I JUST wanted to write in to thank everyone who came out and made Festival of Light 2010 such a huge success.
Despite the snow and very cold temperatures I was delighted to see thousands of smiling faces in Huddersfield on Friday and Saturday evenings enjoying the show in the square – and what a show it was!
High-flying angels floating in front of the train station isn’t something you see every day – and the well-timed snow shower on the Friday night added to the spectacle.
As you’ll know, this was the first time we extended the festival, bringing even more entertainment and attractions into town and putting the big show on for two nights.
We decided to do this, not only to give everyone a bigger event to enjoy, but also to boost trade in our shops, bars and restaurants.
Several shopkeepers I spoke to have had their busiest Saturday in several years as many people from outside the area chose to come and do their Christmas shopping in Huddersfield while enjoying the festival. It was also great to see so many people re-discovering the magnificent Byram Arcade and its independent shops at the same time as joining in with the dances!
So thank you to everyone who piled on the layers and came to enjoy the festival – we’d love to know what you thought of the event so please fill in the survey on the festival website (www.huddersfieldlightfest.co.uk) and you’ll be entered into our prize draw.
Clr Mehboob Khan
Leader of Kirklees Council
Riddled with cheating
SHOCK horror! England lose World Cup 2018 bid!
What do English football supporters expect – fair play? Excuse me, but you do watch the game each week, don’t you?
The game I once loved has become riddled with cheating in every game I see, albeit on TV.
From players claiming throw-ins to corners which are not theirs, to diving and feigning injury.
Players confronting referees nose to nose. Managers bleating after each game when decisions have gone against them.
Please look at golf and snooker where fouls are self-declared to see the difference.
The aforementioned degeneration of our once ‘beautiful game’ has, of course, evolved because of the obscene amounts of money involved.
Players and managers have to retain league status at all costs.
The whole ethos of football now involves cheating and is embraced and accepted by the supporters so long as it goes their way. If the cheating occurs at grass roots level – literally – how can we expect fair play at the top?
By the way, I used to attend matches but became embittered as players’ salaries soared and players’ bodies dived!
It’s wrong that Rooney, for example, earns in one week what a nurse earns in 10 years!
Terry Baxter
Meltham
Lethal on our roads
I AM writing as a distressed resident of Kirklees having just passed a serious accident on the A62 at Marsden.
I travelled towards Huddersfield on this road and it was absolutely lethal! It was inevitable that someone would end up seriously hurt.
I am outraged that some less major roads have been treated and yet one which is a main route from Huddersfield to Manchester and is a bus route has remained so bad.
Should it really take something as drastic as this where people’s lives are put at risk to get some grit on our roads?
Michelle Haigh
Marsden
Labour and the NHS
I’D like to thank PF (All Labour’s fault, Mailbag, November 29) for giving us an excellent example of how dangerous it is to look at the past through Tory blue-rinsed spectacles.
PF says that “Labour are responsible for the mess we are in and no-one else.’’
I could point out that we are all caught in a world-wide credit-crunch which started in the USA.
I could point out that until that came along the Tories were publicly committed to matching Labour’s spending plans.
I don’t know about you, PF, but that tells me that there was no “... black hole in our economy.’’ Otherwise, why did they promise that?
Instead, I want to pick up on his/her attack on Labour’s record on our NHS.
I think this undermines all PF says. According to PF, Labour spent but “did not create ... better patient care.’’
To show this up for the piffle it is, we need only look at the Examiner in 1996/7 when numerous headlines showed that the NHS was in crisis due to Tory neglect.
The average waiting time for NHS operations was 18 months. People died waiting for treatment.
Labour promised to cut waiting times to 18 weeks maximum. It did it.
Surprise, surprise, it got no credit from most of our ‘news’ papers for this magnificent achievement.
The problem is that we tend to take things for granted.
As I’ve said before, many of us won’t know what we had until it’s gone.
The Coalition has dropped the 18 week promise and Labour’s fast-track cancer referral.
There is no way that reducing an 18-month wait for treatment to 18 weeks is not ‘creating better patient care’, PF.
R A Vant
Holmfirth
Great time at panto
THIS weekendŠI had the privilege, along with Lepton Beavers, to visit an excellent pantomime, Beauty and the Beast, at the Theatre Royal Wakefield.Š
Everything about it was very good – the dancing, the singing and it was very funny with a lot of audience participation.ŠŠ
We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It is well worth a visit.
Bubba
Almondbury
Missing school bus
THE school bus service from Marsden to Colne Valley High School hasn’t run again this morning (December 3) – it’s obviously not fit for purpose.
I know it has been snowy and icy but the normal public service buses have been running up and down the Colne Valley so I don’t understand why the school buses have been so unreliable.
The school tells me the bus company didn’t send the bus. The bus company tells me the school didn’t notify them of time changes.
I don’t really care whose fault it is, I just want my son to get to school!
And, before anyone asks, I don’t have a car and had already left the house before I realised what was going on so I had no way of getting my son to school myself.
Kirklees Council manages the contract with the bus company – and pays for it with our council tax – so I’d like them to step in and help to sort this problem out, please.
It seems that communication needs to be improved.
And perhaps children could be allowed to use their school bus passes on public services if the school bus doesn’t arrive? Or is it time to cancel the school bus contract altogether, and pay for individual children to have passes to use on any public bus that will get them where they need to go?
Someone needs to deal with this transport problem quickly or Marsden children will miss out on more education this winter.
Fiona Weir
Marsden
A reason for closing
HAVING a quick read through the story ‘Why so quick to close our schools?’ (Examiner, December 2) I was left wondering about the mentality of some.
Headteachers do not close schools without consultation.
They close their schools as a last resort. They know that schooling for some parents is like having a child minder for when they go to work.
They realise also that parents who do work find it extremely difficult to find alternative arrangements for their children at such short notice.
The headteachers are damned if they close and damned if they do not.
The safety of these children in their care is paramount. They would not like the feeling of guilt if something happened to one of their charges because of adverse weather conditions.
You can just imagine these parents who were saying that the schools should remain open being the first in the compensation claims queue. Headteachers are thinking of your child’s safety. You should be thanking them for that.
R J Bray
Shelley
