YP Letters: Burberry axe would be huge blow for town

From: Edna Taylor, Castleford.
The Burberry factory in Castleford.The Burberry factory in Castleford.
The Burberry factory in Castleford.

MAY I please appeal to the relevant people not to ever close down that wonderful and historic building that is Burberry in Castleford?

That building had millions of pounds spent on it during the years I was employed there – it had Canadian wood floors fitted all over.

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The firm also employed thousands of people. I worked there for 32 years from 1964 to 1997 as a telephone receptionist and many of my close friends did so too.

The 800-strong workforce was the salt of the earth. Some people who are no longer with us worked for as many as 47 years. They worked their hearts and souls out and helped to keep the town and all the shops open since it opened in 1937.

I believe it opened as a tailors just before the last world war – they made clothing for the forces to the Royal Family. If they close that factory down the people who are employed will be devastated and it would have a major effect on the town centre.

It would cause havoc and heartbreak to thousands, and serious financial troubles for so many. The factory is ideal for getting there by transport with the new multi-million pound bus station just across the road.

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Thousands of new houses and estates are being built all around this area and I believe now there are many Polish people employed there, which is good not just for the town but for our country.

I remember that on Fridays when we were all paid we went straight into town shopping. We always felt secure in our working lives. Year in year out, Burberry was, and still is, one of the main employers. My three adult children all started their working lives there and it gave them all a good start.

To travel to Leeds is quite a long way and transport is very expensive. Please think hard before putting people out of work.

The factory has a great history and all the shops in the Castleford town thrive on that very factory being there.

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Please don’t put so many people out of work and destroy Castleford.

Let’s not carry on screaming

From: Susan Towle, York.

HOW has it come about that the seemingly acceptable reaction to anything at all these days, whether it be expected or surprising, is to scream?

I remember when this was an indication of fright, and the normal response to anything pleasant or a job well done was “jolly good show”.

All right, maybe this is slightly tongue in cheek, but the current common habit of screeching seems to me similarly ridiculous.

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When Prince Harry recently appeared in public for the first time in Nottingham with his fiancée Meghan Markle, the reception from the crowd when the couple alighted from their car was a unanimous screech.

Now this behaviour is possibly understandable for pop stars, but for royals? Similarly, when Joe McFadden won Strictly Come Dancing, he expressed the usual sentiments about not in his wildest dreams did he think he could win etc, whereas his professional partner Katya Jones seemed unable to utter a single word, instead – guess what? – screeching at the top of her voice. Oh dear!

Indiscipline is criminal

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

MOST of the disorderly behaviour and crime committed by young people can be laid at the modern idea that discipline is not the way to bring up youngsters.

One has only to go into supermarkets and see tots completely out of control. I have seen children riding scooters and demanding sweets. The parent refuses, the child has a strop and the parent gives in.

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Teachers tell children to call them by their first name. I would never want the schools to be run as mine was, with a headmaster who wielded the cane for the slightest mistake, but a complete lack of abidance of the rules does no favour to the child’s later life.

Build prefabs

From: A Hague, Leeds.

I READ that 18 new houses will soon be ready for sale costing from £330,000. Great if you can afford it, which few in Leeds can.

Why don’t we build prefabs, like we used to after the last war? Many tenants were happy in them.

It’s no good increasing the standards of houses if we can’t afford to buy them.

Other countries build them, so why don’t we?

Home truth

From: Max Nottingham, St Faith’s Street, Lincoln.

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HOMELESSNESS is growing across the country. People are in tents and in shop doorways in all town and cities. This is a disgrace in winter, and especially at Christmas time.

Yet Theresa May’s government can only make vague promises about dealing with what they call “rough sleepers”. The tragic situation needs to be given greater priority.

Mum’s word

From: Jim Beck, Doncaster.

REGARDING Yorkshire dialect, on occasions my mother would exclaim “I’m fair clemmed”, which meant either that she was very cold or else very hungry but, in my 91st year, I can’t remember which! Anyone help?