The new Labour Manifesto, published last week, contains no such assurances, but does pledge to bring forward further legislation to "tighten the law on air guns".
Rather than being based on any evidence that it could stem the increasing problem of
rising gun crime, such a move smacks of wanting to be seen to be "tackling the issue".
As with other knee-jerk legislation, the only people who will be affected are those who already behave in a legitimate and responsible manner.
The criminals will continue to be criminals.
We urge Labour to shore-up rural confidence by making clear its support for all shooting and angling.
It still has the chance to do so during this campaign.
Although how it can promise to promote shooting whilst at the same time restricting it, remains to be seen.
We are promised a "rural mini-manifesto", but relegating rural issues to a sideshow is unlikely to make people in the countryside feel any less like second-class citizens.
Labour needs to explain why, when there are 23,000 words in the Labour Manifesto, only 320 are devoted to rural communities.
SIMON HART,
Chief Executive,
Countryside Alliance,
London,
SE11 4PT
College students are missing out
LIKE two thirds of their age group in England, 26,900 16 to 18-year-olds study at their local college in Lancashire.
Despite the wonderful service they receive, the Government funds these young people at least 10% less than schools – an average shortfall of over £350 per student per year.
Young college students in Lancashire are therefore missing out on at least £9.4million per year.
In addition, the Government's current funding plans for adult learning across England mean that colleges may be required to impose fee rises of 40% over the next three years or introduce course cuts across a range of provision, where such courses do not match Government "priorities". Older adults will be particularly affected, as will all those adults taking a course not counting towards a Government target.
In the run-up to the General Election the Association of Colleges would like, through your newspaper, to ask each of your candidates to make their views clear on closing the 16-18 funding gap and protecting adult learning in your area.
I am sure your readership would be interested to have their views clarified. Young people, staff and parents can express their views and sign our petition at aoc.co.uk
Dr John Brennan,
Chief Executive,
Association of Colleges,
5th Floor,
Centre Point,
103 New Oxford Street,
London WC1A 1RG
Give your time to victims of crime
VICTIM SUPPORT, the national charity that helps people cope with crime, needs your help.
It has launched its first-ever national fund-raising appeal to help it support even more people affected by crime.
All over the country, people are plannning to "make some time for victims of crime" by giving up an hour to fund-raise during the week of April 25th.
We'd like you to set aside an hour and join in to help. You can do anything you like to raise money for Victim Support as long as it's safe and legal.
All you have to do is give up 60 minutes of your time. To find out more, and to download a fund-raising pack, go to the special Sunrise Appeal website at www.makesometime.org.
And if you can't spare an hour you can support the appeal with a £3 donation by texting the word "Sunrise," followed by your postcode to 80887. All donations will go to help local vicitms of crime.
We're pleased to be supporters of Victim Support. We hope you will be too.
NICK ROSS AND FIONA BRUCE,
Victim Support National Office,
London
Sing along to this traditional song
I THOUGHT your readers might like to see the words to the "Wiswell Moor Song" performed by the folk group Howden Jones recently at Whalley Village Hall:
"Oh, you'd better have your wits all about you Yeppe Knave
If you're riding into town, riding into town today
The honest men of Sabden have placed a price on your head
and there's many a young chancer wants you live, wants you dead
(Chorus) On Wiswell Moor you'll be buried, Yeppe Knave
No parish will afford an outlaw grave
Seek not forgiveness, nor pardon, Yeppe Knave
For if you had a soul, it would be too late to save
And you'd better have your henchmen by your side, Yeppe Knave
If you're riding into town, Nick o' Pendle way
And don't go by the Wellspring, not to water your horse
For there's men intent on vengeance gathering in force
(Chorus)
For evil deeds and robberies you will be blamed, Yeppe Knave
No mercy will the men of Sabden show your way
For they have suffered lawlessness and cruelty of your kind
And stood by defenceless as you trespassed on their land
(Chorus).
The Sound Archives has bought a copy of the CD, which has this track on it, for posterity.
If anyone would like further details or to buy the CD, they can contact Howden Jones on this address: info@howdenjones.co.uk (www.howdenjones.co.uk) or write to them c/o The Post Office, 14/16 Tithebarn Hill, Glasson Dock, Lancs, LA2 OBY.
JENNY SAVILLE,
Sabden Spot On promoter
Lively debate in true TV fashion!
THE Ribble Valley District Group of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) with Ribble Valley and Hyndburn Friends of the Earth played hosts on April 12th to all three prospectively parliamentary candidates at their Environmental Question Time.
The chairman for the evening, doing a fair imitation of David Dimbleby, was Kate Hooper.
CPRE and FOE were honoured that Nigel Evans for the Conservatives, Julie Young for the Liberal Democrats, and at the last moment Jack Davenport for the Labour Party graced our platform with their presence. The evening proceeded in a lively fashion with questions on transport, the first being a rather loaded question asking the candidates how they had arrived at the meeting. They had all come by car!
The railway system, car emissions information and the congestion on our roads caused by heavy goods traffic followed.
Wind farms were next with what was probably the quote of the evening from the floor. The questioner made it clear that he was talking about windmills and not the collection of methane from cows!
Global warming followed naturally from a discussion on the wide range of renewable energy sources that ought to be employed with the observation from the panel that if the money currently being invested in wind farming was re-directed to improving domestic heating and insulation efficiency we could meet the targets set to reduce conventional energy consumption without a single additional wind turbine.
Bureaucracy and its effects on farming, supermarkets and their demands, the CAP and the difficulties of making a living from farming, yet our dependence on farming both to provide food at the same time as maintaining the countryside as we know it, were then discussed.
In true Dimbleby fashion, the chairman tested the panel with a humorous question at the end. "When was the last time you got close to nature?" The close contacts admitted varied from dog walking to drinking beer in a real country pub with real farmers!
CPRE and FOE were pleased with the support the meeting received. There were more than 50 people present at Trinity Methodist Church Hall which rather belies the supposed apathy about the general election.
DAVID KING,
Chairman Ribble Valley District Group CPRE,
Carr's Croft,
Rimington
A concern for primary parents
ALTHOUGH I am a member of the governing body of a local primary school, I am writing as a concerned parent, and my views are not necessarily those of the other governors.
I feel duty bound to inform all parents of school children about something that is of great concern to everyone, as it will lead to a fall in standards at our schools.
From September 2005 governors of all schools have to ensure that all teachers receive 10% of their time out of classrooms in order to prepare and mark work. This will be known as PPA (planning, preparation and assessment) time. Therefore, a full-time class teacher will have the equivalent of half a day every week out of class. That would not cause many difficulties if the children were to be taught by another suitably qualified and experienced teacher at that time, but the fact is that the classes will be "taught" by support staff, mainly teaching assistants who have no teaching qualifications whatsoever.
The simple reason why schools will not be able to employ teachers to cover teachers on PPA time is because of totally inadeqaute funding. A typical primary school of 200 pupils will receive an amount of £5,000 to implement PPA time, but a teacher costs approximately £25,000 to employ for a year and that school would need a full-time teacher in order to cover PPA time for all the class teachers! With falling rolls due to a falling birthrate across Lancashire the "increase" is, realistically, nil.
Not only will schools be forced to employ unqualified staff for 10% of every child's time in class, they are being encouraged to do so by being told that this is good practice!
Headteachers and governing bodies who are working very hard to attempt to raise standards are not being allowed to do so because of the lack of funding, and most parents are not aware of this situation.
I feel concerned that standards will inevitably fall, and that all parents must object in the strongest possible terms about what is taking place, in the awareness that the schools are not to blame and they have to implement these measures very soon.
NAME AND ADDRESS
SUPPLIED.
Palladium? I beg to differ!
IT is a sure sign of an "age mindset" when one reads the Advertiser and Times and feels an urge to comment on something that happened half a century ago.
But liking to keep things accurate I make no apology for correcting a small discrepancy that occurred in last week's issue.
The "Looking Back" column of 50 years ago had a snippet about Susan Hayward and Gary Cooper starring in a film at the King Lane Palladium. I am sure that any of my contemporaries who read this item, like me, thought "hang on a minute!".
I can't remember whether I saw this particular film or not but if I did it was certainly not at a cinema called the King Lane Palladium.
In 1955 there were three cinemas in Clitheroe - the Palladium, occupying what is now the Tesco supermarket site. There was the Grand Cinema, recently closed down, in York Street, and there was the King Lane Cinema on what is now the Bowland Court retirement apartments.
I am not sure who owned the Palladium, but the King Lane was owned by the Co-operative Society. The Grand belonged to Marie and Barbara Cullen who took it over from their father, Ignatius, probably in the 1940s.
All three cinemas were exciting venues for a 17-year-old in 1955.
Once a "date" had been secured, a booked double seat on the back row usually got things off to a good start. If my memory serves me right the King Lane didn't have any double seats, hence the hope that it would be a watchable film!
The true dangers of smoking were not yet realised in 1955, certainly there were no restrictions. Within 20 minutes of the film starting the atmosphere, by today's standards, was poison.
All three cinemas were still well patronised despite the emergence of television. They provided a pretty safe innocent environment (despite the smoke) for teenagers who quite likely had never been in a pub or a club in their lives.
The popularity of the three cinemas can be gauged by the fact that for 15 years or more they occupied the most prominent front-page advertising space in this paper. On Saturday night there were two "houses". First house, 6 - 8 p.m. and second house, 8-15 - 10-15 p.m., sometimes both filled to capacity.
I can remember queuing up to see such films as "Shane", "Hans Christian Andersen" and "The Student Prince". Best rear seats cost about half a crown (12p) which, coming from a typical allocation of seven and sixpence (37p) teenage pocket money, required a careful choice of the three films available. Unless of course the seat had a higher priority than the film. Happy Days!
DAVID BOWKER,
Park Avenue,
Clitheroe
Refund practice
to be abolished
FOLLOWING my visit to Roefield Leisure Centre at the start of the week I was dismayed and appalled to find notices on the car park from Ribble Valley Council informing me that they are withdrawing the refund facility previously available to users of the leisure centre and Ribblesdale pool when they park on the car park.
In this day and age, when we are supposed to be encouraging health and fitness I find it incomprehensible that Ribble Valley Council targets those who are making the attempt to be healthy by charging them for the privilege. As the leisure centre and pool are located out of town it gives users no alternative but to go by car.
Only last month the council was promoting its cycling strategy, which in part was to promote healthy living, and a few weeks later they target us for trying to do just that.
As someone who uses Roefield at least three times a week I now have to pay the full amount of 70p, the cheaper option of 35p for one hour is of no use to anyone using the facilities when you consider the length of classes, games and changing time. This will be an additional £1.80 a week (taking past refunds into account) which on top of my annual subscription to the sports centre adds up to a considerable amount over a year.
Roefield Leisure Centre are unhappy about the new arrangement, as I know many users of the centre and pool are, and should readers find they are also unhappy with the introduction of this charge, there is a petition available to sign at Hargreaves Cycles/Electrical in Moor Lane and Woone Lane in Clitheroe. I can only hope that if enough people express their concerns then Ribble Valley will review this situation.
This has all the evidence of Ribble Valley using underhanded methods to balance the books after over spending in the past.
Your support would be appreciated.
RUTH HARGREAVES,
Hall Street,
Clitheroe
l See story – Fury at parking fees – page 7
CCTV – what is its purpose?
I WOULD like to know what the point is of having these expensive CCTV cameras around the town.
Every other weekend, large amounts of criminal damage occur around the town centre and yet nobody seems to be charged with causing it.
Last Saturday night, damage was done to the Castle Bowling Green, even though a CCTV camera overlooks the area.
Does anybody ever watch these cameras, or can they not be bothered to put films in them?
FED-UP COUNCIL TAX PAYER.
Sincere thanks to everyone
WE would like to thank everyone who supported the fund-raising event we held at the St Mary's Centre, in Clitheroe, on April 8th, in aid of UNICEF and let them know we raised the amazing sum of £1,927.
The event was organised by Sheila Bailey (GP at Castle view practice) and five other people: Jude Wlodarczyk , Oli Pearce, Anne Littley, Gill Fourie and myself. We organised a ceilidh and sold 170 tickets.
The band, "Quadrille", were excellent and had us on our feet all night. Those that couldn't attend gave donations totalling £300.
FRANKIE FREEMAN,
Woodhead Road,
Read
