Letters: Pitch problems

I know this pitch well as it was formerly occupied by my business, Out of Town Country Clothing, for 16 years- five by myself and 11 by the previous proprietor.

The outbreak of foot-and-mouth last year made it impossible to make a living selling country clothing. I found work with MAFF, removing animal carcasses and cleaning infected premises.

For six months I paid retaining rent at Leyburn market.

Eventually the Ministry gave me a contract for a further three months with the possibility of work continuing even longer. At this time the eventual end of the crisis was not in sight.

The next day, however the Prime Minister stopped all funding with immediate effect and my contract was cancelled.

I wrote to Leyburn Council asking for a pitch. Having just informed them of my intention to stop paying the retainer (in light of the now Defra assurances). I was told I could only attend as a casual trader until a pitch became vacant.

This I did, travelling to Leyburn on several occasions, only to be turned away. Eventually my old pitch became vacant and I was led to believe I could re-occupy it.

The following week I arrived to find the pitch taken by a completely new trader.

Unable to trade once again, I returned to Hawes empty handed and poorer by the cost of diesel used. The treatment received by Mr Kelly appears to be par for the course in Leyburn.

May I thank the town councils and employees at Kirby Stephen, Hawes and especially Masham for their assistance and understanding at a difficult time.

Thanks go to Leyburn town council and its employees that a dales business is still feeling the effect of FMD every week.

CHARLES A BURRELL

Flat 4

The Green Dragon Inn,

Hardraw,

Hawes.

Way blocked

Sir, - On Sunday, my husband and I decided to try out your walk from the D&S, Jul 12). We arrived at Danby Church, approximately three quarters of the way through the walk of 7 miles. We were instructed to climb a stile from the church car park and cross a field. The field was planted with maize with no recognisable path in sight. We tried our best to avoid standing on the crop, which was about knee high. Arriving at the opposite side of the field, the stile was found to be impassable, covered in barbed wire. However, we noticed a gap in the fence. Alas, barbed wire underneath our feet had been overgrown with grass and could have been potentially dangerous, had we not noticed it. If the crop had been fully grown we would have found it difficult to see where the stile was actually sited.

We are members of the Ramblers Association and took great exception to the comments that appeared in Countryman's Diary (D&S, Jul 12). Coincidentally, the article appeared just below the walk details we were using. We would never seek confrontation or to destroy growing crops, but can thoroughly understand the actions of those who seek to right a wrong, i.e. restricting a public right of way.

Mrs C M TAYLOR

28 Kingsway,

Darlington.

Sir, - Your correspondent, Robin West (D&S, July 19) takes Countryman to task because he was not light-hearted enough about the ramblers. Countryman had seen a picture of yet another group of ramblers trampling about in a cornfield. Robin West may be amused by this and he may think it hilarious if gates are left open and stock gets killed on the road; that is his problem.

There are farmers who say they have never had any trouble with walkers but cannot stand ramblers, who have been called Storm Troopers and Rotweilers in respectable papers.

Robin West compares walkers to motorists. It is a good analogy, but before motorists go on the road they pay a licence fee, they take out insurance in case they damage another's property; they learn the highway code and pass a test. They also have an easily seen registration number. Just one more little point, they are on the Queen's highway not on privately owned property.

Just what sort of people are they who can walk 20 abreast across someone else's field of corn, barley for cattle feed, wheat for making bread, and take savage delight in what they are doing? For heaven's sake who is the patron saint of these morons - Robert Mugabe?

Next time the opportunity arises, take a good look at the field of corn; it is a work of art produced by a craftsman.

DAVID CRUMMACK

Marton Hill,

Sinnington,

York.

Wind of change

Sir, - Miles Cooper, who resigned from the League Against Cruel Sports and has since changed his mind on hunting, is not unique by any means. He is the latest of a long list of former members of that organisation who have resigned and who have also changed their minds in broad support of hunting. They include not one, but two, of its chief executives - Richard Course and James Barrington.

How can it be then, that with so many of the League altering their views on hunting, the Government's own Burns Inquiry not finding a case against hunting and recent national opinion polls indicating less than 50pc against hunting, that there are still some backbench MPs who cling to the view that it ought to be banned.

R W Burton

Chairman,

Cleveland Country Sports Action Group,

Crathorne