YP Letters: Inspiring tales of real life hard graft

I WAS heartened to read of the success of the Reeve family business in last week’s Country Week edition and thank you for continuing to feature these success stories which will be an inspiration to others.

In every corner of Yorkshire there will be similar stories of families who have faced difficulties and change but somehow, with a combination of enterprise and hard work, manage to succeed.

Here in our village of Cawthorne, population 1,500, we have family businesses who, in recent times, have also forged successful flourishing enterprises.

Our post office has been transformed to serve the community, the village store is fizzing with energy, our garden centre has recently gone through a transformation and the Cannon Hall Farm, recently featured on national TV, now acknowledged one of the best in the country.

All owe their success to enterprising families who have faced challenge and uncertainty to successfully serve the changing needs of customers.

Their success comes from hard work and the determination and enthusiasm to make things happen, for them the rewards are well worth the effort.

They show that in this uncertain world there are still tremendous opportunities for people who are willing to compete with imagination. For them business is by no means dull and repetitive, beset with difficulties. Rather it can be exciting and profitable.

Dogs rarely kept on lead

From: Pamela Frankland, Hull Road, Dunnington, York.

RE Sarah Todd’s excellent recent article regarding dog owners.

The signs placed on footpaths state ‘dogs on lead or close heel’. They rarely are either, with dogs racing the wildlife all over the fields. The signs were erected by local authorities, not by tenants or landowners, so why do not all dog owners observe the rules?

Joe Public is usually very abusive if questioned, however politely. The sheep torn to pieces is not a pretty sight, animals are expensive to buy – especially tups (males). It is a horrible experience, which we personally suffered when I was a girl at Northallerton. Our ponies and cattle too received this sort of attention. A heartbreaking sight.

Please observe the Country Code.

Blair only boosts Brexit

From: Ian Oglesby, Stamford Bridge, York

PERHAPS Tony Blair still considers that he is an automatic choice to be President of the German-controlled United States of Europe.

I can’t recall him expressing any true remorse over the ongoing tragedy of Iraq or the death of WMD inspector Dr David Kelly. Blair’s backing for ‘Remain’ will have increased the ‘Leave’ vote which would have been far larger but for the threats of doom from parts of the Establishment, the Bank of England and some mega businesses, all of which have proved to be sheer confabulated bias.

Hypocrisy of MP on abuse

From: Joe Marjoram, Woodhall Road, Calverley, Leeds.

TOM Richmond is right to draw attention to the need for greater respect in politics, particularly in the age of social media (The Yorkshire Post, february 25).

How unfortunate then that he alights upon Naz Shah MP (Labour, Bradford West) as one of his examples. This is the same Naz Shah who was suspended by the Labour Party for her vile anti-Semitic tweets. When she belatedly apologised, it was the typical politicians non-apology for “offence caused”, rather than a substantive apology for being egregiously offensive.

Unless Ms Shah revisits her apology (and her anti-Semitism), her superficially wise words encouraging greater humanity in the political realm will be forever drowned out by the echo of her own hypocrisy.

From: David Thomas, Knaresborough.

I AGREE with Tom Richmond. The longer offensive social media posts are left unchallenged, the worse the problem becomes. Perhaps the authorities should start with those MPs who are out of order on Twitter.

Disturbing precedent

From: Christine Hyde, Scarr End Lane, Dewsbury.

ANNE Frank died in 1945 as a victim of the Holocaust not because she had done anything wrong, but because of who she was as a Jew.

In Nazi Germany, informants in civil society were ready to tell the authorities where people like her were. How worrying now, to find that our Government asked Leeds-based NHS Digital to ‘inform’ on addresses of ‘suspected’ illegal immigrants, and it has agreed.

Mumblevision is a turn-off

From: Pauline Burgess, Ramsbottom, Bury, Lancashire.

THANK you Andrew Vine for restoring my health worries (The Yorkshire Post, February 28). I really was beginning to think my hearing was defective. I love a good TV drama, but not these days. What on earth is happening to the sound, particularly with all the modern technology?

From: Valerie Fawcett, Park Crescent, Addingham, Ilkley.

I SO agree with Andrew Vine’s ‘Mumblevision’ column. I was one of the many who complained about Happy Valley. I also very quickly turned off SS-GB. Also, why does background “music” have to be played which is totally irrelevant and so often drowns out the dialogue?