Letters

Richmond was recently voted the eighth best place to live in the UK and the first in Yorkshire and so I'm afraid AM Archbold's perceptions are well out of date (HAS, Feb 11)!

Richmond is a thriving market town with many "charms" (the Castle, Georgian Theatre Royal, Easby, three museums, Temple Lodge, Millgate House, etc).

However the greatest "charm"' in Richmond is the people who live, work and play here. We have a fantastic community of remarkably tolerant people and that is what has caused the uproar.

The press searched for "dull, conservative, narrow-minded, church-going old buffers" to voice their opposition to the new pub name, but the reporters must have been very disappointed by what they found.

Most people are now able to recognise a publicity stunt when they see one. They simply got on with their business and regarded Tanya's Charms with amusement because they knew that she had a limited shelf life!

If Mr Archbold would care to contact me I will be very happy to show him round this wonderful town and introduce him to the community which he so obviously has misjudged. Hopefully, he will realise that Richmond is a happy, tolerant town which is mindful and respectful of its past and its traditions but which has its sights very firmly fixed on a strong and exciting future. - Stuart Parsons, Richmond, North Yorkshire.

THE letter writer from Sunderland blames the people of Richmond for not accepting the renaming of the Fleece pub as Tanya's Charms (Echo, Feb 11).

Richmond has plenty of publicity without Tanya's kind. We have lots of lovely young people here without the need to de-fleece. And we have more charms than Sunderland.

I am a non-affluent, non-churchgoing (but Conservative) fuddy duddy. - Joyce Rutter, Richmond.

BOWLS

THERE is never any mention of bowls in your column Sport on TV. Bowls is a sport in which British players excel. It is a sport in which older people can participate and should be encouraged by the NHS as the exercise would be good for people's health.

In Darlington there is one of best indoor venues in the country which is used for top competitions, but it is never promoted by the local media which believes that sport revolves around football only.

TV coverage of bowls is very limited and at periods of slack viewing. Even when it is shown, it is interrupted by irrelevant trailers.

Bowls is a young person's game which an older person can play. - MW Simpson, Northallerton.

DURHAM CITY

IT AMAZES me that Durham City Council is allowed to put double yellow lines, white zigzag lines, car bay lines, no parking signs and parking meters in front of listed buildings. It has allowed a monstrosity of a toll gate in the ancient market place, and a bus stop in front of Londonderry House.

If some poor soul changed their letter box in a listed building, the planning authority would be down on them like a ton of bricks. - Peter Jefferies, Durham City.

DAVID WALSH

Redcar and Cleveland council leader David Walsh says he is just a humble foot soldier in the Labour army (Echo, Feb 4).

No he isn't, he is a deserter. Just as anyone is who runs away from a fight because they think they will lose.

Nor is he humble, because if he were he would do as thousands of other councillors are doing throughout the land: standing in the ward they have served for the last four years and leaving the people to decide if they go on. He has chosen to desert them for a safe seat - a fine example for a leader to set and one which I hope will not go unnoticed by the people of Eston.

He is no replacement for Ivy Cole, a fine, loyal, hard working councillor. David Walsh has run for the hills - the Eston Hills. - Coun Barbara Harpham (Con), Saltburn Ward, Redcar and Cleveland Council.

AIRMEN'S STRIKE

IN January 1946, 50,000 airmen in the Middle East and Far East went on strike in what a recent Channel 4 programme called "the greatest single act of defiance in the history of the British armed forces".

I am writing a book about those events and have been studying official records but I also need to hear from men who took part.

I am appealing to readers who were involved in the strikes to contact me. - David Duncan, 37 Mandale Road, Middlesbrough TS5 8AE. Tel (01642) 819135.

PENSIONS

NO DOUBT the Government will raise the pension by the amount the cost of living has risen this year: under three per cent.

Three per cent on a pension under £100 will be nowhere near three per cent on an MP's vast pay, and of course the pensioner will hand back to the Government a chunk of the rise as there is VAT on most goods pensioners buy.

Could not the Government do what many other countries do and exclude pensioners from VAT? - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

CHARITY COMMISSION

IT WAS encouraging to read that pupils at a Billingham school have raised £2,000 to sponsor a guide dog (Echo, Jan 31).

However, the article stated that the Charity Commission had been tasked with raising the money.

To avoid future disappointment from people seeking funds I would like to clarify that the Charity Commission registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. It doesn't raise money for good causes or make grants.

It can help charities in a range of ways - see the website at www.charitycommission.gov.uk - but I am afraid funding is not one of them. - Sush Amar, Public Relations Manager, Charity Commission, London.