Council can suddenly afford to give the Bulls £4.6million. Is this the Bradford Council that short-changes its schools, closes old people's homes and is always crying poverty?

What about Keighley Cougars, Bradford PA and any other sporting body who may need their help?

The people of Bradford should know the names of every member of the executive committee who voted in favour of this, then come election time, we can show them how we think!

Ian Robinson, Kings Road, Bingley.

SIR - Congratulations to the Bulls on securing a way of returning to the Odsal Stadium, Although I don't attend many matches live, I've been a fan for many years after first going to Odsal monthly since 1985 to watch the Stock Car racing.

There's just that special something about the place. Here's to a long and happy future. Just one question. Please can the Stock Cars be allowed to return also. That's what Odsal's all about: Rugby League and Stox.

Andy Tilley, Smithfield Lane, Sandbach, Cheshire.

SIR - How can Bradford Council even think of granting Bradford Bulls £4.6 million of ratepayers' money while at the same time they are proposing to close the best primary school in Baildon?

This school has the best SATs results in the area together with a glowing Ofsted report. Over the past couple of years more than £1 million has been spent on new classrooms, roof and an IT suite.

While I am writing, builders are actually working on an £85,000 classroom for four-year-olds to be opened in September.

Isn't it time our infamous Council got its priorities right?

Ruth Wood, Kirklands Avenue, Baildon.

SIR - I am writing regarding the planned closure of Greenacres EMI Unit.

The excuse given is that this would make funds available for care of the elderly in the community. I agree that this is a very worthy aim but for a certain number of older people no amount of support either financial or practical will result in this happening.

How can the Council justify withdrawing funding from the most vulnerable of our elderly - the mentally infirm?

These people are never going to be able to return to their homes. My own mother lived in sheltered accommodation for over eight years and at the end didn't recognise it, was quite adamant that she had never been there before and wanted to go home.

At Greenacres we have a unit dedicated to dementia sufferers with a professional, caring staff who will be lost to the city if this closure goes ahead.

With an ageing population, the Council will face a crisis of inordinate proportions in the very near future if this short-sighted, short-term decision is allowed to stand.

Mrs Eileen Armstrong, Nuttall Road, Bradford.

SIR - Reading recently of Windhill Cemetery takes me back to the late 1930s when my brother and I were often taken there with our mother when visiting a family grave.

We always asked to see the "Baby's Grave" which had a stone baby sleeping We never did know whose baby it was but it must have been someone from a wealthy family as headstones have always been expensive.

I visited Windhill recently and walked around looking for any trace of it but there was nothing.

Could anyone advise me how I might find any details?

The reason why I'm so interested is that I possess a beautiful broderie anglais christening gown which was given to my mother, around 1920 by a mill owner's wife who had lost her new baby and my elder sister had just been born.

They were all members of Windhill Congregational Chapel.

It is now a family heirloom and many babies in the family have worn it at their baptisms.

Mrs Mollie Emmett, 52 East View, Yeadon, Leeds, LS19 7AD.

SIR - Is there anyone who can direct me to the authority that is issuing the speed exemption certificates for motorists travelling up and down Manchester Road? I appear to be the only motorist who makes any effort whatsoever to keep to the (I must admit it!) stupid 30mph in place now.

I start my 30mph at the sign by Odsal fire station and can guarantee that by the time I reach the traffic lights I have been passed by Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all - most of them flashing me to get a move on or travelling at 40-50mph.

I very kindly (in my opinion) pointed out to one driver that a '3' was a different shape from a '4' and meant ten miles slower. Was I thanked for my assistance ? 'Nuff sed!

I must say that the 30mph limit is ridiculous and causing a lot of bad feeling and cannot for the life in me understand why it was imposed - certainly not for safety because the vast majority are ignoring it.

Phil Boase, Elizabeth Street, Wyke.

SIR - J Lewis Nicholl (Letters, August 16) cites the fact that a majority of Britons are ignorant of, or cannot calculate, the value of the euro as some kind of proof that joining the single currency would be a bad idea.

All it proves to me, unfortunately, is that millions of my compatriots obviously struggle to count beyond ten without taking their socks off. End of story.

Peter Wilson, Thornhill Grove, Calverley.