22/04/04

The Oak Leaf leisure complex staff all did themselves proud, the food was excellent and the bar staff very friendly.

Great Aycliffe Town Council has generously sponsored this event, which always attracts a huge local crowd, all keen to see this traditional 300-year-old North-East family sport.

This tradition lives on strongly, not only across Britain, but also Europe, Australia and the United States.

The fastest dogs in the country all competed at Newton Aycliffe on what is described as the best track in the country, a huge credit to the hard-working ground staff at the complex.

This event just gets bigger and better every year, with every one of the above playing their part as do the lovely people of Newton Aycliffe. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. - Chris Cornish, Event Organiser, Hinckley, Leics.

CHRISTIANITY

PETE Winstanley, (HAS, Apr 14) having brought Christianity into disrepute by listing a one-sided review of all the bad things Christians have done, now sees fit to quote Gospel passages at us when we attempt to point out that other nations have done just as bad things as has ours.

I did not realise he supports Christianity. I had imagined his main creed was to demoralise Westerners by implying they are solely responsible for all the ills of the planet. - Trevor S Phillips, Barnard Castle.

Teesside AIRPORT

THE majority will choose a name, whether it is for a loved one, or a place on a map, with great care.

After an extensive public consultation exercise, Peel Airports and the management of Teesside International Airport decided, in their wisdom, to reject the public view that Teesside should remain Teesside.

It is, after all, beside the River Tees, or if a change was really necessary, then the preferred choice was Durham-James Cook.

Now we are told that the same company, Peel Airports, which has renamed Liverpool Speke Airport to Liverpool - John Lennon, proposes to call the former RAF airfield at Finningley, near Doncaster, Robin Hood Airport. But didn't Robin Hood live in Sherwood Forest, near to Nottingham?

To cap it all, Peel Airports' commercial director, Neil Pakey, is quoted as having said: "We have a rich history and heritage and should make more of these famous names, be they centuries old or more contemporary 20th century figures."

I could not agree more. Now would he please spare a thought to public opinion and give some credit to Captain James Cook?

This real-life hero and our most famous explorer was, as you know, born in Middlesbrough, just a few miles from the airport and is known throughout the world.

If a name change is really necessary then we would prefer to have our airport named Durham - James Cook Airport. - James A Cowan, Durham.

COUNCIL SERVICES

YOUR correspondent B Anderson was almost spot on when he condemned recent cuts in Wear Valley District Council's community services budget (HAS, Apr 15).

He suggested that all the cuts were in the Crook, Willington and Weardale areas and that, once again, Bishop Auckland had escaped. While this is usually the case, Mr Anderson, this year there has been no escape.

The district council has axed its £10,000 contribution towards the running costs of Bishop Auckland town hall.

One of the claims of the Local Choice - Local Voice campaign that Wear Valley District Council is ardently supporting in the current local government review is that three unitary councils would "keep services local".

How does that tally with planning to slash almost £1m from community services?

And if the district council's motives for working with other agencies to tackle health issues like obesity are genuine, why is it withdrawing its funding for the community use of Wolsingham baths and considering massive cuts over the next two years in its leisure budget, that include the closure of the Spectrum sports hall at Willington?

These sort of cuts are hardly going to make a big contribution to an improvement in health targets. All they are doing is costing the council its credibility. - Name and address supplied.

MARKET RESEARCH

IT was with great amusement and not a little sympathy that I read Mike Amos' remarks regarding Darlington being "the Clipboard Capital" (Echo, Apr 13).

I work in a large office in Priestgate and I and my colleagues have become totally frustrated at being accosted day in and day out on our way to and from work by (as we call them) The Clipboard Army, which assembles at the corner of Priestgate each morning.

By the very nature of our work, some of us come and go all day - the record is currently held by one person being stopped by the Clipboard Army no less than six times in one day.

Surely by now they must have obtained the opinions of everyone in Darlington - at least twice.

One does try to avoid eye contact, scuttle past, ignore their presence or take evasive action. They have been encamped on that corner for months. I implore them to please give us a break and move on somewhere else. - Mary Everitt, Darlington.

EUROPE

WHILST I do not agree with his views in the least, I support fully Neil Herron's right to express them, however illogically, which is fundamental to a democratic society.

However, I see that he is a candidate in the forthcoming European Election, and wonder if his reason for writing so frequently is to get you to publish his election literature free of charge.

This concerns me. The most recent letter (HAS, Apr 20) merely objects to other Europeans having EU documents in their own languages. Surely this is not a problem? The day-to-day working language of the EU is English.

You balance Mr Herron's letter with a letter barely half the length.

Had I not greater respect for The Northern Echo, I would say that a definite bias was being shown. - Russell Hodgson, Bishop Auckland.