HAVING read in the Examiner that there is a proposal to use land at Farnley Hey near Castle Hill as a cemetery I feel compelled to voice my opinion on this scheme.

Firstly, this is Green Belt land. Secondly, people visit this area to enjoy the vast uninterrupted views all around, not a cemetery. Thirdly, parts of this road will be extremely difficult to negotiate in bad weather and, finally, it is difficult to even imagine long processions of cars and a hearse trying to drive along this narrow and dangerous road.

Another reason against it is that there will be people visiting the cemetery at all times and the access in and out will have to be provided for on what is not the safest of roads.

Surely there will be an open meeting or an opportunity for Huddersfield people to object to this proposal?

After all, it could affect us all one day!

Mary McKenzie

Almondbury

Repairs priorities

I WAS not surprised to read your report (Examiner, August 2) of a man falling through a gap in the wall at Carriage Drive, Berry Brow. It was the proverbial ‘accident waiting to happen’.

The vertical drop is 4.5m, not 3m and the man was lucky not to fall onto the remnants of the collapsed wall.

In January this year I rang Kirklees Highways to report the damaged wall but no action was taken until after my email on February 12 when a flimsy, plastic warning fence was erected which soon collapsed.

Since then nothing has been done. The wall is definitely not in the process of ‘being repaired’.

However, in the intervening six months Kirklees Highways has repaired, within a fortnight, a wall on Meltham Road damaged in a crash which posed no danger to the public.

I think Highways needs to get its priorities right when the safety of the public is at stake.

S Lockwood

Berry Brow

Waste of money

THOSE needing care in Kirklees are to be charged more due to the cost-cutting measures brought in by national government, according to local councillors.

What a laugh! The Examiner is full of local Kirklees waste every week.

This week £700,000 unpaid bills plus a further £800,000 for new meters due to Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing’s inability to keep track of what’s going on.

Last week £80,000 for short term prisoners who have ‘no-one to talk to’, £180,000 for prisoners with alcohol problems and £55,000 for a helpline for private shopkeepers.

This adds up to a staggering £2m-plus over only two weeks.

Add to this the £68,000 for the council leader and councillors’ expenses and this could translate to about 2.5m journeys at £1 a journey (just introduced) for those needing transport to day care etc.

The current government made no pretence about the difficulties facing this country in putting right the Blair/Brown years of waste, but our own councillors are, in my view, neglecting our needy by ignoring what’s going on under their noses.

When further redundancies are planned perhaps Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing managers together with some of our councillors should be top of the list!

R Horsfall

TaxPayers' Alliance

Burning the flag

IT might be appropriate if the folly of the St George’s Square could be used for a suitable public purpose.

Other readers may well have their ideas – the stocks for vandals and petty thieves or maybe the pillory for lazy councillors. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons might be approached for out-of-date tomatoes and eggs.

We could have a funeral pyre of European Union flags on July 31 each year.

On this day we can fondly turn our minds to those controlling more and more of our once-proud country, the commissars who take billions in taxes from us each year.

These are the people who enforce the 48-hour week, making the NHS so much more difficult to run, who set up the Euro currency, were warned of the risks and blithely ignored them well knowing that in the event the currency gave way then no problem – just jack up the taxes on the member states.

One EU golden rule above all – no fault, no resignation, no apology.

It is true that a massive EU flag burn won’t cut the influence of those running this dreadful show – but won’t it make us all feel better!

Then, on August 1, there can be a rising from the ashes, a huge white Yorkshire Rose bush, to be celebrated and enjoyed and to give us all some hope that perhaps, after all, the commissars in Brussels cannot destroy everything that is good and worthwhile in our lives.

Charles Jones

Marsh

Pretty Square

I HAVE to say how lovely St George’s Square looked in the photo in Wednesday’s All Our Yesterdays. A lot better than what we have now.

Tina Roberts

Lepton

Cascade cleaner

WELL done Charlie Cartwright (Examiner, August 3).What a super bloke!

Go on Kirklees, let him clean up the cascade in St George’s Square.

That way everyone benefits. Especially Kirkwood Hospice.

Good Luck Charlie.

A Kershaw

Crosland Moor

Raffle response

MAY I, on behalf of Honley Male Voice Choir, offer our apologies to anyone who might have been offended by any of our raffle ticket sellers at the Beaumont Park Yorkshire Day event on Sunday.

The raffle for which the first prize is a £3,000 luxury cruise is to raise money for our 75th anniversary celebrations next year.

We were enthusiastic but I think that Uncle Grumpy (Mailbag, August 5) has greatly overstated the case when he says that the aggressive salesmanship of the ticket sellers spoilt the day.

I do not accept that we were aggressive in any way.

We approached people we thought might be interested in buying a ticket with a smile and with good humour and, as far as I know, no-one complained on the day.

Uncle Grumpy – a pity he has to hide under a pseudonym – is wrong when he says tickets were being sold while the band was playing.

Our two sellers made sure they spoke to people during the interval so no-one was inconvenienced and I am sure that no-one felt intimidated.

I was selling tickets in another part of the park where we had a put up a gazebo and where we were selling CDs for charity and handing out recruitment leaflets and I can assure you that the whole exercise was carried out in a friendly, humorous fashion. We offended no-one.

It is worth pointing out that over the years Honley Male Voice Choir has raised many thousands of pounds for charitable causes including Kirkwood Hospice, West Yorkshire Forget Me Not Trust and Yorkshire Cancer Research and I am sure the public will not resent us trying to raise funds with the minimum of fuss.

If Uncle Grumpy happens to be at the Emley Show today he will see choir members out and about selling raffle tickets and CDs and trying to recruit new members.

Please do come along to our stand where you will be assured of a warm, Yorkshire welcome.

Stan Solomons

Honley Male Voice Choir Public Relations Officer

Helicopter costs

I READ with interest the news item ‘Theft tip-off’ (Examiner, August 4) and wondered – not for the first time – on the cost-effectiveness of the West Yorkshire Police helicopter in these incidents.

On this occasion two men were arrested on suspicion of theft from a tip.

Presumably the arrests were made by police officers on the ground so how much has that cost so far?

The police, in common with other public services, have to make spending cuts so might I suggest they start by getting rid of the helicopter?

Does anyone know how much it costs to run the helicopter? I’d like to know.

Austin Myall

Springwood