I HAVE just read the tribute to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary by the Johnson family (Examiner, January 8).
Wonderful – they beat me to the punch as it were. I too have had recent experience of the hospital but without the tragic ending that was sadly faced by the Johnson family.
I was admitted to HRI in the early hours of Christmas Day having collapsed at our son’s in Altrincham.
My immediate family had me sorted out in no time. I did as I was told (what else) and the HRI was the destination.
My problems are not inconsiderable but for purposes of the letter bear little or no more mention.
A&E arrival approximately 3-4pm. Within some two hours I was given a bed on Ward 6 (Assessment Ward) and after a week or so was transferred to Ward 12.
For some two months or so prior to admittance to hospital I had little or no appetite, and since August 2012 had lost almost two stones.
I am my wonderful wife’s carer and would not wish to be any other but amongst other things it can be a problem as many will know.
I cannot express my feelings enough or more strongly in praise of HRI. From the cleaning and ancillary staff up to the doctors (and the meals), the treatment is and has been exemplary.
The mood of all staff has, whatever the situation, day or night, could not be bettered.
I hear many dissatisfied comments when I shuffle down to the cafeteria and sit with a coffee and chat to people, visitors or patients.
The NHS is and will always be a minefield for those charged with running it as such.
Come on everybody, be proud of HRI. You will go a long way to beat it.
I do have a relation by marriage who worked here for six months and she would, I am sure, endorse everything I have said.
From what I have heard her say periodically (I do not ask), she loved everything about HRI, and they seem to have liked her. I do.
Good luck HRI. Keep it up.
ROBERT (BOB) KILBURN
Crosland Moor
Support for scouts
THANK you so much to everyone who supported our Christmas Tree recycling fund-raiser at the weekend.
Slaithwaite Scout Group is run entirely by volunteers for the benefit of its 102 young members and the project had a positive threefold effect.
Firstly to raise funds for our group camps and trips, secondly, to enable local people to dispose of their trees locally without having to cram it in their wheelie-bin or take it over to the tip and thirdly, the chips of said trees would be used to keep back weed at St. James Church, Slaithwaite.
Thank you so much for your support, we dealt with 63 trees and raised £203.
If you were not able to donate on the day and would now like to make the recommended donation of £5, then please find the address below and again, thank you for your support.
To those who dumped their tree at the car park between Saturday pm and Sunday am, please send your donation of £5 to: the Group Scout Leader, Slaithwaite Scout Group, Slaithwaite Community Centre, Bankgate, Slaithwaite, HD7 5DH.
Cheques should be made payable to: 33rd Slaithwaite Scout Group.
Richard Izzard
Slaithwaite
Surface complaints
HAVING suffered months of disruption on Wakefield Road while a new gas main was installed followed by the road improvement scheme carried out by Kirklees Council we eventually had a road surface fit to use. One of the very few in Kirklees.
Why was I not surprised when the week leading up to Christmas a utility company comes along and digs the road up outside the funeral home in Moldgreen.
However having dug the road up, I would have thought that these companies had a minimum standard to work to when re-instating the road and if this particular repair is to the minimum standard is it any wonder that not only the roads but the town in general is so run down.
Thornhill Road in Marsh is another in question where the re-instatement is akin to traffic calming.
Traffic lights at Longroyd Bridge not yet complete after what must be going on two years. The list is endless and one has to ask the question of our local councillors do they go round with their eyes shut?
SMT
Frustrated Motorist and Council Tax Payer
What’s in a name?
THANKS for your piece on re-naming Slaithwaite station to include its local vernacular name ‘Slawit’ (Examiner, January 8).
It’s a nice idea but I can’t take credit for it (and Slaithwaite/Slawit isn’t in my ward!). That honour goes to Friends of Slaithwaite Station (FOSS) who suggest the re-naming in their 2013 Development Plan.
I hope Northern Rail will support the idea and perhaps provide some information at the station about the area including moonraking and other local legends.
Visitors to Mytholmroyd will see the splendid artistic displays which Northern has sponsored.
Something similar at Slaithwaite/Slawit would add a bit of distinctiveness to the station – perhaps on the lines of the superb panels provided on the new bridge at the Slaithwaite/Slawit reservoir recently.
Clr Paul Salveson
Golcar Ward
Pension issues
I HAVE just read in the Examiner the letter “Don’t bother saving” by Godfrey Bloom (January 7).
The remark he makes “it seems the government will eventually means test the fuel allowance and probably the bus passes”, this would surely hit the low paid pensioners once again.
The reason we need a bus pass to go to do our weekly shopping, is because of the small village shops closing down. The reason for this – all the supermarkets opening up and taking all the trade from these village shops.
Also our savings interest is so low now. When one gets much older in years, what gets drawn out never gets put back, so of course, the interest lowers again.
We aren’t all millionaire pensioners. A majority of us went through the 1939-1945 war which was tough. Yes, we do get some payment but we are a low pension country compared to other countries.
PENSIONER
Huddersfield
Trolley tots
PETER Hinchliffe is rightly annoyed (Letters, January 10) about children’s feet in trolleys.
In addition, there’s the problem of grubby little hands in supermarket food.
No store should have deli-counters where food samples on display can be massaged by children – or for that matter their adult minders.
After witnessing and reprimanding a youngster messing with provisions in a Huddersfield supermarket, my girlfriend complained formally to the Foods Standards Agency about the food samples gimmick. This needs to change.
TC
Huddersfield
