SIR, - Might I thank Gerald McGowan for his reply to my queries regarding the wisdom of the £300,000 loan being considered by the Labour party on the Otley Town Council.

I am afraid that the headline above his letter does not make the £300,000 loan sound sense in my mind. We know that the civic centre has to be brought up to a standard that will enable people with disabilities to make full use of the same. But what happened to the mobile stair lifter that was purchased when the ramps were removed from the centre?

In the years I worked at the civic centre I was not aware of it ever being used by other members of staff. If I remember correctly this machine cost in excess of £1,000.

What change has been introduced with the installation of the new stair lift on the main stairs. When in use this machine takes up a good deal of the width of the stairway. What I wonder would be the outcome of an evacuation when this machine was in use?

Prior to this modern machine being fitted there was no official limit to wheelchair-bound people on the upper floor. As I understand the present situation, progress means that there is now a limit of two persons in wheelchairs being allowed to be in the main hall at any one time.

I am also informed that in the event of an evacuation of the building the wheelchair-bound people have to be placed in a position on the landing and await the arrival of the emergency services to effect a rescue procedure. What happens if our one fire appliance is out on a call and we have to wait for Rawdon or some other fire station to answer the call?

This leads me to another point of Mr McGowan's letter; to increase the number of people using the main hall. I do no know if the plasterwork on the ceiling has been repaired. In the recent past lumps of plaster have dropped when the hall has been in use.

Have the councillors ever witnessed the people leaving the hall at the present limit of 200 people - it can be chaos. There is only one main exit, the two exits at the side of the stage involve stairs and both merge at the top of a narrow staircase which has yet another exit coming out in the middle.

I am not really bothered about the wheres and whyfors of how the town council conducts its affairs. I am bewildered as to why we have to have parties - why can we not have 15 people who work for the good of this town and its people?

Finally what a great slip-up that there is a £6,000 error in the accounts. Better we have to find £6,000 than £500,000 and that over a period that will involve years when schemes of this nature will be introduced to keep a dilapidated building just ahead of regulations of the day.

John A Parkin

1 Pearsons Buildings,

Otley.

Council loan

SIR, - Councillor Gerald McGowan was somewhat inaccurate in his letter (Wharfedale Observer, April 11) last week.

The 25-year loan he proposed as part of the Labour's Town Council budget would have cost the council taxpayers (and their children) half a million pounds. As the cost of the work has been estimated as a fifth of this, it is hardly surprising that the rest of the council opposed the plan.

Coun Colin Campbell

11 Prince Henry Road,

Otley.

Out of proportion

SIR, - Now the Queen Mother's funeral is over, can we abandon the myths and propaganda, and have an honest appraisal? May I articulate the views of unrepresented Republicans.

Was this not a public relations conspiracy by the Establishment and media, to whip up emotional support for -the benefit of a failing and disfunctional Monarchy?

This premeditated PR exercise, was out of all proportion to its circumstances. Dragged out for nine days to include various set pieces of theatre including a vigil by the grandsons in the full glare of the media spotlight.

The Windsors, no shrinking violets when it comes to publicity, milked an opportunity like this for all it was worth. Was this a sincere expression of grief or a media circus? Are we so superficial and feeble minded we need to be patronised?

It is those who queued for hours to file past the coffin who need sympathy, not the Monarchy. The ruling elite will take great comfort in this display of mindless servility and the ease with which the population can be manipulated. Would these same people queue to protest at the 8,000 innocent people including 1,000 babies we have killed in Afghanistan or the extermination of Palestinians?

MPs had to fight to get Parliament recalled to debate sending troops to invade Afghanistan, where we are killing thousands of innocent people. But no-one blinked an eyelid at recalling Parliament to indulge in two hours of sycophancy during which MPs were forbidden to discuss the crisis in the Middle East!

This country is at war and in a state of chaos and deprivation of services for elderly and disabled people and here we are, totally preoccupied with the death of a privileged 101-year-old woman. We should seriously examine our standards when this takes precedence over debating our military aggression.

The Queen Mother should be remembered for what she really was, rather than what propaganda would have us believe. She enjoyed a privileged long life, at our expense, deprived us of wealth that she enjoyed and gave less service to the country than millions of 'common' people who do the real work in society.

Mr M Naylor

21 Grange View,

Otley.

Disgrace on moor

SIR, - It's time folk realised that two people paying a sizeable rent to live at White Wells on Ilkley Moor are often blamed for adjacent blocked toilets by visitors.

Conditions at White Wells and the nearby Charity Baths are the worst I have seen since Eric Busby's refurbishment.

They are falling apart at the seams. Fallen slates, rotten window frames, peeling paint and whitewash, blocked drains behind the living quarters - all reported and nought done.

A former councillor informed residents that we should be 'guardians of the Moor'. If so, how come listed buildings are allowed to decay before our eyes?

These past five years I have telephoned, written, and threatened to sit outside a department's head office to bring these toilets up to standard. In my last conversation with the cleansing manager, he informed me that plans were in hand to close one cubicle on each side, resite the gents' urinal along the back wall and reroute the water pipes. This was without need to damage trees.

When Bradford damp-proofed White Wells, I asked a well respected surveyor and a builder for advice. I suggested that a 'friend' was putting a damp course in a cottage with outbuildings, around 300 years old, on a hillside and without any modern foundations.

They answered: "Drilling into walls of that age and design, and with ancient or no foundations, would literally shake them apart. Whoever it is must be mad." I omitted to tell them it was White Wells.

Are councillors aware of the building's significance? Were it not for White Wells, Ben Rhydding would still be Wheatley. Ilkley would be 'a mucky little hole with a beck running down the middle'. Ilkley College would not have been built.

Nor would there have been Victorian villas, large hotels or hydros etc. The chance is that there would not have been a Saltaire. As for Darwin coming to this country's first cold water spa - forget it.

If Bradford can find money for its cherished City of Culture, it can find the same for White Wells. Because, without brass, Ilkley's jewel will be worthless paste.

FRAZER IRWIN

Deaconness Court,

Queen's Road,

Ilkley.

Railways in mess

SIR, - Britain's railways are in a mess. Years of chronic under-funding and a chaotically privatised rail system have left passengers fuming at the delays, cancellations and over-crowding that make so many train journeys a misery.

Rail should be a cheap, efficient, safe and pleasant way to travel. In the rest of Europe, it usually is. In Britain it frequently isn't.

Friends of the Earth thinks it's time that the voice of the passenger was heard at the heart of Government. And we've found a way to make that happen. We want you to text a essage to Chancellor Gordon Brown telling him that the only way to sort out our railways is through increased public funding and urgent action to sort out the management mess on our railways.

So if you are fed up with fare increases and service cuts, text your anger to Gordon Brown on 07764 125 125 now. And if you don't have a mobile, you can still take action online at www.stoptrainrobbery.com

We think it's about time the Government stopped taking the railways for a ride.

Charles Secret

Executive Director,

Friends of the Earth.

Reader's thanks

SIR, - Thank you for the voucher for a meal at the Hare and Hounds. I took some of my family there on Friday night. The staff were most welcoming, we had a very good meal and the service was excellent.

Mary Simpson

3 Forrest Terrace,

Otley.

Father's thanks

SIR, - - In the early hours of Monday, April 1, my family's lives were dramatically changed when my 21-year-old son was killed in a mindless act of violence.

He and his friends were just about to go home after am Easter Sunday night out when this occurred and one moment later he was dead.

Since that day, culminating to date in his funeral on Friday, April 12, at St Peter's Church, Addingham, the love, support and care that we have received from everybody in the local community has kept us all going. This letter is a simple, heartfelt 'thank you' to everybody from us.

Tragedies such as this should not happen to anybody, and especially in a community such as ours, but unfortunately this proves that they do.

Our lives will never be the same, but at least we can all carry on in the knowledge that most people are good and caring and that there are not many evil people. Thanking everyone, once again.

TIM WEBSTER

Father of Mark Webster,

Woodview, 41 Gill Bank Road,

Ilkley.