AS a former headteacher, who never went on strike, I am disgusted at the behaviour of the major teachers’ unions in proposing further strike action.
These are the very people who constantly tell parents that every day of school education is vital – until, that is, their own selfish desires are taken into account.
Then the child’s education becomes far less important than the teachers’ pensions, the teachers’ holidays etc.
And this at a time when the system is failing our children in their thousands; when standards are falling yearly; when there are more illiterates leaving school than at any time in our history; when teachers have more support staff and smaller classes than ever before.
Further, they are also the people who subscribe to the impertinent belief that schools have the right to punish parents if they take their own children out of school without ‘permission’. What hypocrisy!
If I had children in school still (thank goodness they are grown and have escaped the system) I would be talking to fellow parents and to a solicitor.
I would be seeking the possibility of suing the school governors and the individual teachers who, by taking and condoning strike action, deprive my children of their legal entitlement to education for the specified number of days in the year.
I just hope that there are parents out there with the time and the will to explore this course of action.
The teachers’ unions claim to be ‘professional’ – may I remind them that the definition of a professional is ‘one who takes his client’s interests as his own’, not one who puts his own interests before all others.
Richard A Bulloch
Meltham
Pay up for policing
YET again Steve King of Huddersfield Town Supporters Association (HTSA) has got onto the wrong end of the argument, (Wednesday’s Examiner, ‘Don’t make clubs pay for all policing’).
All sporting and entertainment events should have to cover the full cost of policing that holding their event causes.
Most of these events would have relatively minor costs apart from the sport that he purports to speak for which, as is widely known, requires high levels of policing throughout the whole area a match is held simply because of disruption caused by behaviour of its supporters.
It’s no good saying that this club or that club is working hard to sort things out. The simple matter is that problems start with behaviour on the pitch and continue with the failure of the majority of good supporters to get the minority on side, so to speak, off the pitch.
The simple question, in this day and age of tight money, is why should the majority of Council Tax payers have to cover costs incurred by single interest groups, whatever the event in question?
N Hinchliffe
Birchencliffe
Reasons don’t add up
WE have just read the reasons for Keep Holmfirth Special’s objections to the Tesco planning application for Holmfirth.
These include that, in KHS’s view, the town of Holmfirth will already have sufficient choice when Lidl opens its small store combined with the Co-op, which is clearly nonsense.
Lidl admitted at their public open days that it is not intended to provide the town with a one-stop family shop, and nor can the Co-op demonstrate this. The Co-op is also expensive when compared to the large supermarkets such as Tesco, Morrisons etc.
If we don’t like that, we are told – well, we can travel to Meltham or ‘look forward’ to travelling into Huddersfield for our family shop.
How out of touch is Keep Holmfirth Special? Do they genuinely believe that everyone wants to or can afford to run a car, buy the fuel and have the luxury of time to do this – or would it be something we could look forward to doing on the buses?
Their ‘let them eat cake’ attitude is very typical of this organisation, I fear.
They are also concerned that a Tesco in Holmfirth would threaten the £300 million that Kirklees enjoys from tourism to the area – apparently we are supposed to believe that the tourists would be so affronted and disturbed by the site of a Tesco in Holmfirth (that ‘no amount of landscaping could hide’) that they would stay away in droves!
As opposed to the currently beautiful view of the proposed Tesco site, which is an old, disused garage, which has been derelict and full of contaminated waste for many years. Really?
The only real objection that could conceivably be true is an increase in traffic during peak trading hours which Tesco have been forthright in stating, and are looking at measures to mitigate.
We are also reliably informed by KHS that surrounding roads will become congested, leading to pinch-points which will reduce the quality of life for those of us who live close to the store.
I have one question, has anyone from KHS ever been stuck behind the large delivery vans going to and from the local Co-ops who think absolutely nothing about completely blocking our narrow roads and access to our high school? Because the real residents of Holmfirth certainly have and we have the proof of this, not just conjecture.
At least the Tesco store will be accessed by their deliveries from an adequately wide road.
To argue that the proposed site is ‘out of town’ is total nit-picking, when compared to the Lidl site, we are talking metres not miles.
Despite all their many objections KHS have not been constructive and have not come up with any better location for a decent sized store in the town centre.
The local traders who are founding members of KHS (formerly Holmfirth against Tesco) and who do not state exactly who their funding is from, are simply looking out for their own interests, and are too short sighted to see what a boom the additional footfall will be to our town.
Julie Anderson
Wooldale resident
Tesco clear conscience
IN response to Linda Kelly’s letter regarding the new proposed Tesco development in Holmfirth. (Tuesday’s Examiner Mailbag, ‘Holmfirth Tesco will cause roads chaos’)
There are supporters of the Tesco development who are business owners in Holmfirth, some are members of Holme Valley Voices (HVV).
My own parents had a successful business in Holmfirth and thus I know many of the business owners.
Do I want to see their businesses close? No. Do I think there is a possibility it could happen? Yes. But I don’t think that a supermarket will do that, the economy may well though.
The vast majority of people already do their major shop in other towns, so that will not change.
The difference is those cars instead of travelling through Holmfirth will stop here; making Holmfirth the closest shopping centre for all those little bits that you get away from the supermarket. Bringing jobs and money in to the local economy.
There is plenty of parking in the centre of Holmfirth, the only time it really gets difficult is when there is a major town event on and then business you are so concerned about are busy. As for the Tesco bus, surely the people who would use that will currently use the bus anyway, so there is no real disadvantage either way.
The traffic flow will be slowed by the installation of traffic lights at the new junction created when and if, a Tesco is built. This will reduce the speeding and the installation of crossing points at the said junction will make it safer for all to cross.
Finally, just because I and other pro-supermarket development supporters do not share your opinion there is no shame in it, my conscience is clear. Regardless of if the development goes ahead or not.
Sally Duncan
Holmfirth
Thanks to Patricia
I HAVE seen the article about Patricia O’Brien retiring from the HRI, (Weekend Examiner, April 7, ‘Patricia’s farewell to HRI’)
Last June I had a major stroke at the Aviation Park at Manchester Airport, I then had the most amazing treatment, starting with the help by the paramedics who treated me initially and then took me to Salford Hospital.
I was treated in Salford for four days in a wonderful way, and then transferred to Ward 21 at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
Again I was very well looked after at the HRI, on the Sunday morning I was talking to the sister on duty.
As I now find out it was Patricia who was the Sister, having seen her photograph in the Examiner. She took me down to the foyer to buy a newspaper. We then talked for about half an hour, including about her son in Spain, and I felt that this time started my recovery process.
I was discharged the next day, so I was not able to thank her for her help as I didn’t see her again.
Since then I have been very well looked after by the community team, the stroke nurse, the occupational therapist and the speech therapist, I am sure I cannot name them for ethical reasons, but you know who you are.
I am assured that my recovery has been amazing, and all the above people, as well as my wife and family, have helped in so many ways, and continue to do so.
Thank you NHS, thanks to you all.
Stephen Haywood
Honley
