IT is with some sadness that I have been following the articles about the Booth’s tragedy.

My dad, William (Bill) Carter, worked for Booth’s for over 40 years, but was away, fighting in the war at the time of the fire. A number of close relatives, who had also worked at Booth’s, had just left so no immediate family members lost their lives.

The tragedy was a frequent topic of conversation as I was growing up and my mother and father kept alive in our house the memories of some of those who perished.

As I read the articles I felt I had known both George Thirkill and Barbara Chadwick. My dad spoke constantly of his bravery and my mother, and grandmother, often recalled Barbara’s fall from the window ledge and how terrifying it must have been.

My father continued to work for Booth’s when he returned from the war and it was relocated to Hoyland Common near Barnsley. He used to drive the remaining employees from Huddersfield to Barnsley every day and was known as ‘the man who always got through’ since no matter how severe the weather conditions, the men always made it to work.

My generation is possibly the last who will have some individual recollections of the disaster and I think it is fitting that a plaque to commemorate all those who lost their lives would be a fitting memorial to honour the victims as part of the town’s history.

Pauline Thorburn

Rastrick

Memorial plaque

I WOULD like to thank the Huddersfield Examiner for the supportive coverage in the campaign for a memorial commemorating those who lost their lives in the Booth’s factory fire and those who suffered appalling injuries and years of trauma and bereavement following the tragedy.

I think a special mention is deserving of Keith Henselman who lost his older brother, and who is now actively participating in the project which also includes his own personal contribution, that being an artwork depicting the terrible scene on that fateful morning.

Mr Henselman hopes that this will eventually be available for public viewing.

Thank you also for those who have expressed their support by writing in to the Examiner Mailbag and the voters in Tuesday’s poll expressing 87.7% in favour of a memorial plaque being installed at the site on John William Street.

Touchingly, earlier this week an elderly lady called into the Examiner office wanting to voice her support for the campaign.

She was 14 years old when she worked at Booth’s and had managed to escape the building just as the fire was taking hold.

Having received her contact details which she wanted passing on me, I contacted her by phone that same evening.

In our conversation she described the tragic event that Friday morning. She added that ‘something ought to have been done a long time ago to remind people of what had happened there.’

The lady who lives in Waterloo told me that the manager of her floor was a gentleman called George Thirkill.

At the Booth fire inquest in 1941 it was stated that George had ‘worked like a Trojan’ in his attempts to contain the fire in the outbreak.

His use of a fire extinguisher near the stairs allowed several of the girls to escape. George later died of his injuries in the infirmary on Portland Street.

A memorial plaque would not only commemorate those who lost their lives, it would also honour the brave and selfless acts of those to whom no medal was ever awarded.

Richard Heath

Heckmondwike

Competitive Kirklees

PART of the promotion of Kirklees’ Local Development Framework has been the highlighting of a need to ‘compete’ with Manchester, Bradford, and Sheffield.

Emotive claims of jobs for young people as justification for development of open land on the outskirts of Huddersfield suggest that motorway-adjacent development will have commercial concerns banging on the door.

Does this ‘jam tomorrow’ mentality reflect the real world situation both prior to and since financial calamity?

Huddersfield’s future appears dependent upon this very speculative ‘I’ve got my fingers crossed’ proposition.

How can Kirklees councillors and officers ignore numerous motorway adjacent sites elsewhere with more units empty than occupied?

Why has this Kirklees ‘magic formula’ not worked already to fill the numerous vacant building and sites around Huddersfield?

Huddersfield’s future seems dependent on a developers’ catchword culture, shamelessly adopted by narrowly focused planners, and easily manipulated politicians.

For example, what exactly is a Northern Gateway? Perhaps the same glossy catalogue that changed industrial estates into business parks, and latterly our very own Lindley ‘data campus’?

Erecting buildings on open land destined to have a For Sale or To Let sign is not regeneration. Of course, desperately devised incentives may attract a few takers, until reality hits the fan and the dream becomes a concrete nightmare.

Continuing to ignore development of the existing central urban environment and sacrificing green, open areas will actually remove the urban rural mix identity that makes the Huddersfield area so special.

Perhaps as serious is failing to recognise other aspects of ‘attraction’. Other towns and cities, notably Manchester, Bradford and Sheffield, boast far more cultural and leisure attractions than our area.

Years of procrastination and muddled thinking by a largely unloved council have consigned Huddersfield to be an also-ran when it comes to being a choice for business and so help nurture worthwhile employment creation.

Turn this around and then, and only then, will local people, particularly the young, have a chance in gaining worthwhile employment.

If senior local politicians and officers have found the answer for creating employment by the simple expedient of building sheds on open, green fields, perhaps they should take on running the country, possibly Europe, or even the world!

John Procter

Birchencliffe

Please listen to us

AT the recent Cabinet meeting to discuss the Local Development Framework there were 2.5 hours of public representations at five minutes each, or 30 representations. Of those, as I recall, only three were in favour of LDF.

Thus 90 % of the public representations at that meeting, mine included, raised serious, evidence-based concerns.

Yet apparently the Labour Cabinet has given LDF the green light and recommended it to the full Council meeting on November 23.

So this is democracy? Or do Kirklees councillors think that the thoughts of the people that elected them are so insignificant?

Let the ballot box decide.

Tina Newsome

Meltham

Community approach

THERE is a proposal to turn the Jolly Sailor pub in Dalton, one of my old locals, into a community hall for Islamic education.

I find myself agreeing with the local councillor Rochelle Parchment when she points out that the increase in parking will inevitably increase the traffic hazards and dangers to both drivers and pedestrians.

The wide bend of the main road together with the junction of a very busy side road plus the smaller traffic outlet down the side of the pub creates a very wide crossing area for pedestrians especially when dragging along small children, reluctant dogs or pushing prams.

The local chippie and off licence are important local amenities within walking distance for many and the number of cars on short term stops creates hazard enough without adding to the dangers.

I also think that there is a risk in isolating and dividing communities. Education not included in the national school curriculum should be carried out in multi-purpose communal centres which are open to all sections of the local community.

Closed doors create suspicion; any activity carried out in a public building can actively encourage and generate understanding and trust between neighbours within the community.

John Langford

Lepton

Needing the toilets

WITH reference to Mr Robinson’s letter (Mailbag, November 11), I have to support totally his comment where he says ‘It’s clear we need our public toilets back in service’.

Surprisingly there is no legal requirement either locally or nationally for local councils to provide such conveniences. However, there is no doubt that those councils which actively encourage visitors, either local or from afar, to their town centres will provide public conveniences.

Mr Robinson will have to draw his own conclusions as to the long term policies of the council concerning future investment and the regeneration of our town and village centres.

Clr David Ridgway

Linthwaite

A merry Christmas

I CALLED in at the local supermarket on November 16, yes, November 16, to see a supervisor wearing a jacket wishing me a Happy Christmas.

How sad and tacky.

Gary Stevens

Linthwaite

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