NICE WORK: It is with satisfaction I am writing to inform you of the service my husband and I received at our local Homebase store in Darlington.

What a pleasure it was to receive excellent service from Gary, the supervisor, and the management.

Even down to the delivery men, who were so helpful in carrying our bathroom suite upstairs.

My husband being disabled and myself a pensioner, it is a pleasure these days to get this sort of service and quality goods at fair prices. I felt I had to write and tell you about Homebase. I cannot praise them enough. In today's environment, it is nice to praise instead of complain.- Sandra Bradshaw, Richmond.

HOSPITAL PRAISE

We read so much about long waits at hospital accident and emergency departments, that I thought I'd tell you of my recent visits. On May 9 I jammed my thumb and went to A&E at the University Hospital of North Tees Hospital. I was seen and had the thumb dressed in 30 minutes.

I had to go back on May 15 when I was in and out in 15 minutes.

I was extremely lucky, but I do appreciate that sometimes they are very busy indeed, because accidents don't happen to order. - Mrs E Chapman, Billingham.

COURSE POWER

I am amazed that no-one. including the Government, has not cottoned on to the answer to generating electricity. There is enough power in our rivers to supply all our needs without any pollution, visual or otherwise. - WI Hodgson, Northallerton.

ILLEGAL SNARES

I AM glad the RSPCA inspector who examined the illegal snares in which two cats had been caught, one cat having suffered serious cuts to its face after having tried to chew its way out and the other being lucky to survive, made comment about these snares (Echo, May 16).

All snares are, as he said, indiscriminate and incredibly cruel and a killer of both wild and domestic animals.

Anyone caught illegally using snares faces a maximum of six months in prison and a £5,000 fine. The sooner the law is enforced the better, but it seems to me the law is far too lenient.

Snares belong to the Stone Age, not 2005. Many people think these barbaric instruments of torture are already banned.

From the suffering and cruel deaths I have seen of animals caught in snares, they should be banned, every last one of them, the sooner the better. It is a disgrace such traps are still being used in very large numbers, many away from the public eye behind the "Keep Out" and "Do Not Trespass" signs. - Brenda Scragg, Frosterley.

PORNOGRAPHY

Does anyone in our town (or indeed our country) believe that less than three years in prison is enough punishment for a barrister and former policeman who downloaded and distributed child pornography (Echo, May 19), knowing what hell the young victims had been through? I think not. - Allene Norris, Darlington.

STEAMED UP

YOUR snippet about Mark Lawson (John North, May 19) seems to cast doubt on his claim to be a son of Shildon.

Having heard the piece on the Locomotion Museum on Mark's Radio 4 programme, Front Row, his grasp of local history hardly supports his claim either.

More worryingly, the Locomotion expert on the programme seemed equally confused about the achievements of George and Robert Stephenson.

The piece pitched father George against local boy Timothy Hackworth in the Rainhill Trials of 1829. George winning hands down with the locomotive Rocket, whilst Tim burst his boiler and didn't finish the course (suspiciously the boiler that was cast at the Stephenson's factory in Newcastle).

But, as every schoolboy knows, it was son Robert who designed Rocket and ran it at the trials. Meanwhile, the piece made no mention of George's abiding achievement, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, or of his Locomotion.

Could it be that the eponymous museum in Shildon is harmlessly bending historical fact to strengthen the links between S&D hero George and the Rocket because the museum houses the replica of Rocket, whilst the far more interesting Darlington Railway Museum houses the original Locomotion?

Apologies for this anorak offering, but people around here do get steamed up about this sort of thing, don't they? - Peter Roberts, Darlington.

GOOD CARS

I've come to the conclusion that Rover cars suffer only from an image problem. They are good little cars.

I had one for five years. It ran like clockwork; good roadholding, etc, all the attributes of other small cars.

I would love to see someone try and save this British company. - Fred M Atkinson, Shincliffe.

EUROPEAN UNION

NEWCASTLE University is one of the many British educational institutions which harbour representatives of the Jean Monnet Association.

They have Jean Monnet Professorships which promote the European Union - in itself a blatant breaking of the Education Act which prohibits unbalanced political education.

But far more serious is the background of the Jean Monnet Association itself and its rather unpleasant supporters. We understand that a certain Winrich Behr (who served under Marshal Rommel and holds the Knight Cross of the Afrika Corps) joined Jean Monnet, the "father" of the European Union and is listed in the honorary committee of the Jean Monnet Association.

No wonder he was attracted to Jean Monnet who said: "Europe's nations should be guided towards the Superstate without their people understanding what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps each disguised as having an economic purpose but which will eventually and irreversibly lead to federation".

Pleasant fellows these supporters of the European "project" as Mr Blair and his friends call it today.

Is it malice or ignorance which drives the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties towards such evil? Does it matter which? - Rodney Atkinson, Stocksfield, Northumberland.

BOTTOM LINE

I HAVE lived in Middleton St George for 13 years, and am still waiting for a direction sign to this village from the first turning right to it off the A67 from Darlington.

This turning is known locally as "Cow's Bottom Lane" as the only sign on the main road is the rear end of a cow, the front end having disappeared long ago.

This omission is a bad oversight on the part of Darlington highways department, as this road is the most direct route to the village, with a central "white line", a pavement, street lighting and is part of the 74 bus route.

Three years ago I wrote to the highways department on this matter, and have also complained to Middleton St George parish council.

Perhaps this letter will shame the authority into some action. - E Carr, Middleton St George.