Last updated at 16:04, Wednesday, 14 July 2010

SIR – So Brian Parnaby is “concerned” that the Freedom of Copeland was awarded to local cadet organisations and wants to “put it into perspective” (“Criticism of cadets’ honour”, The Whitehaven News, letters, July 8).

Giving up their time to serve: Cadets joined the Veterans on parade

 I would like to take a couple of minutes to do just that.
The Freedom of the Borough was awarded to the Armed Forces in recognition of their bravery in conflict, and to the cadets for their support of and contribution to the community over many years. Same award, different reason. So why not make a similar award to the emergency services, or to the others he suggested? A couple of reasons.
Firstly, granting the Freedom is a special honour and to award it to everyone we might consider are deserving would simply devalue it. It would no longer be special.
Secondly, it has to be a unanimous decision by the whole council rather than a majority. Just one dissenting member means that it cannot be awarded.
Finally, can I just say that if Mr Parnaby wishes to check he will find that during their history – well over 70 years in Copeland – various cadets have rescued or assisted in the rescue of others, at times putting their own lives at risk. And as for awarding the Freedom to the Veterans, I think one of the Sea Cadet officers summed it up when he said that the award recognised the contributions of all, past and present.
To the Cadets – there are a lot of people who appreciate you, and what you do. Congratulations, well done and well deserved.
To Mr Parnaby – don’t be so mean spirited. Smile, and be happy for all the recipients.
Posted on our website

SIR – Here’s hoping that the next dispatch from Mr Parnaby is a letter of apology to the young people who make up the local cadet groups in our area.
We can all think of many who are deserving of honours, but to single out a group as unworthy and of debasing the award is one of the most odious, ungracious and mean-spirited statements I have ever read.
Mr Parnaby, do the right thing and apologise.
Lesley PARK
Church Street, Whitehaven
Clarity over school funds
SIR – As a governor of one of the schools which hoped to benefit from the “Building Schools for the Future” (BSF) programme I am painfully aware how much these schools need investment and how disappointed staff, parents and pupils will be by last week’s announcements about the programme.
We must fight to ensure that these schools benefit from the successor programme which will be put in place to replace BSF, but there is a lot of misinformation concerning the BSF programme which needs answering.
First, the allegation that the last government had “pledged” £61.5million for Cumbria’s schools is highly economical with the truth. What they actually announced on April 5 for Cumbria was “indicative funding” of that amount, two years away. For those who are not familiar with politician’s language, “indicative” is almost as weak as “aspirational” and can be roughly translated as “We would like to do this, and want you voters to think we actually will, but if it turns out in two years’ time that we don’t have the money to do it, we’ll be able to point to the word ‘indicative’ as proof that we never really promised it after all.”
And they didn’t have the money.
Alistair Darling had admitted that if Labour had won there would have been £40 billion of cuts in public spending, including a significant chunk of the NHS and schools capital programmes. Because they lost the election, we will never know which schools would have suffered the Labour axe, but we do know that Labour, too, would have had to cut schools investment.
When an incoming government inherits a situation where its predecessor was spending four pounds for every three coming in, taking painful decisions to rectify this does not make the new administration “vindictive”. The last government promised to spend money which simply was not there: spending has to come back into line with the resources available to Britain in 2010 in the real world.
Pretending that all the unfunded programmes left by the last government could ever have been met is a sign of a person whose brain is locked in a timewarp to somewhere “Long, long ago, in a galaxy far away.”
Michael Gove did not suggest that there will be no new school building. He is phasing out the BSF programme because it is an incredibly bureaucratic, costly, and inefficient means of providing new school buildings. Senior staff and governors at schools applying for BSF money had to fill in a mountain of paperwork, requiring literally hundreds of person-hours that would have been better spent preparing lessons or running the school.
The coalition government is planning to spend as much money on new capital programmes as Labour would have. If less of that money goes on forms and bureaucracy, more will be available for bricks and mortar.
Coun Chris WHITESIDE
Foxhouses Road, Whitehaven
Did press cause you concern?
SIR – It is now over a month since the incident involving Derrick Bird took place, and people are in a position to ask questions about what happened and how people reacted. As the director of the Press Complaints Commission, I would like to know about any concerns over the behaviour of journalists, or over articles appearing in the printed press.
The PCC is an independent body which deals with complaints from members of the public about the editorial content of newspapers and magazines, and the conduct of their journalists. We enforce a strict Code of Practice, to which all major publications have signed up. Our service to the public is free, quick and easy. We want to be of assistance to anyone who needs us.
I visited Penrith, Whitehaven and Workington on July 9 to meet representatives of the police, local media (including the editor of this paper) and the clergy. I listened to their experiences of the shootings, and their dealings with journalists and broadcasters. What I learned – among positive stories about the actions of the press – was that the sheer numbers of journalists (both print and broadcast) caused difficulties for the affected communities, and there were individual cases of what was seen to be inappropriate behaviour. The PCC is keen to follow up, and deal with, any concerns suggesting that journalists have breached the Code we enforce.
I would also like to point out that, starting from the first hour of the shooting, the PCC has been in regular touch with Cumbria Police to offer our services to families of the victims. We are now dealing with a number of enquiries from people directly affected by the shootings, and will continue to respond to such enquiries with speed and sensitivity.
The PCC is accessible 24-hours a day. This is the number for emergency concerns: 07659 152656. Otherwise, please do call us on 08456002757, email me at stephen.abell@pcc.org.uk , or write to us at: the PCC, Halton House, 20-23 Holborn, London EC1N2JD.
Stephen ABELL
Director
Press Complaints Commission
My assessment of housing
SIR – Councillor George Clements has sent to all Copeland tenants a strategic housing market needs assessment as to their housing needs in the Copeland district.
Well I’m afraid it doesn’t take a Philadelphia lawyer to respond to this one. To me, this survey is a complete waste of money as to how the state of the housing situation is in the Copeland districts.
For example, at Distington here, more than 100 houses have been demolished, seemingly through deterioration, and also at other housing estates like Woodhouse.
And, yes, these houses at Distington were flat-topped houses. But let me remind Coun Clements that in the Salterbeck estate in Allerdale they didn’t knock those flat-topped houses down: they built peaked roofs on them to bring them up to standard.
So the bottom line is don’t knock them down, bring them up to standard and build houses to ease the serious situation of the large amount of number of people on the waiting list for houses, especially the people who can’t afford a mortgage, to buy.
James TAYLOR
Mid-Town Close, Distington

Mums the word on front-line
SIR – Apparently Cumbria’s Chief Constable Craig Mackey has recently introduced a new uniform for pregnant police officers, on the grounds of “not making them feel different from their colleagues when they grew a little too large for standard issue uniforms, the cost of design and manufacture having not been disclosed”.
If these reported remarks are indeed correct then this really takes the biscuit; how crass!
Pregnant police women should take no part in front-line policing. Nor should they be retained for office duties only. A police officer should be available for active policing 100 per cent of his or her time as a follow-up to the basic training they will have received.
Whilst I accept that Chief Cons Mackey has no alternative but to station his pregnant officers on internal duties, it is reasonable to ask why pregnant officers are retained in the Force anyway when they can neither fully, nor even adequately, exercise the duties for which they enlisted.
Pregnancy is totally incompatible with the duties of a serving police officer. Feasibly, male officers could possibly (and rightly) claim discrimination and demand the right to wear less cumbersome clothing than the Star Wars gear with which they are currently lumbered.
I suppose the usual lunatic fringe and the ultra-soft liberals will accuse me of male chauvinism which would indeed be a false claim. The average citizen expects a police officer to be able to deal with any normal contravention of the law, unencumbered by either pregnancy or unwieldy uniform.
Perhaps the answer can be found in Cumbria Chief Constable’s record of service. Chief Cons Mackey is no stranger to diversity: his biographical note tells us that for the Association of Chief Police Officers he sits on the Race & Diversity Business Area (whatever that may mean) and leads for the service on stop-and-search and the monitoring of police powers.
It isn’t so long ago that Chief Cons Mackey was photographed ‘joining in the fun’ with some junior officers at a ‘South Whitehaven’s Got Talent’ contest, organised by local police officers; exactly the wrong way to inculcate a sense of discipline and respect for authority in his subordinates. Put that down to his diversity ethos.
Brian PARNABY
Ullock
Asda’s in the back of the Netto
SIR – I noted with interest lately that Dunmail Park is to host a new Asda store. This at Workington, the same Workington that declared that if Asda decided to build at Whitehaven a year or so ago that they would object to the application as with their new Tesco store in the pipeline there was no further need for another food outlet in the area.
What were they afraid of – competition? I have not seen any planning application for the new Asda store. Is there a need for one?
Now that Asda appear to have bought out Netto, will Whitehaven belatedly get its Asda?
Alan WHITE
Carlton Drive
Fairfield, Whitehaven
You are all in our prayers
SIR – Having lived in the Whitehaven area for nearly 20 years before returning to the Scottish Borders, we have been deeply saddened by the tragic events of recent weeks in places where we have many friends and so many memories and associations.
I remember watching Dunblane and Lockerbie with the utmost respect and admiration for people who, in the midst of untold heartbreak and shock had to face the world’s media with courage and integrity. Through The Whitehaven News I express that admiration now for your community which has been thrust so cruelly into this unwanted “limelight”, whilst suffering bewildering fear and hurt as the result of events over which no-one had any control.
In their response, West Cumbrian people have been an example to the world of the finer side of human nature and gracious dignity, in this most extreme and difficult time of horror and loss.
You are much in our thoughts and prayers.
Olive BELL
Allanton, Berwickshire

SIR – May I make a brief comment regarding my thoughts with regard to my pride for my town (Whitehaven) and the area of West Cumbria.
As well as sharing an immense sense of grief and sorrow for the victims of last week’s shootings I also feel a deep sense of sorrow for my town. I am a Whitehaven bloke born and bred and I am very proud of my town and its people. I am also proud of the area of West Cumbria, from Egremont to Millom and Barrow, and from Workington to Maryport and beyond, and inland to Cleator Moor, Frizington, Cockermouth and the Western Lakes.
I feel we are the last unspoilt area of England which brings with it a unique culture that has been described by the TV media as “old fashioned”, an area where you can still “˜leave your front door open”.
Although I would say that I am not a regular churchgoing type of person, I do have some beliefs and I did attend the memorial service at St Nicholas church on Sunday, June 6 to pay respect to the victims of the shootings.
I also attended the service because of my pride in my town, Whitehaven, and the strong feeling I have that the town itself is grieving and wonder how and what the process will take in relieving the town of this grief.
I, like many others, may not be a regular churchgoer and although I have enormous respect for the various church groups and their tireless work in supporting our community, I feel that the release of grief for many may require an avenue other than that provided by the acknowledged and appreciated church and religious routes, but am unsure what this could be.
It has been said many times what a very close and strong community we are and I truly believe that along with our unique and reserved culture this will be the principle element in the process of the town and surrounding areas moving forward from this tragic event.
Mike NICHOLS
Whitehaven

SIR – Can I say a very big thank you to Julie Morgan for her article condemning some of the descriptions of our town and surrounding villages that appeared in the national press during their coverage of the recent tragic events. She put into words the anger and disgust which many people felt on picking up their newspapers and seeing our town described in such a prejudiced and downright untrue manner at a time of such tragedy. The words of The Telegraph in particular revealed disturbing working class, northern stereotypes that I naively thought had long since gone. Has anyone ever seen “a kiss me quick hat” on sale in our “run down” market town? It was very interesting to note that some of the worst offenders were the broadsheets – the supposed ‘quality’ press.
Words are powerful entities; they can express love, support, sorrow and forgiveness as so many have done over the past week. The words of Mr Rewcastle’s sister, those of Mr Wilson, those of the Rev Bannister and those of Tony Parsons in the Daily Mirror are just a few of the many examples of how words can focus on the real meaning of what it is to belong to a community. Words can also cause pain, grief and stir up feelings of anger. As our little town and the surrounding communities try to come to terms with this awful event, maybe we all need to remember the power of a kind word, a soothing word, an understanding word and show the likes of the journalist from The Telegraph what really makes a community like ours so special. Unlike them, we will look for the good and we will find it.
L ALFARO
Thanks for your carnival support
SIR – I would be grateful to you if you could convey the thanks of the Whitehaven and District Lions Club for the tremendous support of the people of Copeland borough for the Whitehaven Carnival.
This annual event continues to enjoy the support not only of Whitehaven folk but the surrounding villages and towns as well. Given that it followed so soon on the heels of the very successful Festival it is rewarding for us that the support remains so strong.
As in all past carnivals a lot of organisations play such a crucial role and I would like this opportunity to echo your praise in last week’s article. I would however like to pay tribute to two of our significant partners without whose help we could not continue. Firstly and crucially the Police and in particular Inspector John Coward and his specials (police). We came very close this year to a major crisis with logistical support and they came to our rescue “big time”.
Secondly, but no less importantly to the Motor Cycle Action Group who provided a very effective escort of traffic leading up to and during the carnival ensuring the safety of the carnival and the children who participated. Like all who help to make the carnival a success their efforts come free of charge and demonstrate the best of the community spirit we all feel in and around us. Thank you all.
Bernard KIRK
Lion President

Thanks to these good Samaritans
SIR – On the afternoon after Whitehaven Carnival, I was walking along the harbour and fell and injured myself.
I would like to thank the two police officers that attended also the paramedics and ambulance crew that took me to the West Cumberland Hospital.
A big thank you also to the person who kindly put a coat under my head to make me more comfy. Also to the lady that went to Tesco to fetch my wife.
All these people know who they are so a big thank you to all concerned.
Brian HUMPHREYS
Whitehaven

SIR – On Saturday evening, June 5, my brother-in-law and I were picked up by a taxi outside Wetherspoons. We were taken to Jasmine Cottage, Moor Row. We said we were doing the Coast to Coast walk for our charities, mine being Help for Heroes and my brother-in-law Cancer Relief as his brother had cancer. Sadly, his brother died at the end of our walk. For a £7 fare this kind driver donated £2 to each of us for our charities. I carried those coins from coast to coast till I could put them onto my web site: bmycharity.com/sapperbrucejones8449.
So we would just like to say thank you to him through your letters page and let him know that we completed the walk and not a blister between us.
Bruce JONES and John LANE
Heathcote Avenue
Stockport, Cheshire
A town full of friendly folk
SIR – I was working as a security steward at Whitehaven Festival. I found the people of Cumbria to be such friendly folk.
I was given a black tea at Admiral House in front of The Waterfront when I was tired. M&S gals gave me chocolates. Vicky’s Curry gave me a free meal. I was thankful for such great hospitality. It was very hot and I was tired but exchanges of smiles made my day. Being an Indian, I felt that I was an international cultural ambassador.
I was praying for all those 12 people who were shot dead.
Keep up the spirt of Cumbria.
Greetings to all at Whitehaven.
Israel BHOOSHI

Would the writer of the letter signed by Tom re developments at Sellafield please contact us with his full name and address as a sign of good faith.
 

First published at 15:43, Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk