Letters October 11th
What a waste of time and money! IS it just me or has our local council gone further up their own duodenum?
Once again the eagerly-awaited Ribble Valley Business Newsletter, issue four, hits the streets, eight pages of expensively produced and distributed, self-congratulatory phlegm.
I am embarrassed as a Lancastrian; I just hope no one from further afield picks this drivel up. If council officers want to feel better about themselves, go out for a good lunch and tell each other how brilliant your different departments are.
Come to think of it, the lunch bill, tip and taxis, the chemist charge for the Resolve, would have a far more direct and worthwhile benefit to commerce than issue four.
Don't wrap up your self-aggrandising carp as being business news. Business people are struggling to breathe under the weight of new and tedious legislation placed on them by local and national government.
We all feel, hear and see the ever-restricting legislation binding up businesses, teachers and students, mothers and children. When will the balance be restored? No one is presumed capable of thinking for themselves; we now are duty-bound to undertake so many assessments that no one can sadly get away from the desk to experience a whisper of risk.
We have spawned an ever-increasing army of council and government employees marching round our county hectoring all and sundry. Not for them the telltale crunch of a jack boot, but the insidious creep of soft soled shoe, to best avoid a litigious slip, trip or fall. Apparently, one in four of us now work for the government, which means the other three have to shoulder their salary, hidden levies, heavy taxes and this vacuous eight-page farce.
Shortly the last twinkling beacons of the different, quirky, unusual and odd will be extinguished and replaced by ISO rated flat white light.
"Cry England" and we certainly do, pass the tissues please.
RALPH ROBINSON
Being safe is always our prime concern
I WOULD like to point out to Mr M.J. Huskisson (Clitheroe Advertiser and Times letters page last week) that there is no relationship between the world of illegal gun crime – as made prominent by inner city shootings – and the legal and responsible sporting use of guns.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation holds many Young Shots' days, where youngsters can try airgun and clay pigeon shooting and we see them developing a remarkable degree of maturity.
They are very keen to learn about how to use guns safely and responsibly. On the subject of safety it is worth noting that shooting has one of the lowest accident rates of all sports.
It isn't surprising that shooting has an almost obsessive approach to safety – those most at risk are fellow shooters and where peer pressure amounts to self-preservation the rules are strictly observed. No youngster, who has been properly trained, will ever mess around with a licensed shotgun.
BASC believes that any decision about a young person's suitability to own a gun and to apply for a shotgun certificate should be left to their parents and the police.
Young people under 18 cannot buy any kind of gun or ammunition. Children under the age of 15 who do have a shotgun certificate can be lent a shotgun, but they have to be supervised by a responsible adult over the age of 21 at all times. The people who take on the responsibility of supervising young people take safety very seriously.
To be granted a shotgun certificate, the police will consider whether the applicant, whatever their age, is likely to pose a threat to public safety, and whether there is good reason to refuse it.
The police can also obtain details of their medical history and visit the applicant at home and inspect security arrangements. If any conditions of the shotgun certificate are broken, their certificate would be revoked immediately.
The majority of young people who shoot usually start out with lessons in clay pigeon shooting, which is an Olympic sport.
Charlotte Kerwood was only 15 when she became the first British woman to win a gold medal in the Olympic double trap discipline at the Commonwealth Games in 2002. There are many other young shots who are working towards representing Britain in the shooting disciplines at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Should these young people, who are a credit to their country, be banned from having legal access to shooting sports too?
It is a shame the anti-gun lobby is "outraged" by young people behaving responsibly, learning self-discipline and becoming model citizens. Perhaps if more young people followed their lead, the police would have fewer problems with anti-social behaviour on our streets.
HELEN SHUKER, The British Association for Shooting and Conservation, Marford Mill, Rossett, Wrexham
The Grand: maybe listing is problem
WITH regard to the delays in completing the conversion of the former Grand Cinema, might one reason be the listing of the old building? One can only imagine the expense and complications involved in having to convert it, rather than being able to demolish and start again from scratch with a purpose designed facility. Are those who campaigned to have the building listed happy now that the only external features to remain unaltered are the main roof and part of the centre of the front facade?
ANTHONY A. COOPER, Peel Park Avenue, Clitheroe
A great event and a boost to charities
AFTER reading last week's letter from my niece Emma Robinson and her partner Ian, where they felt it necessary to clarify reporting errors regarding September's Full Phat Music Festival, I thought it a shame no one has publicly congratulated them for organising a superb event and raising around 7,000 for air ambulances.
It is a pity the event caused such controversy.
I was born and bred in the area, so probably know many of the residents who signed the petition to stop the event going ahead. I'm sure they now realise their fears were unfounded as the festival was very well organised and orderly, thanks to the hard work put in by Emma and Ian, with support from friends and neighbours and all for no personal monetary gain.
I was there from when the event opened at noon until after the last band played in the evening and had a great time. The venue was superb with lovely views around the Ribble Valley, the music was vibrant with some very talented performers among the bands. Yes, they were loud, but I watched the livestock in a nearby field and they just continued grazing, unconcerned. The only thing that disturbed them was a low flying micro-light aircraft.
Emma had asked me to be in charge of any lost children as they needed someone who has police clearance to work with children (I have that as a teacher). I didn't have anything to do, however, as the children there were happily playing in the safe enclosed area, having a great time.
Everyone who attended the event was well behaved, as far as I could see and, according to members of my family who stayed overnight in the camp-site, the atmosphere continued to be good-natured throughout the night. Lots of people followed the theme of the festival and dressed as pirates, which added to the fun.
So, well done Emma and Ian and, if they do decided to hold something similar in future years, I hope I have helped to allay any fears.
MARY CROFT, by e-mail
Staff are not doing much for residents
I AM a resident of Turner Street and have become quite disgruntled by the problem of parking on our street during the school hours of Ribblesdale High School Technology College.
I sent a letter to the school earlier this year regarding parking in Turner Street even though there is adequate parking provided by the school, which is never fully occupied.
The school replied by saying the school gates are locked during the day so teachers who leave at lunchtime cannot park on the premises. This is completly inaccurate as I live directly opposite the gates. These gates are not even closed during the summer holidays!
Since then I have been in contact with the school and have been told all the teachers will be told to park on the school premises if possible. However the problem still persists and the car park still has a number of spaces available every day.
On numerous occasions I have been forced to park on other streets, including Brownlow Street and Littlemoor Road, yet come 4 p.m. and Turner Street becomes pretty much empty again.
RUSSELL BRAITHWAITE, Turner Street, Clitheroe
Vote Labour? Sorry, not a chance
TO be fair, all the main political parties have misled us over and over again.
Because of their devious hostility to the people who served and made this country, my illusion of fair play by British governments was shattered a long time ago.
1918 – come home to "a land fit for heroes". How shallow that sounds today.
1945 – come home and we'll look after you "from the cradle to the grave". What a sick joke that has become.
2006 – 140,000 of our taxes donated for the counting of bats in Burma!
Then only last week this excuse for a Labour government announced a miserly 140 council tax rebate for our troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. What an insult!
Labour should have this slogan for their next election campaign: "Come cock a snook with us."
Remember, it was the present Prime Minister who gave pensioners a rise of 75p a week while MPs received a rise of 52 a week.
We have the "shameful treatment" of elderly people in some hospitals and care homes recently exposed in a report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights. Protest by nurses, and children's NHS care condemned in a Health Commission report.
We have billions of pounds of our taxes given away overseas, while we are paying extortionate taxes to a greedy Government for decreasing services. We have a "politically correct" Britain of "divide and conquer, divide and rule". We were born free, now taxed to death. Pensioners having to sell their homes and assets to pay for healthcare. It has been one lie after another.
Will I vote Labour in the next General Election, whenever that might be? No, no, NO!
BERT HARDWICK, Queensway, Waddington
Do you remember these two girls?
I HAVE just been to Vancouver, in Canada, to visit my friend Sandra Wilson (ne Peat). Her parents, Joan and Bert, ran Clock Caf.
Sandra is wondering if anyone knows where her old work colleagues are?
They are Eileen Wright, of Waddington, and Janet Greenwood, of Conway Avenue, in Clitheroe. They worked at Brenda's Hairdressers, in Church Brow, Clitheroe.
If anyone is aware of their addresses, could they please get in touch, by writing at the address below or by calling 01253 779796.
Alternatively, they can e-mail Sandra at: TSwilson@shaw.ca
Pat Parker, 7 Northway, Fleetwood
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Friday 25 May 2012
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