Wednesday's Letters: Local engineers could end Whitby bridge fiasco

Although I don't know what the exact problem was, and although the reports referred to shafts and gears, I can assure her that this type of skill is still available in Yorkshire.

My small company, in Crofton, would certainly have been able to help, but I would expect to be able to get this sort of thing done much nearer to Whitby and would be surprised if you needed to go beyond Middlesbrough.

I suspect the problem is that the staff involved in the repairs do not know the engineering businesses of the area, other than one or two large consulting engineers or bigger manufacturers, where it would take a fortnight to process the paperwork.

Surely, Yorkshire Forward should be experts in the businesses of Yorkshire, and should have a department to put customers in touch with potential suppliers?

This would be of much more benefit to the many small companies throughout the region than the large, grandiose schemes with which they are more usually associated.

Food for thought maybe?

From: Ian Howitt, ID Howitt Ltd, Crofton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

From: Roger Haw, Old Manor Drive, Oxspring, Sheffield.

EM Crabtree questions the 10 day delay for repairs to the Whitby swing bridge.

I can tell her that we still have our skills it is the authorities that do not seem to encourage their use.

I can name at least four respected engineering companies within a 50-mile radius of Whitby that undertake repair work and spare-part

manufacture for heavy engineering components on a 24/7 basis.

These companies have kept the steel works at Redcar, the North

Yorkshire mines, chocolate factories in York etc in operation for many years. Indeed, there is one of them based in Scarborough, just down the road from Whitby.

Should we be asking if any of these companies were approached?

Cruise control the answer to speed fears

From: Coun Elizabeth Nash, City and Hunslet Ward, Morris Lane, Leeds.

ANYONE who deliberately breaks the speed limit and endangers the lives of others deserves the severest penalty (Jayne Dowle, Yorkshire Post, July 29).

However, the reason why the majority of motorists dislike speed cameras is because of the anxiety they cause in that they may be caught out one or two miles above the limit.

If one drives an environmentally-friendly small car, and in a hilly area, one is constantly having to look at the speedometer to make sure one has not strayed over the limit.

The best remedy to control speed is a speed governor or cruise control, which only the more expensive cars have fitted to them. The driver is then relaxed and can give full attention to the road.

I am sure it would please everyone if the Government introduced

legislation for all new cars to have them fitted.

Government's testing time

From: Phil Hanson, Beechmount Close, Baildon, Shipley.

ANYONE who has a credit/debit card and pays using internet banking will be only too well aware of the huge lengths we have to go to in order to minimise the risk of fraud. If unusual or high-value purchases are conducted, the card company may call or hold back the transaction.

Making online payments and other transactions demands multiple

passwords, electronic gadgets and code numbers. Every time we make a transaction there is a metaphorical grand national of obstacles to overcome in order to help reduce fraud.

So I am prompted to ask why the management of these, now mainly state-owned banks, seem to manage so irresponsibly and yet be so overpaid? (Credit card fraud, by the way, is petty compared to the cost of bad management within our banks).

As a colleague of mine used to say: "It is a case of the rats in charge of the cheese."

Until such time as banks and businesses such as BT, which are run for the benefit of the investor, nothing will change, and that also applies to government and the Civil Service.

The big test for the present Government will be to see if it can reduce the head-count of the Civil Service without mortgaging our future by bribing the civil servants with lavish pension payouts and retirement 20 years before the rest of us.

Bad news on Holmes front

From: John Gordon, Whitcliffe Lane, Ripon.

I NOTE with distaste that the BBC has ruined Sunday evening by spending a great deal of our licence money on a modernisation of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes' stories.

Holmes becomes Sherlock and Dr Watson becomes John Watson. They both live together in the same lodgings in Baker Street with a hint that

they are gay.

As a great fan of the film versions starring Basil Rathbone, I find it difficult to get used to the teenage-looking actors employed by the

BBC.

I can only imagine Conan Doyle turning in his grave.

Yorkshire down under

From: Sylvia and Ron Bird, Waiuku, New Zealand.

BACK in the 1700s, James Cook charted New Zealand, The Rev Samuel Marsden brought Christianity to New Zealand, and Sir Dove-Meyer Robinson was the last visionary Mayor of Auckland City for many years. All these three men had one thing in common – they all came from

Yorkshire.

Many people from Yorkshire have settled in Franklin area of the Waikato region, in the North Island of New Zealand, and more than 60 got

together in the small rural town of Waiuku, on August 1, and marked the day with things typically Yorkshire – eg Yorkshire puddings, stories

and songs.

Guests started to arrive mid-afternoon at the Waiuku Cosmopolitan Club where they signed the special Yorkshire Day book.

They were given a coloured pin to place on a large Yorkshire map to

show where they were born. A questionaire was given out to test their knowledge of Yorkshire. The papers were collected and prizes of Yorkshire sweets were presented to the winners.

A large iced cake was cut by two of the eldest people there (both in their 80s) while all sang on Ilka Moo Baht 'at.

The Yorkshire "Declaration of Integrity" was read out and those present were able to view two short comedy videos from Yorkshire.

Four tables overflowed with Yorkshire souvenirs on loan from those who attended, and attracted much attention of all present.

Thirty of the guests stayed for a great evening meal which featured

roast beef and Yorkshire puds, fish chips and mushy peas as well as traditional New Zealand fare.

A great get-together, a first for the town and maybe New Zealand.

Everyone is looking forward to the 2011 gathering.

Everyone has the choice to live or die

From: Heather Causnett, Escrick Park Gardens, Escrick, York.

I FOUND the My View article in Life & Style by Martyn James, infinitely sad reading (Yorkshire Post, June 28).

With so many of our young men being cut down in wars that are not of our making, losing their lives or, worse still, in my opinion, being maimed or mentally scarred for life, I would think it made life still more precious.

However, Martyn does have a point, in that life is only worthwhile when it is satisfying and enjoyable, and it is the quality of life that counts, not the quantity.

We all have our priorities, and I well remember the young man who went to Switzerland to end his life because, through injury, he was unable to carry on playing rugby, which had been the most important thing in his life.

I agree wholeheartedly in people being able to end their lives if that life becomes intolerable, and if they need a loved one, or a doctor, to help them, then so be it.

Surely, one's life is the one thing that is completely and utterly

yours, and if you choose to end it, it should be your choice.

Growing old has few compensations, and so everybody should act responsibly in looking after their own health instead of costing the NHS millions to cure self-imposed ills.

I very much hope that Martyn finds that his health lasts long enough

for him to enjoy his twilight years.

Personally, I would not want to live one moment longer than I could

find something worthwhile to live for – whether I be 100 or older.

Doubts over loan pledge

From: John Holland, Lindeth Road, Silverdale, Carnforth.

IT is, indeed, unfortunate that the backing for the Sheffield Forgemasters' loan and the development of the Nuclear Advanced Research Centre is now in doubt, or has to be achieved by other means (Yorkshire Post, August 2).

However, the timing of Lord Mandelson's announcement, in March, could be seen as a last-ditch attempt to bribe voters or – since we now know from his memoirs that he thought by that time Labour could not win – a cynical ploy to promise money we do not have in order to minimise the scale of that defeat.

Scene-setting for Emmerdale

From: J Holroyd, Bingley.

THE village of Esholt, and its pub, The Commercial, were not the

original sites for location scenes for Emmerdale Farm, later re-named Emmerdale (Yorkshire Post, August 2).

The original Emmerdale village was the Dales village of Arncliffe, and its pub, The Falcon, was the original Woolpack where exterior shots were filmed.

Scenes were also shot on the village green and in the village church. External farming scenes were filmed at a real farm at Leathley, near Otley.

Some years after moving to Esholt, the Commercial officially became known as the Woolpack. Both the Falcon and Commercial were used only for exterior shots.

Cutting remarks

From: Mrs AK Williamson, New Lane, East Ardsley, Wakefield, West

Yorkshire.

WELL said, Mick Taylor, (Yorkshire Post, July 29) criticising your "miles of column inches" of special pleading against the necessary cuts of various services.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park is just one example, and I note your quote from David Butterworth, its chief executive, who said that the cuts in its budget mean "we would have to take a complete re-evaluation of everything we do and how

we do it".

Excellent, bring it on, and the sooner the better.

If Mr Butterworth has no stomach for it, let's find someone else who

has.

Oh, yes, and let him concentrate on cutting the huge bureaucracy not the "coal face" workers such as the park rangers.