Be positive when reporting facts

It is always disappointing when a reputable local weekly newspaper stoops to use tabloid sensationalistic techniques.

Your front-page story on the inspectorate’s report on the performance of The Holy Family Catholic School was factual and that is not in dispute, but it is hardly fair play to single out one facet of the report that was labelled inadequate and place that in your headline to the article.

A large percentage of people will not have bought your paper yet will have seen the headlines; similarly many will buy it and not read the article. All of those will take away a totally inaccurate image of the school and that will be down to your policy of selecting the worst of a report to emphasise in your banner headlines.

Why not be positive and note that the school passed in six of the eight categories inspected, receiving good or satisfactory ratings, although we know two categories received inadequate ratings.

I send my child there because it has a caring friendly ethos which encourages well being, good behaviour, regular attendance and high standards of dress, all of which the children respond to. Your paper might not consider these aspects of the school important but many parents do.

Of course, as parents we also care about academic standards but that is down as much to parental encouragement and support as it is down to the school, although we note that the school itself had already recognised the deficiencies and have the matter in hand.

These are, in many ways, desperately difficult times we are living through in so many different ways. Negative responses such as evinced by your choice of headlines do little to alleviate the general despondency.

It behoves papers such as yours to be accurate in your reporting, of course, but try to be a little positive in your editorial response to the facts.

NAME and address supplied

Rehoming centre for cats

Haworth Cat Rescue is pushing ahead with plans to create an environmentally friendly rehoming centre in the Airedale corridors. As a civilised society we have a duty of care to ensure our children grow up to be responsible young people, able to respect the needs of others in a “me” society. Those needs include animals. Learning to care for them builds essential life skills for success; discipline, responsibility, respect, compassion, kindness and the awareness that our actions always have outcomes.

I hear much said about “responsible citizenship”, “social responsibility” and now “corporate social responsibility”. Yet invariably animal charities do not qualify for lottery or community funding — and are overlooked by businesses. As a result, we have a generation of children and adults who, in the main, at best exercise apathy towards them — “live and live” translates into “live and let die”.

Yorkshire has a shameful record in animal cruelty and neglect. How many more horrendous stories of puppies being set on fire, dogs being left to starve in sheds and cats caught in illegal traps and shot at with air guns do we need before the authorities and all those with the power to make a difference, sit up and do something to save, not only these poor creatures, but our children from themselves?

At Haworth Cat Rescue our expertise and capacity currently lies with cats.

With the financial support we require to establish our new centre that might change in the future. Our new centre will enable us to implement programmes that will widen our reach, teaching valuable early lessons in learning to love and care for animals within an eco environment that instills respect for the Earth.

Help us to help West Yorkshire become a better place for everyone.

Corinne Moore

Campaign Manager, Haworth Cat Rescue

Great amabssadors

My wife and I had occasion to visit St Anne’s Social Club on two occasions, during a visit to Keighley recently, and I would like to extend sincere thanks and compliments to the committee and members of St Anne’s.

The hospitality and courtesy given to us made us feel welcome and certainly added to what was a very enjoyable visit to your town.

It is obvious that there is a huge sense of community spirit associated with the centre and that the members are the driving force on its activities. It also confirms once again that the best asset any centre or organisation needs to succeed is its members and the centre certainly projected that on our weekend in Keighley.

I would like to finish by thanking you again for your hospitality and professionalism; you are great ambassadors for Keighley and St Anne’s committee should be proud of the job they are doing, as all too often such excellent community work is taken for granted.

St Anne’s is in good hands and its future, which is important to keeping your roots and identity, will grow with the present committee and members.

Best regards from Sam and Cathy Madden and my wife, Breda.

Noel O Callaghan,

Regt Sgt Major, Headquarters, 4 Field Artillery Regiment, Columb Barracks, Mullingar, Co Westmeath.

Memories of grandfather

I come from quite a well known family in the Oakworth area, most notably my family were the Blacksmiths of Sykes Head up until around the 1950s.

My grandfather, Ellis Leeming, was the last in the family to take on the role, albeit part time. I’m told by many that Ellis was a well respected member of the Oakworth community, contributing time and effort to many local causes and activities.

Ellis Leeming died in April 1997, aged 77. Regrettably I was quite young at this time and never really got to know my grandfather as well as I would have hoped, although I do have many fond memories.

In short I would like to reach out to any readers here, if possible, to get in touch with me regarding any memories or stories you have about Ellis Leeming, of Oakworth, or any others of the Leeming family for that matter.

Email: randomvendettas@gmail.com or write to me.

Alastair James Leeming

32 Scott Green Crescent, Gildersome, Leeds LS27 7DF

Time to cap Parish council precepts

What a weekend for the poor taxpayers of the district, businesses bailed out to the tune of millions by the struggling hard-pressed families are further insulted as these businesses, mainly banking institutions, award themselves monstrous bonuses.

Taxpayers must be kicking themselves for voting for this totally inept, failing and now we see rudderless Labour Government in their handling of this problem. Their answer is yet another review, how many more before change?

Closer to home we see parish council precepts, some excessively above inflation! I for one believe parish councils are an excellent first tier of local government but may I make the suggestion through these pages before public feeling and appreciation starts to wane for these councils, come on government, how about starting to cap the precept that parish councils raise. District councils are capped to 5 per cent but last year Bradford Council returned one of the lowest within England, similarly I will endeavour we do the same this year. Any percentage, especially above inflation, only increases an already under-pressure family, single person or retired resident struggling under the added financial pressure we now all find ourselves in, especially when we see those who were prudent with savings now finding these savings nearly worthless under this Labour Government.

CLLR Glen Miller

Conservative Worth Valley, The Chase, Keighley

More suffering in Gaza

The situation in Gaza was discussed at a recent meeting of the Keighley Trades Union Council. Delegates were shocked to hear that, in the 21st century, a situation of such brutal racial hatred could arise.

Israel, in its refusal to interact with the Palestinians, has effectively ghettoised one-and-a- half million people into an area half the size of the Isle of Man. Over the last few weeks the anguish of these people has been seen in them trying to fight back with rockets; the disproportionate Israeli response has killed well in excess of 1,000 people, including around 300 children.

Although there is now a cease fire in place, these people are effectively imprisoned within the secure fence-line that surrounds Gaza. The result of this situation is that the conflict has, in reality, not come to an end, making it inevitable that more suffering and human misery will occur.

The advice of Winston Churchill: “It is better to jaw jaw than to war war” should be heeded. If this world is ever to improve, racial hatred, ethnic cleansing, ghettoising of certain groups of human beings needs to become a thing of the past. What needs to be done in the Israel/Palestine situation is to open up a dialogue between the two peoples in order to dispel fear, mistrust and racial hatred. If only people would treat each other as people then much pointless pain and suffering could be avoided, not only in Israel/Palestine, but in our own nation and in our own town.

Keith E Dredge

Keighley Trades Union Council

Shame on Keighley News

Shame on you, Keighley News! No thanks at all for your big disservice to the town’s self-esteem. If the pupils, parents, staff and ex-pupils of Holy Family School don’t smash your windows and paint rude words on your walls, then it shows how civilised, polite and well-educated we are.

How shocking of you to take the most negative word out of a mixed report and plaster it, out of context, across the town.

Did you never think to question the validity of the inspectors’ opinion? Don’t you think it’s a bit disloyal to the town to assume that its attack on a very decent school is accurate?

Let me give you a little background information on Ofsted. A bunch of people of no special distinction or experience appoint themselves to come into the school, charging by the day. It’s a nightmare, because nobody knows which of the government’s whirling blizzard of moving targets and half-thought-through policies they will be testing the school on this time. It is in their interests to find fault, because then they can appoint themselves to come back — charging by the day — to “help the school rectify its deficiencies”. In the process, they demoralise and exhaust staff. They do no good; they rarely give praise; they have tunnel vision and often overlook glaring faults and shining qualities. If any school has ever found any useful advice or wisdom in an Ofsted report, I never heard of it.

Even when it raises genuine concerns, such as the exam results of Asian boys, the report does more harm than good. All over the world, boys born into recent immigrant families are known to underachieve in school. Nobody knows quite what to do, except wait for 50 years, because the problem goes away with the third and fourth generation. But the Government has noticed that there is an issue and has issued a decree that schools “must do better”.

Poor Mr Bentley and his staff now have to implement this decree. I am sure they have more imagination, skill and concern for their pupils than most, but they have been given an unenviable job. Have any of your readers tried changing the attitude of a teenager recently? Using emotive language like “failing these boys” and branding it inadequate on the front page of the paper is unhelpful, ignorant, disturbing to the community and an insult to the teachers.

The education Holy Family gave my children, and all their friends, and several of my employees was certainly not inadequate. I think the school takes better than average care of its pupils. We — you — should praise them, not blame them for it.

Give the school and its pupils, and the town, a bit of respect and support. They deserve it.

John Martins

160, Highfield Lane, Keighley (Father of three ex-pupils; husband of a school governor; employer of five ex-pupils)