As a Quaker who lived happily in Ackworth for over 15 years, I had the privilege of attending joint village church services there and being with Catholic friends in their own setting. They obviously not only valued their church and attending mass there, but fully supported it.

I'm much distressed, too, to learn that the Holy Family Church in Pontefract and the RC church in Allerton Bywater are also victims of closure. It cannot be right that people who wish to join in with communal worship have their churches shut against their will. And it shows a tremendous lack of faith among church administrative officials.

Churches should be at the heart of all communities. Heaven knows, society needs their influence for good in this torn, divided world – a world in which violence, rather than that love at the heart of the Christian, and other major world faiths, rules supreme.

Surely, the Roman Catholic church should be urged to sell some of their valuable assets in order to fund churches for local communities. After all, Jesus lived simply, without expensive trappings, and He is the model on which we, His followers, base our lives. So far, I have encountered no better model to guide my religious beliefs and spiritual development.

No doubt, many of us would be happy to contribute financially, should those churches need that help from us in their endeavours to keep their beloved places of worship open. They will all continue
to be in my loving thoughts and prayers.


Olympians put the Great back into Britain


From: Jean Price, New Road, Woolley, Wakefield.

ON the subject of putting the Great back into Britain (Yorkshire Post, September 18), I have been much heartened in recent weeks by news from first the Olympic and now Paralympic Games in Beijing.

Firstly, I was surprised and delighted to witness on TV the quite superb ceremonies arranged by the Chinese government to mark the events. The time, money and effort involved were in my view quite unparalleled in the history of the Games.

Secondly, and this indeed is my main point, I was impressed by the skill, dedication and professional conduct of our own British Olympians. Whether diving, rowing, show jumping or cycling, no-one could fault the talent and enthusiasm they showed.

At a time when the world economy is unstable, hurricanes devastate the vulnerable (and the British weather has been shocking for months), I regard Beijing 2008 with pride and already a touch of nostalgia.

This summer, we showed the world a truly Great Britain!


'Eccentrics' going organic are safeguarding their health

From: William Snowden, Butterbowl Gardens, Farnley, Leeds.

I WAS amused to read the Yorkshire Post's polemicist in residence, Bill Carmichael's full-throttled assault on the "eccentricity" of eating organic and free-range food (Yorkshire Post, September 12).

It is, of course, a question of choice – and one of perspective. But it always strikes me as somewhat bizarre that some people are far more particular about the quality of the fuel and oil they put into their cars, than the quality of the food they put into their mouths.

It is equally bizarre that people baulk at paying a few pence more for a bag of organic carrots or pears, yet think nothing of spending tens of pounds on alcohol and cigarettes – and hundreds of pounds on technological gimmicks!

If Bill Carmichael chooses to consume a cocktail of chemicals, that is his prerogative. But he is wrong to assume that the cumulative effects can be anything other than detrimental to good health.

He also seems to have swallowed the unsubstantiated claim that GM crops will "feed the poor".

On the contrary, genetically modified crops may unbalance the natural, regenerative processes of nature, and have a detrimental impact on natural pollinators such as bees, whose existence is already threatened by climate change.

Poverty in Africa will only be relieved when that continent is cleansed of corruption, tribalism and civil war, which wreaks havoc through so many lands. Population growth also needs to be controlled.

Scientists are neither omnipotent nor omniscient. They, too, are subject to the inviolable laws of nature. Scientists should be encouraged, but kept on a tight leash, lest they overreach themselves, with potentially disastrous consequences.

Many scientific discoveries and innovations have been
to the betterment of man; others have been to his detriment. In the context of agriculture, DDT and BSE are examples of bad science and poor husbandry.

It is a curious fact that man, the dominant species, is the only animal on earth that knowingly and, in some cases, eagerly consumes toxic, poisonous and potentially life- threatening foods and substances.

Now that is a curiosity that may cause even Bill Carmichael to pause and ponder.