March 13 Letters: Museum closure is a betrayal

I AM appalled, utterly disgusted, to see that our Manor House Museum is to be closed. That our Manor House is possibly to be put up for sale. For fine fast food fodder?

In a tourist town our museum – yes ours – with its friendly staff, excellent exhibitions and displays plays a vital role both locally and nationally.

There can be no excuse for the sell out, a betrayal for today’s citizens and the young people to follow. History is a vital subject. If only our politicians understood it. Let there be no excuse about money being short.

Cash is readily available to build bombs but not homes. No shortage of money for warships but not for welfare, care for the elderly or education grants for our young folk. It all depends on what money is to be spent on.

Sadly there is no profit in culture. We condemn the destruction of ancient cities in the Middle East yet we are destroying our very own history.

Let us invite our local celebrities and all who value the best in our society to get on board. Let us see our MP, our councillors stand up.

Let us not only save our culture but expand it – including our famous Festival.

From: Iain Morris, Caroline Street, Saltaire, Bradford.

the Odeon stands in Bradford city centre today through the sheer will of the people and love of the people for this building.

We were told repeatedly it was not a listed building, we were repeatedly shown square blocks which were to replace it.

I first was inside the Gaumont, as it was, when I was a 16-year-old in the lower sixth at Fulneck School with all my friends in the autumn of 1963 to see The Rolling Stones on the foot of the Everly Brothers Tour, having just released their first single Come On. I was there a couple of years later to see them at the top of the bill. It was the largest theatre in England outside London, matched only by the Glasgow Empire in Scotland, I believe.

Contrast this with just how valued a part of City Square the former Majestic Cinema has been in Leeds.

Airport’s latest rip-off

From: B Soulsby, Doncaster.

WHEN I wrote this letter (March 9), I was waiting in the departure lounge of Leeds Bradford Airport and thought that I would have a cigarette before boarding. I arrive at the “smoking area” and discover that they were charging £1 for “entry” to the area. How mean is that?

Yes, it’s okay for those faceless bandits to sit behind desks and make the rules for extortionate charges, but there is no contact email for people like me to make a complaint. It is disgraceful.

I can assure everyone that this is my final departure from this particular “rip-off” joint and I will endeavour to choose an alternative point of departure for my many holidays. I mentioned the facts to an employee at Burger King, and he informed me that the airport started charging £2 for “dropping people off” for departure!

I thought that Dick Turpin was dead, but no, he is obviously alive and well and running this megabucks emporium in the West Riding.

You can keep your airport, Leeds. I am absolutely disgusted.

Litter shame of our county

From: Sue Cuthbert, Newton on Rawcliffe, North Yorkshire.

RE the article about problems with seagulls in Scarborough (The Yorkshire Post, March 7), I would rather see seagulls than the mess left by some humans. The slobs who drop litter anywhere, the thoughtless ones who drop chewing gum on pavements or leave it stuck under chairs and tables.

The beautiful new paving slabs outside York Minster have already been defaced by chewing gum. When we have visitors from Germany and France, I am ashamed when they see the mess left by some people.

Next month we will be hosting “The Tour de Yorkshire”. As well as mending roads, I hope all authorities will clear the vast amounts of litter from roadsides. The A64 Malton bypass is a disgrace.

What is the matter with people who throw litter from their vehicles? Visitors to Yorkshire for the Tour will get a very bad impression of our county if they see so much litter everywhere. We won’t be having “the Tour de Yorkshire” – it will be the “tour de litter”!

Tax trap for pensioners

From: Peter Wood, Doncaster.

ALL credit to Jayne Dowle for bringing the new private pension rules to readers’ attention (The Yorkshire Post, March 9).

I ask people tempted by the opportunity to cash in their pensions to be very careful!

The old arrangements allowed people to take 25 per cent of their pension pot as a tax-free lump sum while the rest was normally used to buy an annuity.

The new rules still allow for the 25 per cent tax-free lump sum to be taken but if someone takes the rest of their pension pot in cash it will be taxable.

People could easily see a large slice of their lifelong pension savings disappear as they could be taxed at the higher rate.

No wonder the Government has changed the rules – the short-term effects will see tax receipts rise while pensioner spending should increase, thereby boosting the economy.