Your purchases helped hospice funds

Our thanks for your support and New Year’s greetings and blessings to all.

Mr and Mrs Norman Copsey

Whackhouse Lane, Yeadon

Recycle phones and other gadgets for cancer charity

Many of your readers may know about how mobile phone recycling schemes can help raise money for charity. But they may not know that you don’t have to stop there.

You can also recycle old sat-navs, MP3 players, digital cameras, laptops and even printer and toner cartridges.

We at World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) have launched a new scheme urging people in the local area to send their old mobiles, MP3 players and other electrical equipment for recycling to help raise valuable funds for our cancer prevention work.

WCRF will receive £3.50 for every phone and £1 for every recyclable ink cartridge. We will also receive donations for old MP3s, sat-navs, digital cameras and laptops.

The scheme is quick and easy and free to take part in. We can provide freepost recycling envelopes for your old mobile phone, printer cartridge, MP3 player, laptop or digital camera, and freepost labels for larger packages. We’ll send straight to your workplace or home and boxes of recycling envelopes to display in your workplace or in a local community centre To find out more about WCRF’s Recycle for Research scheme email recycling@wcrf.org or telephone 020 7343 4205.

Teresa Nightingale

General Manager, World Cancer Research Fund

Make New Year resolution to take up new challenge

As an Olympian and patron of Meningitis UK, I would like to encourage your readers to consider adding a challenge to their list of New Year’s resolutions for 2010.

The charity has a wide selection of awe-inspiring and exciting activities for people to choose from, which will not only help them to get fit but also to raise money for a great cause.

Aside from places in many popular running events, opportunities also include skydives and expeditions both overseas and in the UK. Ideas close to home are a cycle from London to Paris or climbing the Three Peaks in under 24 hours. There are also more unusual adventures like a 10-day cycle across Cuba, a Mongolian horse riding trip or a Thailand jungle expedition. Expeditions include treks, bike rides, mountain climbs, white water rafting and sailing. Challenges cover various difficulty levels, so there's something for everyone.

I would urge you to fundraise for Meningitis UK because six families a week still lose a loved one to meningitis, and many hundreds are left with devastating after-affects.

I fell ill with meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia when I was 15, which left me in a coma for three days. Thankfully, I was lucky to pull through and be able to go on to achieve my sailing dreams.

With your help, Meningitis UK will be able to beat this disease and spare thousands of families the heartache of losing a loved one in the future. To find out more about setting yourself a challenge for Meningitis UK visit meningitisuk.org/get-involved

Sarah Ayton

Olympic gold medallist and Meningitis UK patron

Local heroes who provide an invaluable service

May I, through your pages, congratulate Colin Smith, and indirectly the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, for receiving an MBE for services to local government.

At a time when regard for public service, through the antics of a few MPs, has sunk to an all-time low, it is good to know that our firefighters, police and ambulance services are still so highly regarded.

They provide an invaluable service in keeping us safe in our homes, on the streets, and increasingly in our cars. One shocking statistic that has come out in recent months is that firefighters rescue seven times as many people from wrecked cars as they do from burning buildings.

As some of the more ludicrous 999 calls were made public this week, I’d like to raise a cup o’ kindness to Colin and his team of firefighters across Keighley.

Yours in admiration,

Councillor Nader Fekri

Lib Dem PPC, Keighley and Ilkley

Repeal of the Hunting Act is not an option

Recent media reports of the level of support for traditional hunting have painted a somewhat confusing picture. On one hand we are being told that hunting is more popular than ever while on the other we are being told the Hunting Act must be repealed.

If the Hunting Act 2004, which took the cruelty out of hunting by making it a crime to set dogs onto wild mammals for sport, has resulted in increased popularity then why repeal the legislation?

The truth is that sadly some in the hunting fraternity do not accept the change to cruelty free hunting and want to turn the clocks back to the cruelty and barbarism of the past by repealing the Act.

The European Court of Human Rights recently rejected a claim backed by the Countryside Alliance that the ban infringed an individual’s human rights. This ruling agreed with the UK High Court finding, “that hunting with dogs was cruel and the bans [In England, Wales and Scotland] were justified as they aimed at preventing disorder, protecting health and morals, and the rights and freedoms of others”. With over 130 now having been convicted for breaches of the Hunting Act surely it is high time the minority who enjoy chasing and killing wild animals for sport accepted that repealing a law which would bring back their cruel sport is simply not an option. The only option is to Keep Cruelty History.

Douglas Batchelor

Chief Executive, League Against Cruel Sports, New Sparling House, Godalming, Surrey

How will Cameron take power back from EU?

I was fascinated to hear David Cameron's recent speech and am particularly fascinated to learn how he thinks his aims for change can actually be achieved.

Just how does he intend to take away responsibility from the European Parliament for major matters such as farming, fishing, immigration VAT, employment legislation etc etc.

There is a whole raft of issues that the government of this country has no say over as we have relentlessly given away our powers to the EU.

I am not sure whether Cameron fully understands that. And I'm not sure whether he is just naive or incredibly stupid.

Godfrey Bloom

UKIP Euro MP for Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire

Readers urged to get involved in politics

May I urge your readers to help organise or attend public meetings from now until the General Election. The danger of the national debates between the three party leaders is that people will overlook their local candidates and vote according to the leaders’ performances. The result will be that good candidates will be ignored and poor candidates elected. More worryingly, the MPs will then owe their allegiance to the party leader rather than the local electorate.

Our democracy belongs to us all. Apathy cause by scepticism about many current MP’s will diminish our democracy. Our worries should drive us use our power to ensure they are more accountable to the local electorate.

The Liberal Party’s alternative is at liberal.org.uk/discdocs/index.htm

Rob Wheway, President, The Liberal Party

What difference would illness have made?

I see that our PM, Mr Brown, is said to be appalled at the execution of Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen, who was tried and found guilty of trafficking in broken lives and death, for that is what drugs such as heroin are. There are claims that he could have been suffering from bipolar disorder, apparently not proved, but what, if any, difference would this have made.

I understand that this affliction can have many effects, but one of them is not not knowing what is right and what is wrong. Whatever ‘spin’ is tried to be put on this matter, at some time he accepted what he knew were drugs, that someone else was paying for his ticket to China, (why else would he be going there, he was not going on holiday), and he knew he would be transferring the drugs to someone else, for which he would receive money. How can he not be guilty as charged?

As for the Chinese, what were they to do when the PM got involved? If they were to have rescinded the penalty, how would they have been able to justify it at a later date, with a national from some other country. Their law would have been torn apart. The Chinese were right in their actions, it is the law in their country, and it will serve as a lesson to others who think they would go down this route.

A G Goldsbrough

Dale Court, Fieldway, Ilkley

Seeking memories of war-time evacuation

I am seeking information for a book about pregnant women and mothers with young children evacuated during the Second World War. Do any of your readers have memories they could share? If so, would they please write to me at the address below.

Sue MacArthur

The Church House, St John Street, Bridlington, East Yorkshire YO16 7JS