26/10/05

Durham Wildlife Trust's annual Tom Dunn Memorial Lecture is this year given by zoologist, broadcaster and best-selling author, Mark Carwardine.

Mark spends more than half the year travelling the world in search of wildlife and exploring wild places - from working with Inuits hunting walruses in the high Arctic, to photographing blue whales from the open door of a small plane in Mexico.

Tickets for this highly entertaining event cost £5, including refreshments, and are available by sending a cheque made payable to Durham Wildlife Trust, to Rainton Meadows, Chilton Moor, Houghton-le-Spring, DH4 6PU. - Mark James, Durham Wildlife Trust.

Darlington MATCH

FOR 70 minutes on Saturday I watched a gutless, passionless performance by Darlington - an absolute shambles.

Then, with 20 minutes left, Dave Hodgson played his own get-out-of-jail-free card by bringing on Neil Wainwright, who, for once, showed us how he can play, using his pace to create chances and scoring a fantastic goal with his head.

For those 20 minutes we finally looked like a team that could be challenging for at least a play-off spot. Which team will turn up next week? The shambolic team that played for 70 minutes driving me mad, or the team that finished playing football, creating chances and looking confident? Over to you Hodgie, sort it out. - Geoff Thompson, Northallerton.

PLEA FROM SUNITA

MY name is Shobna Gulati: you may know me better as Sunita in Coronation Street.

I'd like to alert your readers to the small window of opportunity available to us, the British public, to help survivors of the Asia Quake before winter sets in.

Many roads have been blocked since the quake, and the ongoing relief operation is battling the elements to get aid to the most vulnerable people. This is going to get much worse in three to five weeks' time, when winter closes in. Mountain tops are already covered with snow and helicopters will only be able to fly in to remote areas over the next few weeks.

Our nation has been incredibly generous already, with over £15m donated to the 13 major aid agencies which make up the Disasters Emergency Committee. Shelter, clean water, blankets and medical care are reaching the people who need them. But the DEC urgently needs more funds before winter sets in.

Your £15 can buy seven blankets, your £42 can buy a family survival kit, helping for at least 20 days, and your £90 can buy a tent specially designed for winter weather for a family.

Please join me in supporting the DEC's Asia Quake Appeal - 47,000 people are already dead and many more are at immediate risk. Let's act now if we are to save lives.

You can donate online at www.dec.org.uk, by telephone on 0870 60 60 900, or at any high street bank or post office. - Shobna Gulati.

SCHOOL BUS

I COULD not believe that children in the North-East arrived home from school crying after a teacher jokingly said he would put a bomb on their school bus (Echo, Oct 19).

They must be entirely different to the kids who travel home on my bus.

They are always swearing, shouting sexual obscenities and talking about killing people. The boys are just as bad.

I notice most of their crude talk and aggression is copied from things they have seen on television and video.

I cannot believe how aggressive and sexually explicit many children's videos and magazines are these days. We are robbing children of a childhood. - RL Phillips, Bristol.

HOUSING BALLOT

Derwentside District Council has been extolling the virtues of its proposed housing stock transfer to Derwentside Homes all this year, before a ballot of tenants which will take place in November to decide for or against the proposal.

Seven thousand six hundred tenants have been inundated with mailshots, videos, glossy proposal catalogues, and roadshows, etc. How much has this cost so far - £100,000?

Unfortunately, council officials have been unusually reticent about answering direct questions about the finances involved in the transfer. However, in their literature there are three figures quoted which, with a little applied mathematics, can help to understand the proposal a little more.

According to the proposal, Derwentside Homes is to buy the houses at the Government's tenants' market value with loans to be met from rents.

I was told in reply to a direct question at the last Tenants' Forum meeting that the price per house to be paid by Derwentside Homes would be worked out after the ballot.

This seems to be an important omission in a 30-year business plan. Why the secrecy? What are the tenants not being told?

Is this DDC's gift horse which, when looked in the mouth, turns out to be a pig in a poke? The tenants should know all the facts before the ballot. - P Anderson, Consett.

SUNDAY FUN DAY

I recently had Sunday lunch in The Nag's Head, in Darlington.

As we began to tuck in to our Yorkshire puddings, we were amazed to see a clown walking around the premises greeting families with a handshake and with a happy 'hello'.

The clown in question is a Darlingtonian called Mr Dingy Dong, who has spent several years entertaining on cruise ships in Scandinavia.

What a delight it was to be amused by such a character who performed magical tricks with the kids, as their elders chuckled at Mr Dingy Dong's insane antics.

Sunday lunch has never been so enjoyable and at a time when there is not much laughter in this world.

A big well done to the landlord of The Nag's Head and, of course, to the madcap personality that is Mr Dingy Dong. - Christopher Wardell, Darlington.

WHITE HORSE

I UNDERSTAND that the White Horse Hotel in Harrogate Hill, Darlington, is to be demolished to make way for building flats.

I find it strange that the council has given the go ahead to this proposal as the White Horse is one of the few good looking buildings left in Darlington and is a well known landmark. To build more dwellings at the north end of the town is also insanity as the roads are clogged up with traffic now and nearing gridlock.

I grew up in Darlington and loved living there in the sixties and seventies, but when I visit today I feel only bitterness that the planners and council have turned the town into just a big housing estate. The playing fields have all but disappeared.

I always harboured hopes of moving back to the town on retirement but can't understand why anyone would want to live there now. I certainly don't. - David Cutts, South Bents, Sunderland.