29/04/05

She took the 7.44am train every day from Stillington to the isolated Sedgefield Station and then had to trudge a mile or so to the school in all weathers. No school buses or Chelsea Tractors in those days.

Most of the children were from poor mining and agricultural families; add to that the economic depression and you got real poverty, not the lack of a DVD machine or the latest trainers which passes for poverty today.

One of her pupils, who is still alive today, told me that there was no messing about in class, little absenteeism and they all left school able to read, write and count, which is more than can be said today - in spite of the vast resources thrown at education.

They were taught how to behave and how to use the English language properly.

The current MP for Sedgefield , Mr Blair, should be asking himself why things are manifestly a lot worse than 75 years ago instead of strutting around telling us how wonderful it is.

My mother is undoubtedly turning in her grave. - JO Armstrong, Warwickshire.

A FATHER'S THANKS

ON the evening of March 25, at 8.45pm, events happened that have changed the lives of two families forever.

Our son Stuart and his best friend Lee made a mistake and paid with their lives on the main East Coast railway line.

The shock and pain that both families have had to endure has at times been unbearable.

Yet, within this void that the tragedy created, people came forward with unswerving support, and it's to those people that I wish to convey my heartfelt thanks and appreciation.

They are my family, friends, neighbours, school teachers and work colleagues. Not least, the school friends of both boys, who in many cases have encountered death for the very first time in their lives. Yet they all found the strength and sincerity to give us their sympathy when they were grieving themselves.

To the professionalism of liaison officer Sgt Mick Turnbull of Darlington Transport Police, and, also, our thanks go out to John and David the funeral directors who guided us through our worst nightmare and gave Stuart and Lee a fitting farewell of dignity and pride.

To our friends, to Ministers Graham and Emma Morgan, who gave prayers and paid tribute to our sons, we are forever in your debt.

I now hope and pray that the loss of Stuart and Lee will not be in vain and that when we challenge the authorities who can help us that they will embrace our wish to accommodate our young people and help to create an environment where such tragic events will never occur again.

On behalf of both families. - Trevor Adams, Darlington.

DIM VIEW

I HAVE just opened The Northern Echo and read about the proposed wind farm near Tebay and my husband and I are dismayed.

We walk a great deal in this area. We stood above Orton a few weeks ago and marvelled at the view.

Can you please inform us where we could write to so we can protest about it? Why can't they put 27 of these on Hampstead Heath?

We have just got rid of pit heaps and now they are putting these all over the North of England. - Hilary Mowbray, Billingham.

PENSIONER PLEA

I SHOULD like to hear the political parties tell me which is going to give help to pensioners like myself and my husband.

I have raised three children, all of whom have a work ethic, as well as working, paid income tax at a time when it was about 33p in the £1, paid seven and a half per cent of my wages in National Insurance contributions and, for the last ten years employment, paid into a pension plan.

My husband worked for 48 years similarly paying all the contributions.

Because of ill health I had to retire early, but still had to pay for prescriptions. Then I took advantage of a yearly prescription fee.

Now I do not even receive the basic state pension because this is based on my earnings over the last two years and not on the approximately 30 years of tax and NI contributions paid.

Had we not worked and paid all these taxes we could have lived rent free, council tax free, had free prescriptions, dental treatment and spectacles.

While I am accused of living off the contribution of current workers, if that is the case then I must assume our contributions went to pay our parents' pensions and so on back through the generations.

But remember, someone started these contributions, so don't insult me by saying you are working to pay my pension. - Margaret Burns, Wingate.

GENERAL ELECTION

IF I have learned anything in my 83 years of life it is never underestimate the power of the Press.

Not only can it make or break individuals, it can also be used to influence the outcome of elections.

In the right hands, the pen is indeed mightier than the sword. A fact that makes editorial impartiality a must, especially if the Press hopes to retain its public trust.

I personally believe that this impartiality has for some time deserted the pages of The Northern Echo and, with an election being imminent, that observation has become even more obvious.

Listed below are a few of the politically biased articles taken from pages of The Northern Echo in a week, when the North-East is preparing to vote in a General Election:

April 18: I will not back Blair - Labour stalwart.

April 19: Keys: I'm ready to slug it out with Blair.

April 20: Doesn't Cherie trust school dinners.

April 23: We want accountability for a catastrophic, illegal war.

In light of such reporting, a person could be forgiven if he or she were to assume the paper was running an anti-Labour campaign. - TH Bennett, Ludworth, Co Durham.

FLY-TIPPING

DURHAM County Council welcomes the interest being shown by Teesdale and Wear Valley District councils in its permit scheme for commercial vehicles and trailers using household waste recycling centres (Echo, April 22 ).

However, it is unfair for them to suggest the scheme is responsible for an increase in fly tipping, just as it would be for the county council to suggest charges introduced by district councils for bulky waste collections from households are to blame.

Claims of increased fly-tipping are not borne out by the amount of such waste being delivered to the county council by the district councils for disposal.

The county council's permit system is free and, since it was introduced, only 2.5 per cent of householders in the county have had to apply for permits. The vast majority continue to use their own cars to deliver household waste to the sites.

The county council will listen to any constructive input from the districts on how the permit scheme can be improved. However, the county council is satisfied that the scheme is essential to ensure the council taxpayers are not required to meet the costs of managing commercial waste previously entering the sites. - Chris Tunstall, Deputy Chief Executive (Environment), Durham County Council.