Have your say on the issues which matter
Political capital
Sir, – I refer to your front page story ‘Sing-song snub to the fallen’, Falkirk Herald, September 23.
Having been involved with the Festival of Remembrance for 20 years feel that I have to comment.
Councillor Goldie seems to have lost the plot, the operative word being remembrance.
As a Legionnaire, I and others remember 365 days a year and give up time for the cause of serving and ex-service personnel. I am disgusted that this has entered the political arena and cheap capital is being made.
There are two other festivals of remembrance in Scotland, one in Dundee on November 6 and one in Hamilton on November 7. Both started after the success of the Falkirk festival. Are they disrespectful?
We organised an event for D Day which was not held on the exact date. Was this disrespectful?
The Falkirk festival is the envy of many local authorities in Scotland and the Legion is grateful for the support and assistance which is received from Falkirk Council. – Yours etc.
MALCOLM RICHARDS
(via e-mail)
Festival fiasco
Sir, – Why do ratepayers of the Falkirk Council area once again see the fiasco of a regular prestigious item in the calendar being ignored?
As president of the Festival of Remembrance committee, was Provost Johnston informed that the department in charge of Falkirk Town Hall had disregarded a booking which has stood for 21 years for the Saturday before Armistice Day? This committee starts preparing for the following year’s festival immediately on the conclusion of each festival. Not only are bands and artistes being booked in advance, but the many Royal British Legion branches throughout Scotland are informed of the event and requested their branch standards requested to attend.
According to the report in The Falkirk Herald, the department had two dates pencilled in for this event. Why? There is only one Saturday immediately in front of Armistice Day and that is the one regularly booked for the Festival of Remembrance.
This blunder by the department concerned has ended up with Provost Johnston having to publicly cover up for them.
This is not the only item that this department has ignored or blundered over and, as a former councillor, who, for eight years was vice-chairman of the committee responsible for this department, I can assure you that someone would have been seriously questioned over any slip, if not by the chairman or myself, then by the Provost. – Yours etc.,
D. MAILER
94 Eastburn Tower, Falkirk
Well kept
Sir, – As a regular visitor to Camelon cemetery, I would like to say well done to all the men who maintain the grounds
It’s a pleasure to see such a beautiful and well kept
cemetery.
Keep up the good work!
ARLENE GRAY
(via e-mail)
Poor advert
Sir, – The pathway at Slamannan Road which leads to the canal and Drossie Road and Falkirk High Station is muddy. Halfway down the pathway the puddles in one large area seem to be there more times than not.
This is not a good advert for tourists or local people. Surely the council or British Waterways could do something. – Yours etc.,
JOHN FOTHERINGHAM
18 Falkirk Road, Glen Village
Daily trouble
Sir, – I wonder if any of your paper’s readers could tell me if I need my eyes tested or not.
I have yet to see a ‘No Indicators Required’ road sign at the Carron Road/Ronades Road roundabout.
I travel on that road daily and, on September 20, I was driving towards Camelon, signalling my route, when five cars in a row went towards Carron/ Carronshore without signalling to turn left.
I see this every day and I have still to see the aforementioned sign, so maybe I do need my eyes tested. – Yours etc.,
NAME AND ADDRESSED SUPPLIED
Helpful drivers
Sir, – I would like to say a big thank you to the two drivers who stopped to help me when my car broke down on the roundabout connecting Slamannan Road and Lochgreen Road on Monday night, September 20, around 10 p.m.
I had no mobile phone on me and the second driver, who had a woman passenger and wee boy in the car, very kindly drove me home.
I was very grateful for all their help. – Yours etc.,
P. SIBBALD
Greenrig Farm, Falkirk
Costly exercise
Sir, – In response to J. Traynor’s short-sighted letter, Falkirk Herald, September 23, she should be aware of a few facts.
First, rubbish recycling costs more money, time and, above all, energy expenditure – recycling plant energy costs and the cost in fuel used to transport all these separate collections.
Also, we have the environmental cost of all these plastic bins, both in use of raw materials and the fact that they are not bio-degradable.
Then there is the additional use of water in cleaning these bottles and cans. Even at a few extra litres a week, this adds up to millions of litres across the region which, in turn, will put an extra burden on our already over-stretched sewers.
So now what is so environmentally friendly about the councils imposed hare-brained scheme?
I might add that, as part of my honours degree, I have studied environmental issues. – Yours etc.,
A. B. THOMSON
32 Crawford Drive, Wallacestone
Old habits
Sir, – There are many letters concerning recycling in the local media today.
I can remember in my young days when everything was recycled without any of the council organisations we have today.
There wasn’t much motorisation in my boyhood days, it was mostly horses and carts, and all the houses in the vicinity had a pail and shovel handy to collect the horse’s droppings for their gardens.
One day in the week you would put all your food scraps out (tattie peelings, cabbage leaves, etc.) and a pig breeder in the district would collect them.
Then you had the rag and bone merchants cleaning away your old iron and rags for balloons or a cup and saucer.
They were mostly travelling people, some of them cleaned bottles and jam jars which they found lying around and made money from the returns.
Paper was disposed of by cutting it into squares and using it in the loos. Some people damped the paper and crushed it into a mould. When it dried, it burned like a log in the fire. Others just burned the paper in their stoves.
There were no plastic bottles about and shopkeepers mostly used newspapers when wrapping their goods.
I can remember them forming wee cones to take the lentils and peas. They had this down to a fine art.
I think there was only one sanitary man to each district, not the organisations they have now in local councils. – Yours etc.,
L. RICHMOND
King Street, Stenhousemuir
Animal cruelty
Sir, – I am writing with regard to the serious topic of animal cruelty. I readily agree that certain zoos and circuses provide their animals with an abundant supply of love and affection. Equally, zoos strive to educate the public on conversation techniques and the protection of endangered animals rather than merely using the animals for entertainment
purposes.
However, I strongly believe that the majority of animals which are unfortunate enough to live in captivity lead an
aimless, unstructured and unhappy life.
This is partly due to the selfishness and ignorance of mankind.
In many zoos the polar bears, tigers, lions and rhinos pace around their basic tiny enclosure distressed and like zombies with no goal. I think this despondency and boredom is perhaps more apparent in the large species where the space they are given is too small in regard to their size and lacks a variety of stimulating objects to keep them entertained.
Surely the owners of the zoos and safari parks know that in the wild bears and such creatures travel freely over thousands of square miles, the fact that they have not taken this point into consideration when building the animals enclosure is, in my view, extremely cruel and displays an enormous amount of unawareness.
Likewise, in my animal behaviour course we studied the effects of visitors on the behaviour of monkeys kept in captivity. We found that some of the people who visit zoos tend to create stressful and anxious situations for the animals. Banging on the glass, mocking the animals, talking loudly and even a large number of quiet individuals proved upsetting for the monkeys.
When I visited Seaworld in Florida I discovered a 50p coin in the mouth of a dolphin and a sea lion playing with a child’s dummy, both oblivious to the imminent deadly dangers. This was despite the fact the rule board clearly states keep all bags, food and objects well away from the pool side. Thus, humans can be very
disrespectful and act in a cruel manner towards animals.
I think we should be doing more to educate the new generations of children on how to understand and love the animals that roam our earth. We need to end the heartless, disrespectful view humanity has and stop cruelty to all animals. We can achieve this by spreading peace, respect and love to all the creatures that live in our world, it only takes a few minutes of our time but will hopefully change the way in which our society thinks and considers animals. I believe animals should have as much rights as humans do and should be at all times treated in a kind and considerate custom
I urge everyone who reads this, to please remember – animals have feelings too! – Yours etc.,
LAURA POODLE
1 Carronside Place, Denny
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