THIS is a message for the irresponsible people who allow dogs to empty their bowels and bladders on to the grass verge outside our home in Hob Moor drive.
The grass is being destroyed. Adults and children alike who happen to walk on the grass often step on these filthy piles of excrement, transferring it, if not noticed at the time, into their homes, or cars which are parked along here during the school runs.
Mary Morton,
Hob Moor Drive,
Holgate,
York
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We need a better bus service for Holgate
WITH reference to Ward councillor for Holgate Kallum Taylors letter in The Press (Thursday, March 14), it would seem that as a young and fit person he has no concern for the elderly and disabled in his ward who rely on the number 16 service to get out and about without having to use private transport.
As I pointed out in my previous letter, if passengers cannot get on the bus on the Hollybank Loop because of the adding on to the service part of number 24 route, the nearest alternative bus stops are a fair distance away mainly uphill.
If the council want us to use public transport instead of private transport they have to provide a better service.
AP Cox,
Heath Close,
Holgate, York
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Dismay over school attendance levels
AS a grandmother of children in primary and secondary schools in York and an erstwhile school governor over many years, I read your article about school attendance with dismay (Unauthorised school absences above average, March 11).
We seem to have forgotten that schools need to be warm, welcoming, stimulating places that encourage a love of learning.
Instead we now have children who are severely anxious or depressed about attending school, parents who are being castigated or fined as if they are somehow wilfully putting their child’s future at risk and schools who seem to think that displaying ‘colourful, compelling banners’ telling children how their lives will be ruined by non-attendance will somehow inspire them to cross the threshold.
With numbers soaring, it’s time to instead question what it is about schools of today with their focus on rigid uniform and discipline policies, narrow curricula and sheer lack of support services that are leading so many to stay away.
The tragedy is that instead we’re blaming the very people that are suffering – children and their parents.
Name and address supplied
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Lovely to see Rowntree Park open again
RE: your story about the major clean-up effort from volunteers with council help that has enabled Rowntree Park to be open in time for spring (Park back open after three months, The Press, March 13).
It was lovely for my wife and I to be back walking the dog the other day on the cleaned paths.
So many thanks to everyone involved. And don’t miss the dramatic split tree in the Forest School area.
Harold Mozley,
Blakeney Place,
York
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So saddened by death of Kevin
MY wife and I learned of the death of Kevin Hagan with great sadness.
We knew Kevin when he was working at the Blacksmith’s Arms in Naburn. He was friendly and cheerful and, as well as bar duties, Kevin regularly hosted the Sunday night quiz at the pub. He was a genial quizmaster and quiz nights were always entertaining and often hilarious. We remember on one occasion, when giving the answers, he mixed up a couple of questions and insisted that Maeve Binchy was in fact the sixth wife of Henry VIII. He will always be remembered with affection by those who knew him in Naburn.
Ian Yates,
The Hollies,
Naburn
