Why we should try to keep Easter special

With this in mind, I want to try to protect the coming Christian Festival, Easter, from being hijacked and taken down a similar route to Christmas.

Recently I visited Booths’ and saw their new, in-store signs. I am sure the motives of the supermarket in the choice of wording for its Easter signs were simply concerned with merchandising and trying to maximise sales, but the signs are quietly offensive to many Christians in the town who see Easter as more than an excuse for lavish feasting and over-indulgence.

I hope you will permit a gentle reminder of what the coming festival is really about. It is, after all, part of our shared heritage and culture.

Good Friday is “good” because of the benefits that came from the events of that day.

Holy Saturday, the day called “delicious Saturday” on Booths’ signs, was a day of mourning for Jesus’ followers. He had died; he was buried. Naturally, they mourned, they did not feast.

Easter Sunday, called “yummy Sunday” on the signs, is quite simply the most important day in the Christian year. The events of that day transformed the lives of those who witnessed them, and continue to transform lives today. So, of course, in one aspect, Booths’ have got it right; Easter Sunday is a time of celebration.

There is special Easter food for Booths’ to sell and for us to eat such as lamb, hot cross buns, Easter eggs and simnel cake. But, at this time, for Christians throughout the world, the most important Easter food is the bread and wine which they share in remembrance of the events of the first Easter. Let’s enjoy Easter, remember its essence, and try to keep it special, not commercial.

Valerie Smith

Eaton Road, Ilkley

A holy and special time

Eastertide is the most holy and special time Christians. Booth’s supermarket describes it as ‘Good Friday, delicious Saturday, Yummy Sunday, which I find offensive.

Would they dare make such a mockery of a major Muslim, Jewish or Seikh festival? It is time Christians made a stand for their faith.

Jennifer Darvill

Woodlea Lane, Meanwood, Leeds

A missed opportunity

Wharfedale Friends of the Earth supported the application of Yorkshire Water to upgrade the wind turbines at Chelker Reservoir. The new turbines would have produced electricity much more efficiently, providing 80 per cent of the electricity required at the site and exporting to the grid on particularly windy days. They would have made a significant contribution to tackling the problems of climate change and energy security.

Craven have missed an opportunity to progress towards meeting their 2010 target for 18 MW of installed renewable energy.

Anti-Chelker group Pact have attempted to discredit wind energy in general, claiming it is expensive and ineffective. Experience in other countries shows otherwise. Spain and Denmark regularly obtain 30 per cent or more of their electricity from wind, and with the UK being the windiest country in Europe, we could also feasibly reach these levels.

Onshore wind turbines are now cost-competitive with coal-fired power stations and provide genuine carbon-free electricity.

Craven council planning officers investigated local residents’ concerns about noise and safety and found no reason to refuse the application on these grounds. We realise that some local people feel strongly that their enjoyment of our scenic landscape would have been spoilt, but polls of local parish councils who have disclosed their figures show an almost 50:50 spread of opinion.

We would like to see a wider debate about how exactly we should do our bit for climate change and energy security in Yorkshire. Doing nothing is not an option.

Harriet Wood

Wharfedale Friends of the Earth

We need the best talent

Every country in the world is experiencing a major economic downturn. Yet your correspondent Paul Barrett (The need for local election candidates, Ilkley Gazette, February 26) argues that our Parliamentary constituency should not seek the best person to represent our interests!

Parliament is the cockpit for our debates about national and global issues, especially the global recession that has hit other low-debt countries such as Germany and China much harder than ourselves. Why restrict our searches for capable leaders to just local people?

Parliament is not the place for parochial prejudice of any kind. We need the best talent to represent us. No responsible body should limit its searches from just one of 650 constituencies in our country. Yes, the Labour Party in this constituency seeks the very best candidate to be a worthy successor to the widely admired Ann Cryer. That’s why Labour has adopted the same approach that led to Ann’s selection 13 years ago.

Applications from all over our country have been carefully examined through extensive meetings and discussions throughout our local organisations. The short-listed contenders are talking directly to members at meetings and in their homes to ensure we fully test their abilities. They will make their formal presentations in mid-March. Our demands are very high. We wish to match the qualities of Ann Cryer that Ilkley people appreciate.

Andrew Dundas

Parish Ghyll Drive, Ilkley

Such wonderful memories

Memories, memories! I am an Across the Years addict, so what a surprise to turn the page (Ilkley Gazette, February 26) and see my mother smiling at me! Joyce Young was the tutor in last week’s 30-year-old photograph of Amateur Swimming Association teacher hopefuls and their pupils.

I recognise some of her student teachers: John Marcantonio, Cathy Nelson, who was studying as part of her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award and is now teaching yoga, and Sue Betts, standing next to them, who now teaches driving rather than swimming!

The children may well have been pupils at Clevedon House School, Ben Rhydding, as Joyce ran their swimming programme for many years, through the chilly outdoor pool period to undercover bliss! What is certain is they will all have enjoyed weeks of happy, humorous and fun courses because that was the norm for all of Joyce’s classes whether they be vocational, further education, school, club or leisure. The best way to learn!

As ‘sand dancers’ from South Shields on the North East coast where non-swimmers were unheard of, Joyce and I were taken aback to discover that here, despite canals and beautiful rivers and lakes of the countryside, non-swimmers were rampant! Our move to Ilkley looked very grim swimming-wise. However the desire in adults to learn to swim just needed an outlet. Joyce stepped into the breech with classes in Ilkley, Leeds and Shipley.

Shipley College evening classes flourished form one class a week to six, moving from the old Manor Lane pool to the double shallow ended new pool which enabled two classes at once to be taught, myself being the other teacher. Mother and daughter beavered away in an attempt to teach the whole of West Yorkshire to swim! (My own evening classes for Ilkley College boosting the tally as a similar story unravelled). Demand became so great that one enrolment night saw the police drafted in to control the queue! “Where’s the pensioners’ beginners’ class?” There wasn’t one, but pensioners were taking over the adult classes so much they thought a class was dedicated to them!

The thrill of learning to swim, often after horror stories of being thrown in at the deep end in childhood, cannot ever be under-rated. The boost to self-esteem with the feeling of achievement and success is as vital to an adult as a child. So many children and adults succeeded through Joyce’s experience, encouragement and patience. Grandparents and parents discovered the joy of finally swimming with their children, confident that they could at last take care of themselves in water as well as the young ones. Proof that swimming really is a life-skill.

Joyce was based for several years at Aireborough Pool in Guiseley teaching school classes and Trinity & All Saints students (including Adrian Moorhouse our Olympics swimmer and sports commentator whom she had helped when he was younger). In Sunderland she was an integral part of the setting up of a schools swimming programme some years before.

My mother was one of the youngest members of an elite group to hold the RLSS Diploma and throughout her life avidly promoted the Royal Life Saving Society, encouraging everyone to be safe around inland, coastal and swimming pool waters. Her quiet enthusiasm was rewarded by Lord Mountbatten at Buckingham Palace with a Commendation. (I attended too as she was some months pregnant at the time!) Further commendation was given by the Red Cross following the success of her efforts in setting up The Red Cross in South Shields. Her background as a nurse and then as a radiographer complimented this work as well as the world of swimming because she was totally dedicated to every aspect of being physically and mentally healthy and happy.

Joyce would have been 88 in August this year. She would be thrilled to know that her life’s work was still remembered. How time flies, but memories do linger on and I am extremely proud that my mother is part of thousands of people’s memories because they generously included her in their lives.

Thank you, Across The Years, for prompting a daughter, and no doubt many others, to appreciate today the life of ‘one who came before’.

Jana Young

Tarn Court, Ben Rhydding Road, Ilkley

Keep Sutcliffe where he is

I am sure there will be many people who have a view on Peter Sutcliffe, but feel sure that most will feel that he should never be allowed to leave a secure environment, (Keep Ripper locked up for life, Ilkley Gazette, February 26). We have a raft of doctors stating that he seems normal, or, let us put that into context, ‘They are not sure’, so how can it be safe for the public at large? We also have a history of doctors stating that inmates are fit to be allowed out from secure confinement, only for them to commit similar or the same crimes again.

It is unfortunate that hanging was not an option at the time of his conviction, or this problem would not have arisen, but here we are with questionable doctors ability, not able to absolutely give the assurance that he is no longer a threat.

Whichever direction you approach this problem from, there is only one correct answer, and that is, He dies in prison. As for moving him to a different prison so that it is easier for him to receive visitors, no way. He has been unable to escape to date, why introduce a new set of parameters that may be regretted later, especially as it might result in someone’s death. Let us keep the status quo.

A G Goldsbrough

Dale Court, Fieldway, Ilkley

Tesco’s reassurance on traffic matters

We recently sent a newsletter to local residents providing an update on our plans for a new Tesco in Ilkley and have subsequently submitted our proposals. I understand some of your readers have enquiries about traffic and I wanted to provide some reassurance.

Traffic impact has been a key consideration for us during the development of our plans. We’ve worked with traffic consultants and highways officers to ensure that not only do our proposals keep traffic flowing, but also ease pedestrian movement and improve road safety.

Firstly, the new store is designed to provide a service which helps Ilkley residents to do their weekly food shop in the town. Some are currently shopping with us in Ilkley, others are driving out to other towns for the wider range and better shopping experience on offer. The majority of people who will use our new store are already driving their cars through Ilkley.

Whilst we’re freeing up movement on other roads, we understand that there will be an increase of traffic on Railway Road. For this reason, we’re proposing new traffic calming measures on Railway Road, Valley Drive and other nearby roads. These measures will help to make pedestrian access easier and to reduce the traffic speeds, which we’re told by residents can be dangerous at the moment.

We’re also planning to help Bradford Council implement the latest traffic signal technology on the traffic lights around the town. This will improve traffic flows across Ilkley even at peak times. By converting the priority-controlled Mayfield Road/Little Lane junction to a mini-roundabout, we will also increase the capacity here; more than enough to accommodate any additional traffic.

We don’t just want people to drive to the store though and are working with public transport providers to improve the service and access to the store via bus, for example. We’re planning to improve the pedestrian route between the store and the town centre, resurfacing the footways and introducing new lighting. Combined with our plans to make the car park available for short-stay town parking, we believe that this will help increase linked trips to the shops in Ilkley.

Deborah Hayeems

Corporate affairs manager for Tesco

Warning: Our town will never be the same again!

Now that Tesco have resubmitted plans for their proposed new store, it is worth looking into the contents of the proposal and the implications it holds for Ilkley.

Tesco have taken over a year to arrive at their new plans, which are only a cosmetic change to the original. One big difference, the new store would be considerably longer. However, the size and its design will still have a serious and detrimental impact on Ilkley, plus the roof has 11 light and vent ‘chimneys’ which may be eco-friendly, but visually are hideous.

Tesco claim to have had focus group meetings and received hundreds of feedback forms. Were they all with their own staff? A contributor to your Letters page two weeks ago referred to Ilkley becoming a ghost town, a similar turn of events happened in Anglesey, and that is so very true.

As for Tesco referring to the (proposed) Ilkley Store as ‘your store’, it is both presumptious and insulting. Tesco bang the drum, making out shoppers have to go out of town as there is insufficient choice here. Wrong. The choice to shop elsewhere is ours, and our excellent road, rail and bus links to all the major towns and cities in West Yorkshire give us freedom of choice. Tesco have not demonstrated a need for extra retail – we have excellent shops, Booths, M&S, Co-op and two Tescos. We must spend our money in Ilkley according to Tesco – spend it in Tesco – their greed knows no bounds.

The store will be ‘on slilts’, which I feel is a security hazard, provide 467 car parking spaces, the roads won’t be a problem, despite the fact the parking area will be three times larger than at the current store. They will provide bicycle racks, who goes shopping on a bike – apart from for the odd pint of milk and bread?

Unapologetically, Tesco are targeting the retail stores we have and the centre of Ilkley to justify their ‘megastore’ and, of course, are looking to the wider area to tempt shoppers into Ilkley. Traffic chaos! Once they have their way, if indeed they do, Ilkley will not be the same again. Be warned!

Peter McFarlin

Brewery Road, Ilkley

Bring on the new Tesco – the sooner, the better

Further to B J Cusson’s letter (Roadworks have highlighted traffic concern, Ilkley Gazette, February 26) these Irate Luddites spout their over-exaggerated threats of doom and gloom should Tesco be able to build a larger store.

The existing store, whilst providing a great service for the people of Ilkley and the surrounding area, is not large enough to support the ever-growing population and is unable to offer the complete range of goods available in other stores.

In these difficult times, we should be grateful that a successful organisation like Tesco is willing to invest millions of pounds in our town, providing an additional 100-plus jobs for local people, maybe, for example, some of the unfortunate Woolworths staff.

The vast silent majority of Ilkley residents will benefit from the new store. This is Ilkley 2009 not Hebden Bridge of the 1970s.

Bring on the new bigger Tesco, the sooner the better.

M J Exley

Low Mill Fold, Old Lane, Addingham