C.itheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (C.assified), www.eastiancashireoniinexo.u^- Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, June 14th, 2001 is All I Write to: The Editor, Clithcroc Advertiser and Times, 3 King Street, Clitheroe BB72EW Editorial e-mail: clitheroc-cditorial@riin.co.ukj


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NOW ONLY


THE disaster that has struck us all in recent weeks


is so immense that its gravi­ ty could not be imagined when pictures in the media from other parts of the country were seen earlier


this year. . Instead of the Forest of


Bowland being a welcome place for visitors, it has now ■ become Fortress Bowland, with very essential, unwel­ coming signs everywhere, farms barricaded and Army-escorted convoys of slaughtered animal carcass­ es, in 40ft lorries, filling the narrow lanes and the stench of disinfectant and death lingering in the air. The knock-on effect for the whole rural community is immense and I know in our business we have seen sales plummet by anything from 50 to now 100% and this is going on in all our village shops, tea rooms, pubs, nurseries, craft shops etc. Of


. electorate. This Govern­ ment's neglect of the coun­ tryside is criminal and every effort needs to be made to make the voice of the countryside heard and make Mr Blair realise that if you neglect the country­ side you neglect the heart and lungs of the country. .The countryside is a living place, where work is done, food is produced and .not a sterile, pretty theme park, just there for the sake of visitors to come and enjoy. I have heard people say


: affected by foot and mouth, Dumfries and Galloway and the Ribble Valley, the Tories were given greatly increased majorities by the


course, all .this ;latest., episode in the ongoing crisis ,- has been suppressed from , being in the media due. to the ill-timed and unwanted General. Election.' I t is interesting to note that in two areas of Britain worst


years of dedication in rais­ ing fine pedigree herds and - breeds of sheep that take years, if ever; to replace. ■Not just now, but for the next year and beyond, the - country businesses and the farmers need all the support.


Huge cover-up about disease


.that townspeople can give ■ them. Instead of going to the larger towns for a meal,


' visiting an in-town garden centre or pub,, please try to make a few trips into the local villages to support these struggling businesses. Buy British and look for- the red tractor logo when , you visit the supermarket-. The help from the Govern­ ment for these rural busi­ nesses has been minimal to non-existent and all has to be paid back eventually. So rest assured that a warm welcome awaits you when­ ever you wish to visit the countryside, once this cur­ rent crisis is over.


that .the farmers will be all right because they get the compensation (eventually), but this does not replace the


PETER FOLEY, Holdeni Clough Nursery,


Holden, ' Bolton-by-Bowland.


I WISH to congratulate the CAT (7.6.01) and, in partic­ ular, Robbie Robinson for the forthright presentation of both the facts and rumours concerning the foqt and mouth crisis in and around the Ribble Valley. ■


being highly suspicious of the motives behind, the Government's policy to eradicate foot and mouth disease by the mass culling of healthy stock? Where too, I wonder,


•i


to thank Coun. Philip Nierop, the' Walmsleys and "Nellie the Elephant" for their excellent letters writ­ ten in defence of our local


• • In addition; I should like


farmers. . The general opinion


. ic. The mystery of how-it started in the beginning and the fact that it still seems to be spreading into


among many rural folk is that there has been a huge cover-up of the true scale of the foot and mouth epidem-


pre-designated areas are questions which I believe are being answered untruthfully by this Gov­ ernment. So who can blame us for


when all this cruelty is tak­ ing, place behind stone walls, hedges, in open fields, farmyards and buildings; (and in some cases in full view of the general public) is the now politically correct


RSPCA? Where, too, is the sinister


(implicated and deadly silent) animal rights activi- tist organisation? • . The RSPCA was seen ini­ lly by th mediia to make


condemned only the farm­ ing and allied industries for soiling their hands with it, failing to mention that her vegetarian suppliers; mar­ ket gardeners, fruit growers, cereal producers, all ply their trade for money. Does she not earn money in some


way?


Her cheap "jingoistic - cliches" jibe is disgusting. Had Nelson not organised victory at Trafalgar (despite his one eye) and had -we not defended our


..


White Cliffs of Dover, she might not be here at all. She


tialiy by tne meana iu uian-c


a pathetic attempt at show- lives to help to presence that , ing some concern for strick- freedom. There will be .


insults all the brave lads j and lasses who gave over j five years of our normal j


” — — -


en livestock on welfare issues, but has since been noticed more by its absence from the "on hands killing”. But, of course, they cannot prosecute MAFF, and, according to the recent full page advertisements in the national press, MAFF appears to be under the impression that the foot and mouth epidemic is over. So yes, to put it quite


ARIES THE SHEEP. I So sorry for i l :


our farmers I FEEL so very sorry for all the farmers and their fami­ lies whose animals are listed as having foot and mouth and all the other farmers whose stock has been culled because they are near a con­ firmed case. It must be ter­ rible for them knowing they haven't got it, but having to have their stock killed. Thank you for the article


many hackles raised in j Royal British Legion and * other service associations at _ her airy dismissal of all those sacrifices.^ We do not need to read.;


Clittieroe 422324 (Editoria


Talk on RNLI


bluntly, the whole issue of the foot and mouth crisis reeks of a conspiracy.


The Times to see the horror; foot and mouth disease has , caused. We are right among , it and dread to hear the ; news each day of yet anoth-, er farmer's life work being ; destroyed. The procession' of vehicles loaded with ani-, mial carcasses from our ( neighbouring farms is hard ) to bear. Only four of the many farms in our area' remain and we look forward with despair to see the fields1 completely empty. The cli-' mate and contours in our area are not suitable for ‘ arable farming. What is to become of the land? So far as reading, listen­


MEMBERS of Clitheroe Probus Club were given anl in-depth look at the work off the Royal National Lifeboat! Institution when they werij addressed by Jean Rappael-J li, RNLI NW fund-raiser. Members heard thatj


since the RNLI was founde in 1824,134,500 lives havJ been saved. Last year alonij there were 6,249 launches. This year, £100m. need!


work. At the next Probus meet]


ifi i


v-^;:o: H I -


. :8S


I Bolton-by-Bowland. When will it end? I t


about the Capstick chil­ dren, of Yew Tree Farm, who lost their pet lambs. A lot of children all over the area must be feeling so sad like them, as shown by the poems printed which had been sent by children of


I seems to go on and on, and there is no mention of the trauma in the national papers and news. Tony Blair cancelled one election to take charge of the foqt and mouth crisis, where is he now? It's dreadful.. 1


...


PAMELA EVANS,; ■ ■ • ■ ■ W r - ’ Mcarley Syke,


| Clithcroe. I May your God


be with you MY folk are from Livesey, west of Blackburn. My home is in Clitheroe. The people and the near land­ scape of the Ribble Valley and Bolland are dear to my


I heart. In these troubled times, it


is important that we stand as one and give mutual sup­ port.My humble resources are at the disposal of all who


need. The near landscape is


| their long future. May your God be with


Shopping - even for the essentials -


should always be a relaxing experience. What you don’t need is music blaring


in your ears. Or constant annoying announcements...usually for the benefit


of the staff. So at Booths we don’t have either. In fact, we try not to make a fuss ■


about anything apart from staying the . best for choice, the best for quality and, of course, the best for service. Booths. Quietly, does it.


I you,


JOHN LEONARD . DIXON DE LIVESEY,


| "Brigantia." Pride in our


neighbours THE area where we live and have lived for over 40 years is in a very similar sit­ uation to the outbreak of World War II but, this time, the enemy is invisible. Information is sparse,


important. It is where chil­ dren are reared and it is what they take away to


ing and learning is! con­ cerned, has she the'arro- 1 gance to think that she is the only one who does this- and who'has the intelligence to make a calculated, informed decision on rele­ vant subjects after studying the available information? "Blind who cannot see"


ing on Friday, Mr Victoj Seal will give a talk on "Croj


Circles".


to be raised to keep the ser| vice going. A vote of thanks was pr


posed by Mr Tom Wall|


consign my views to papel I have spent a lifetime a


indeed Miss Stevenson, per-; haps the cap should fit? She, appears to have missed the increasing opinion, among all the conflicting theories churned out daily, that, there could be a lack of pro-. tein in a purely vegetarian , diet. We did not refer to vegetarians as "cranks". We have relatives and friends, who are vegetarians and we cater for their diets when entertaining them without^ any problems. .! t . ,


pute Miss Stevenson's right to her own opinions,[but' when she uses ttiem'to clem-. grate our farmers we.have1


We have no desire fo.jdis^


an equal right to defend a' beleagured community.


MR AND MRS ERIC WALMSLEY, Holden,


Bolton-by-Bowland. Owning up as


the doubter I AM keeping a low profile during the final stages of. the research of my book, "Malaysia Revisited". I was vilified when


tourism started. Today it may be flourishing, but it is traumatised by foot and


mouth. However, while I was


away I have been reading daily my favourite national paper. As, when I was in Malaysia in 1955-1957, I also arranged to have my weekly Advertiser and Times to keep up with local


affairs. Two things have hap­


rumours are in abundance and farmers are just waiting for the worst to happen. But, like then, out of all


pened. On the day I left England in April, I was approached by two dis­ traught Stonyhurst pen­ sioners who were concerned about an official letter sent to them informing them they had a new trustee landlord, as do all other Stonyhurst tenants. These must" number dozens of


households. I t is not appropriate for


the devastation, people show their true characters, brave and strong - not all with dry eyes, but with courage that makes us proud to call them our neighbours.


SHIRLEY AND BRIAN KENDALL, Sluidburn.


.


A beleagured community


v ■ '


Take Home BeerAwarw


m supermarkets


BEKM MJlWtAHKKT OFTHEYEAR •


KNOWING how your readers' letters space is usu­ ally at a premium, when replying to Miss Steven­ son's original letter we did not try to deal with wider issues other than defending .-


| our farmers. However, after reading


I her diatribe in today's Advertiser and Times we feel we ought to reply.


Miss Stevenson has at .


least nailed her vegetarian colours to the mast (if that is not too jingoistic an expression) and seems obsessed that the making of money is a vile occupation. In her original letter she


(b |V & -'(‘-sr-5VV*r*| A


me to comment further, I am a tenant myself, but I was able to arrange for the two tenants to be reassured that this move was in the interests of both their land­ lords and themselves. I hope all other tenants on the Stonyhurst Estates will


;


a journalist and editor! owe much to the start an training given me by tl Advertiser and Times, bl as I could not be around f take the flak when public' tion was effected, I felt tl view rather than the pf] sonality should be the isstl When I was met a morJ


7


later on my return for a f| days to Hurst Green wf this question, I immedial ly wrote to the headmasl Mq.A. Aylward, and t l him that it was my lettd r stand .by. m y . views!


espect his views, and tj him that I consider he the right to exercise right to contribute eve! word he did. However, villagers concerned in t | estate turnover might ha been more convinced by arguments if the questid that affect their everydl lives and their future h| been addressed. -There was a touchi|


note which caught my - in the same paper as my) ter. It was a "50 Years A| entry that Sydney Pari son had been lost in 1 Imjin River battle | Korea. In 1954, when wo ing for the Advertiser ; Times, editor Brjl Cowgill sent me with a p| tographer to meet SydJ when he came home as | only Ribble Valley POV


H <3& -Mi


be similarly reassured. It is a positive sign that manage­


ment of the assets about which I have previously written is in professional


hands. I am constrained by sub


• react as fast as the head- master did in exercising the right of reply to the letter, "Doubting Catholic", on the question of the £85 a head concert. I own up. I . am "Doubting Catholic." The way to Heaven gets ever harder and one-doubts the route. :


judice concepts from adding to this, but, no doubt, in the month ahead, news will emerge of what is envis­ aged. It may be hoped that the estate management will


hide under a pseudonym if I ! • letters continue on the


I t is not my practise to I , ' ■ . - . -Relax in following page 1


I'd


1


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