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Letters to
the Editor - November 2007
Not on the right track
I do wish that contributors would remove their rose
coloured glasses. I’m referring to the article ‘Is the
political will on track for return to rails?’ by Richard Peace.
Many readers will be aware of the desperation of residents in the towns
and villages of Mottram, Hollingworth, Tintwistle and Glossop caused
by the endless queues of traffic passing through the centre of their
villages with the resultant noise and pollution, danger to pedestrians
(including the pupils of several schools) and damage to the very foundations
of their homes. To say nothing of the hours wasted in trying to get
to work etc.
Proposals for a bypass are met with endless delays
(over twenty years) mainly caused by objectors who care nothing for
the misery of local people. One objection to a bypass often raised
is that reopening the Woodhead rail link, Manchester to Sheffield,
would be a better solution. This brings me to Richard’s comments.
He states that political will is sadly lacking for this scheme. This
could be because the politicians are not wearing their rose coloured
glasses and have considered what is involved.
As Richard says it would cost many billions of pounds,
but that is only one of many problems. The rail link used to pass through
the Woodhead tunnel and that is now used by the National Grid to carry
electricity supply across the Pennines. Removal of these cables would
mean hundreds of massive pylons through the Longdendale valley and
right over the Peak District National Park. Many thousands of vehicles
use the A628 through the valley each day, to carry these vehicles by
rail would require hundreds of train trips, each carrying hundreds
of lorries. Massive freight yards would have to be built at each end
of the line. Towns would hardly be demolished so very many acres of
countryside would be consumed.
Would transport firms pay to have their lorries carried
across ? Not likely unless they were forced to by legislation. They
would suffer hours of delay, just imagine getting fifty thousand vehicles
onto and off trains each day. Richard says that they could go road
free all the way to Northern France – rather inconvenient for
someone who wants to go to Sheffield or Nottingham.
K S Greenough, Glossop
One issue control freaks
July’s letter, which closes with the comments
about ‘Reserves’ and ‘Open Countryside’, is
quite correct; the areas outside such reserves are open countryside.
What goes on in a reserve is the owner’s business. However, when
their influence spreads beyond the reserve it must be of concern to
all. These ‘One Issue Groups’ appear to be gaining the
upper hand, along with the government’s ear and are influencing
what happens at national and local level outside their reserves in
the open countryside!
All well and good if you are a supporter of such
a group or share their blinkered view, but you may find yourself well
and truly in their sights if you follow a legal sport, pursuit, enjoyment
or employment in ‘open countryside’ which they consider
either inappropriate, at odds with their mantra or contrary to the
world as they see it. How long before you are only allowed access,
enjoyment or employment in the open countryside in a manner that only
they consider as appropriate?
Like it or lump it, Britain is a very small island,
which is home to millions of people who have diverse interests, sports,
legal pursuits or employment that necessitates access to the open countryside.
Maybe soon all access, pursuits or employment that are dependant on
the open countryside could be fully controlled or at the whim of these ‘Narrow
Minded, One Issue, Noisy Lobby Groups’?
John Ellis, by e-mail
The face of Robin Dawe
When my wife read me Mr Randall’s letter (August)
I was able to name the writer without her telling me. I receive a magazine
called The Saddle Mag in the Vale of Aylesbury with Garth and South
Berks, which featured Jim Randall. I’m not fortunate to know
him personally but I think I know him very well. When I saw his wonderful
characterful face he might well be Robin Dawe, a character John Masefield
describes in his epic poem Reynard the Fox or The Ghost Heath Run:
So, in Dawe’s face, what met the eye
Was only part; what lay behind
Was English character and mind,
Great kindness, delicate sweet feeling
(Most shy, most clever in concealing
Its depth) for beauty of all sorts,
Great manliness and love of sports,
A grave, wise thoughtfulness and truth,
A merry fun outlasting youth,
A courage terrible to see,
And mercy for his enemy.
Long may there be great characters like Jim Randall
in a world that’s getting short of them.
Geoff Allen, Sturminster Newton, Dorset
Scent of childhood missing
Madge Green asks in her interesting article on old
country names for wild plants (September) ‘who in the south of
England knows what we in the north are talking about when we use the
common name for Leucanthemum? For a start, all of Sussex knows it very
well. The name ox-eye daisy has been used for centuries here, as well
as moon daisy and horse daisy. I have tansy growing by my backgate
and we call it Bachelors Buttons.
About twenty-five years ago there were red cowslips
growing in a garden in Shoreham-by-Sea. They were truly red and not
a washed out pink or burnt orange. The garden’s owners told me
the original plant had been given him by a gamekeeper at Goodwood where
they grew wild in the woods. The seeds he gave me failed to germinate
because I did not appreciate how to raise cowslips from seed.
The subject brings to mind the many bushels of cowslips
I collected on the South Downs before the war, for my grandmother to
make into wine. They gave out the most heavenly sweet scent imaginable.
They all but disappeared after the war due to the many acres given
over to food production and the indiscriminate use of pesticides. However,
about thirty years ago pockets of them appeared to beautify the Downs
once more – but alas that delicious, heady scent so evocative
of my childhood was missing.
Emma Goldstein, Lewes, East Sussex
Too much of a good thing
Your watercress article (May) confirms so many reports
on the benefits of this healthy herb. My wife and I were regular purchasers
until we were advised it should not be eaten more than twice a week
as it would affect the kidney. As the packaging is too large for two
people to consume within one week, we find ourselves avoiding watercress.
I do appreciate smaller packaging will increase the price, but the
choice then becomes the responsibility of the purchaser and the elderly
are probably the main purchasers.
R T Shorrock, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset
Editor’s note: While watercress
is noted for its health and nutritional benefits, excessive use can
lead to kidney problems. It is always best to take your doctor’s
advice.
Trusting in woodland
In the late ’60s/early ’70s Ken Watkins
used to attend the field/woodland meetings of the local branch of the
Institute of Chartered Foresters to talk to me and others about forestry.
He was both a gentleman and gentle man and most gracious, with a deep
and dignified passion for woodlands and wildlife. He sold an agricultural
engineering business in Ivybridge and I think he used his personal
capital to buy woodlands. I believe he’d already bought a woodland
in south Devon when he came into my commercial forestry office and
asked if I would plant a small field for him. We agreed mostly broadleaves
with a few Scots pine and larch.
Sid Tremblett and Jan Parker were two wonderful old
countryman foresters from Chagford who did the work. They were in at
the birth of what became the Woodland Trust in planting this new wood,
which is at Dishcombe, east of Okehampton. It was not a painless birth.
We had not had much experience of planting farmland and when I made
a site visit in May I gazed in horror, because I could not see the
planted trees for mainly cocksfoot grass. Sid and Jan had to return
with long-handled hooks to first find and then release our trees and
similarly in subsequent years.
When I passed recently I saw that the wood was well-established
and like the other woods under the care of the Woodland Trust, is a
compliment to the dedication of Ken Watkins and all the other staff
and members involved. What a change in public policy. In those early
days my work was almost exclusively with commercial conifers and for
the last ten years my management has included a 200 acres SSSI for
dormice with a twenty-year coppicing cycle.
W J C Blight, Crediton, Devon
Not all out to sting you
Reading about wasps (August) reminded me of the occasion
one ‘nibbled’ me. I’d taken a coffee break with a
chocolate biscuit and felt a strange sensation on a finger. It was
a wasp. I waved it away but it returned and seemed ‘friendly’.
I let it carry on nibbling; there must have been traces of chocolate
on my finger. It walked up and down and, when finding no more, flew
away. It was a pleasing change from more aggressive encounters.
Lastly, may I congratulate the Marriotts and Humphrey
Phelps – the former for restoring their woods, and the latter
for pointing out what so few writers do not have the courage to, that
grey squirrels and muntjac deer are pests.
Michael Barnard, Lewes, Sussex
Fall brings back fond memories
Don’t we take our sisters for granted when
we are small. I know I did. When we were young I remember going blackberry
picking with my elder sister who lifted me up to reach the best ones
which were always out of reach. She also knocked down the nettles for
me. It all came back to me the other day when I fell in nettles while
picking blackberries. Fortunately I was covered up but I had to smile.
I looked around to see if anyone had noticed a dishevelled pensioners
climbing out of a hedge. Happy days. Thank you for Countryman. It’s
good to know there are more around like me.
Mrs T M Hurcomb, Hereford
Back copies
Firstly, I want to say how much I enjoy receiving
your magazine each month. The lovely photographs make me nostalgic
for the old country. I note that someone is wanting to find a home
for accumulated old issues. I also have every month's copy since January,
2003. I would willingly pass them on for just the cost of postage.
I am in the Sydney area. My phone number is 02 4975 1303.
Auriol Royds, by email
Corn dollies
I felt I must write to thank all of those kind people
who wrote to my late father after he requested information about corn
dollies (September). We had letters from all over England and Wales,
and we were particularly interested to find out there is a Guild of
Strawcraftsmen (www. strawcraftsmen.co.uk) who promote these crafts.
He would have been very pleased to know these skills are not being
lost.
Richard Morrish, by email
Nature watch
When I was a boy in Cheshire in the late 1940s,
there was a series of books written by a naturalist aimed specifically
at children. These books had countryside stories and described and
discussed birds, wildflowers, butterflies and wild animals and how
to identify them. I believe the naturalist also appeared frequently
on the Children's Hour programme on the wireless. Can anyone remember
these books or author?
Chris Duff, 237 Duskywing Way, Oakville,
Ontario L6L 6X5 Canada chris.duff3@sympatico.ca
Saw points
Brashing, or brushing up (April) consists of removing
side branches of young trees to head height. The brashing saw has a
backward curve and is set and sharpened to cut on the downward backstroke.
It is usually carried out after the thicket stage but before thinning
is attempted – ten to twelve years after planting. The term is
used throughout the forestry trade and I believe the term originated
within the Forestry Commission.
M R Briggs, Berkshire
Kissing robins
It’s generally accepted there’s no difference
in appearance between male and female robins. The ‘kissing’ (Letters,
September) was clearly courtship feeding by a male. This is common
and well known; males feed their mates during the breeding season.
The bird table must be on neutral ground (not within one of the male’s
territory). This would explain the lack of aggression.
Mary Mountain, Aylesbury, Bucks
We welcome readers' letters,
which should be sent to:
Countryman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton,
North Yorkshire BD23 3AG
Or email: editorial@thecountryman.co.uk
The editor reserves the
right to edit letters for length and clarity. |
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