THE Castle Hill pub is on the agenda again – and I remember when Harry Bassett almost rebuilt the pub single-handedly throughout the winter and beyond – his only company being his two fine dogs.
He finally finished his enhanced pub which flourished until it changed hands and became an hotel.
Eventually the Thandi brothers took it over and then wanted an extended hotel pub.
It quickly became obvious to half of Huddersfield that it would be far bigger than the previous one.
This could be seen at an early stage, but it got bigger.
So why was it allowed to go on until the girder work reached three stories before Kirklees Council woke up and eventually got it pulled down quicker than it went up?
The Thandis wish to rebuild to the same design as the old one which looks pretty compatible. The voters seem to be 50/50. The opposition want the status quo, stating it would be better to not spoil these ancient earthworks.
Are these the same people who voted to build houses up to and perhaps surrounding these previous earthworks? Like the Acropolis is surrounded in Athens up to almost its very foundations.
Are they also the same people who voted for a cemetery in this district, miles from anywhere on a narrow road and on easily drenched ground?
Might they not have pondered about using St Luke’s hospital grounds? Easily accessible from all over the Huddersfield district, surrounded by tall walls, already made roads and any amount of buildings out of which to pick any suitable for a cemetery?
Just leave the Thandi brothers to, having already apologised for their error, get on and build to the latest plans.
It may be possible to have the new pub and do some excavations. If this is not possible and the excavators take their bat home, then get in touch with Time Team.
Three days and job done with the Time Team lads having a pint in the new old pub.
Get it built.
E W SHEARD
Kirkheaton
Bring troops home
I HAVE come to the conclusion that our Prime Minister David Cameron prefers spending millions of pounds a day on an illegal war than spending it on Britain.
He knows we are in a mess and what is more we will be in this mess while we are out there, wasting lives, and money for what?
I know it was Tony Blair who started all this, but David Cameron is now in the driving seat and he should know we are the losers.
So bring them all back and spend the money making jobs for the young people of Britain. He would then be doing something for the country he is supposed to be running to make it better.
Not until we see this conflict end will we have a better Britain.
H BARROWCLOUGH
Waterloo
Sad day for George
WITH sadness I read the article in the Examiner about the closure of the George Hotel.
In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, as a professional photographer I took several wedding receptions held there. It was always of a high class.
Later I attended their instructor courses organised by the Ministry of Employment and Productivity and met many people from different districts.
I was invited by our MP Barry Sheerman who held a reception there to commemorate the anniversary of the D-Day landing in Normandy.
Only recently I was invited twice by the Royal Air Force Association for their Remembrance Day luncheons by their president, MP Jason McCartney, where many wartime memories were brought to my recollection.
I still hope this isn’t the end of the George Hotel as after the war quite a few ex-Polish soldiers were employed there and for Huddersfield it was like a landmark.
TONY SOSNA
Huddersfield
A lenient sentence
‘CONDUCTOR punched for collecting tickets’ (Examiner, January 4).
I read with incredulity the article concerning the ticket collector who was attacked on Deighton station, being pushed to the ground and punched – and for what?
Trying to do his job!
While I do appreciate we live in the world’s daftest country, the man, with a history of violence (last one July 2012) was sentenced to a pathetic 12 months community order, an activity requirement and curfew.
What is the matter with these magistrates? It is their feeble response to events like this that allows yobs to thrive on our streets.
BARRY FOWLER
Berry Brow
Rewarding failure
MOST people reading this will have grown up in a world where the two leading philosophies have been communism and capitalist.
Communism seems to have declined or been rejected while capitalism appears to have stopped working.
The way in which capitalism used to work and the reason for its widespread acceptance was that it benefited everyone in some way from the richest to the poorest.
I used to think of it as a vacuum cleaner which collected all the wealth raised from profits and taxation in the country. All the 20s, tens and fivers went into the pockets of the rich and powerful and the pound notes and coins filtered down and rejuvenated industry which, in turn, rewarded the workers. There was usually enough left to pay benefits to those outside the system.
The financial or banking sectors supported the entrepreneurs and industries.
Innovation and enterprise were the fuel which provided the forward motion of the nation. Optimism and success were the key words.
In today’s society the money has ceased to flow, avarice has led those with the power to keep everything – including the coppers – and fill their own pockets so starving the golden geese to the point of collapse.
The quickest way to become rich nowadays seems to be to fail in whatever office or position you hold, be sacked or moved sideways, but rewarded with an enormous pay off.
Where we once admired and rewarded success, we now richly reward failure.
Many of the politicians of old who had come up through the ranks of the British class system held values which were shared and understood by those who voted them into power.
We now have a clique of parliamentarians who have been bred for power and have no experience of life outside of their own privileged upbringing and little, if anything, in common with the majority of the population.
John Langford
Lepton
Wonderful HRI ward
AFTER reading the letter regarding Ward 20 at HRI, I too would like to say how brilliant all the staff were.
I was admitted to Ward 20 with a severe leg infection and spent 10 weeks in a side room.
The nurses were always popping in to see if I was OK – no task was too much for them.
I would also like to thank Jane the domestic cleaner who kept me in stitches (pardon the pun) with her stories.
From a grateful patient
Huddersfield
Patching the potholes
HERE we go again – two days of frost and the roads are crumbling again.
More frost is forecast so more potholes. I took particular notice on Taylor Street, Golcar. The road was patched in a fashion in the summer of 2012, but it was left with joints wide open waiting for disaster.
When water got in the joints and froze the patches crumbled, leaving a large pothole with the patches scattered all over the road. I knew this would happen.
Nowadays some patches are put down like cow pats – not level with the road surface or sealed with tar. This is asking for trouble when the frost comes.
A good example of patching can be seen at Asda in Brackenhall where patching is level with the surface and joints sealed with tar.
I suggest the powers that be take a trip to Asda, take note and put into practise a good standard of work.
Roy Chadwick
Golcar
Poppy appeal
THE total raised by the appeal in Meltham in 2012 is £7,976, a little down on last year but still a fantastic result in these difficult economic times.
Special thanks to all the generous people who contributed, our band of volunteer poppy sellers, the manager, Joe Aveyard, and his pleasant and helpful staff at Morrisons Supermarket and especially to our tireless Poppy Appeal Organiser, Peter Foden who makes it all possible.
The appeal was particularly poignant following the tragic death of young Meltham soldier Tom Wroe in Afganistan last year and his family remain in our thoughts and prayers..
Sara Thorpe
Secretary, Meltham and Meltham Mills, Royal British Legion
