24/01/05

Yes, 25 years ago he made a mistake and again in 2000 but basically he is a decent man, certainly not a paedophile.

As the Bible says: Let he amongst you who is without sin cast the first stone.

Very few of us have not made some mistake in the past which we would not want revealed, whatever our place in society today.All that has been achieved by this is a decent man has lost his job and future.

The education system has lost a good teacher and my grandsons class has no-one to carry on teaching them maths in their GCSE year.

And to the self-righteous parents who declare that they expect their children to be safe while at school, are these the same parents who allow their children to roam the streets every evening, not even knowing where they are? JF Atkin, Darlington.

ROYAL MAIL I HAVE spent a most frustrating half hour trying to contact someone at the Wear Valley Royal Mail delivery office in Bishop Auckland.

I returned home to find a note telling us that a parcel could not go through the letter box and that I had to telephone the office to organise redelivery.

How is that going to happen if no-one despite holding the line and re-ringing answers the phone?

The only way I could make any contact was to speak to complaints, who will arrange delivery not on the following day but two days later.

The reasons given do not reflect efficiency.

When I asked why I was kept holding the line for someone to answer my diverted call (at my increasing expense), I was told that when the office is very busy, the phone remains unanswered.

Surely, it is not rocket science to have one of these busy people allocated to answering the phone, as the caller should be just as important as someone at the desk.

This is an ever-increasing problem for rural areas such as Weardale where the cost of retrieving a parcel often outweighs its value. Mrs Jean Bowes, Stanhope.

TONY BANKS: WITH the tragic death of Tony Banks, the animal kingdom, all animal welfare organisations and foxes have lost their greatest ally.

The whole country is poorer without him. Gwen Lamb, Marton. CARE TRUST MERGER: THE Northern Echos coverage of this very important issue should receive ongoing weekly highlighting.Complacency is unfortunately one of our cultural traits.

I also realise that placed alongside the Hurworth education issue, to me it is an equal concern, if not more insidious.

The general public should be made even more aware of the significant benefits Darlington has received since the introduction of the primary care trust by Alan Milburn and the possible, indeed the probable, detrimental consequences if this merger takes place; realignment of facilities way outside our unitary authority, threatening, for example, breast care referral in Middlesbrough.

It is really time to think where the general public of Darlingtons priorities lie before it is too late. B Evans, Darlington.

DENTISTS: FOR once I agree with our local MP when she suggests boycotting dentists who not only refuse NHS patients but have the audacity to insist that all patients (i.e. customers) take out expensive insurance of about 240 per year.

Two-yearly check-ups, if paid as and when, would cost about 50 per year, so someone is taking an obscene profit from a large number of patients, and the insurance doesnt always cover the full cost of expensive treatment.

In my youth we paid per visit and my sisters and I, all now in our 70s, still have our own perfect teeth.

The principal of a dentistry hospital recently stated on the radio that brushing teeth properly twice daily should cut down visits for adults to one a year, that small holes in teeth can often successfully repair themselves and that costly cleaning lasted for just 72 hours.

I left my private dentist when I realised the ever increasing costs were as much to do with the very showy state of the art facilities as the treatment and now consider myself very blessed with a clinically clean but basic surgery with exemplary care, all on the NHS.

I doubt not visiting your dentist for a year would make your teeth fall out my sisters and I are living proof and this obscene pushing patients into hefty insurance would seem suspicious.We are, after all, customers as well as patients and dentists need us as well. Mrs S Harnby, Stockton.

TOWN TOILETS:IN reply to CF Walkers letter (HAS, Jan 13), I dont care who is responsible for the Darlington toilets.

The point is I dont want to spend most of the day looking for disabled toilets.

I dont want to double back to East Row to use disabled toilets.

As for the toilets in the Cornmill Centre, this time they are totally closed down for redecoration.

This is beyond a joke and Id like to reply to Gordon Pybus: just because Im disabled, dont think Im wheelchair bound, because Im not.

I get out and about on crutches. Stephen Beaton, Darlington.

VOLUNTEERS PLEA:AS RNIB community fundraising manager, I am looking for numerous volunteers to join my existing team in the North of England.

Every day over 100 people start to lose their sight. The Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) helps to rebuild lives devastated by sight loss by providing over 60 services for people who are blind or visually impaired.

As an organisation, we receive no Government or statutory funding and rely on generous donations from the general public.

Much of our funding comes from our famous Sooty boxes, which many of your readers may have seen in shops, restaurants and pubs throughout the area.

In order to collect, count and bank the donations generated through Sooty in County Durham, I am looking for volunteers to support as box collectors in their local villages, towns and cities.

Sooty needs lots of help in County Durham. Darlington, Ferryhill, Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle areas are all in desperate need of collectors.

In addition, I am looking for people interested in organising ad-hoc fundraising events relating to things they may already be involved in, from charity golf days, coffee mornings, raffles to activities at their local school or church group.

Any readers who feel they can offer help a few hours per month, to undertake this rewarding work, should contact me to discuss the flexible volunteering opportunities within RNIB.

I can be contacted on 01388 528297, or via email at linda.stephenson@rnib.org.uk. Linda Stephenson, RNIB Community Fundraising Manager, Bishop Auckland.

AMAZING FACE:I AM amazed that no-one has commented on the face in the photograph of the Dales ponies on Page 5 of Tuesdays Northern Echo.

You can plainly see it situated between the mans left leg and the rear leg of the horse.

Let me know if you can spot it. Ed Southgate, Stockton.