School dinners risking children’s health

This provides a disgusting diet of mainly mechanically-recovered meat products, and chips with everything. Vegetables and fruit never seem to be on the menu, only dishes with high fat, salt and sugar content.

British agriculture produces both high-quality and local food but at present is losing out to the bottom end of the supply chain.

A minimum of 60-70p is spent on school meals in France, Spain, Italy, Finland and Japan and the food served would be perfectly acceptable in most decent restaurants.

It is a disgrace that the Government is putting at risk the health of growing children. The long-term outcomes of this poor diet, lacking in nutritional value, will increase rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. National Audit Office figures for 2002 for weight-related illness cost the NHS £500 million.

The departments of both education and health should take responsibility for this scandal. The Department of Health is always promoting its advice of “five portions of fruit and vegetables a day” for a healthy diet and in the fight against obesity.

Bells should be ringing in various Government ministries about future costs to taxpayers if there is no improvement in school dinners. The Department of Food and Rural Affairs, if they cared about agriculture, could do much to promote UK farmers’ quality produce for school dinners, too.

If parents, teachers and the men from the Government ministries were forced to eat the present muck that is served up as most school dinners, things would change rapidly.

SUZANNE GREENHILL

Parkside Avenue

Cockermouth

* CAN anyone tell the rest of us what is really happening about the closure of Corus? I am led to believe that a high-priority task force is being set up, in London of all places! Why not in Cumbria, with the good, hard-working people of Workington on board?

What do they know that we don't? What is the NWDA doing? They are supposed to be regenerating West Cumbria, so why don't they put their money where their mouth is.

Are they trying to kill off our towns and businesses so that people in Merseyside get our jobs?

Is there anyone in this Labour government who cares about West Cumbria? It doesn't look like it to me.

And hasn't Tony Cunningham become quiet?

JUDITH PATTINSON

Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Workington

Conservative Party

* I SEE that a new company plans to build a cheese factory near Workington (Times & Star, March 11).

We live in a free-market society and it is not only understandable but desirable that business people look to find a niche in the market place to make money.

In this instance, I do not think there is one.

It is 70 years since the Milk Marketing Board began to manufacture cheddar cheese at Aspatria, and the current owners, Dairy Crest, have a production facility which makes an excellent product.

This has been recognised by Asda who have signed a recent contract.

This plant can take in all the milk from West Cumberland and more from other areas.

Any farmers considering signing up to support a new factory ought to be asking themselves serious questions.

J F SYMN

Station Road

Aspatria

* REGARDING your front page story, (Maryport edition Times & Star, March 18) about Mrs Johnston’s complaints about heavy lorries using Curzon Street, does she not think that they would use an alternative route if there were one available? Or does she think that with the price of road fuel fast approaching £1 per litre we should go via a different route just to make her happy?

She is probably one of these people who doesn’t want lorries running past her front door but will undoubtedly be one of the first to moan when there is no milk at the Co-op.

As for Mr Thompson’s contribution, I just never fail to be amazed at some of the things people say or do without thinking it through. By putting the gross weights up to 44 tonnes means fewer lorries to carry the same amount of product and, as for his brainwave of using the A66, would he go via Penrith to Carlisle if his car did 7mpg? I doubt it too!

It all boils down to the same thing every time. Nobody wants the lorries, but we all need what they carry, from a tin of peas to the paper that the Times & Star is printed on. They will be asking for all the freight to go by train next. They can’t even deliver passengers on time, and their load walks on and off.

D CLARK,

Maryport

* AT THE recent Maryport residents’ meeting I raised some questions regarding the proposed use of the Carlton cinema after renovation as a nightclub/music venue. These worries received no support from the people present.

The overwhelming majority of local people support the proposed renovation plan in its entirety, without reservation.

I welcome the proposal to provide a new pub/dining area in this prime position in the town centre, but worry about its implied use as a nightclub as well, due to the confined surrounding area.

Following comments made I now accept that the queries I raised will have been, and are being, fully explored by the town council and Allerdale planning department.

Mr Wood, as an experienced developer will, we can be sure, comply with all the relevant regulations regarding the building and licence applications.

Mr V M McGUIRE

Mill Street,

Maryport

* I MUST respond to some of the letters directed towards myself and other like-minded town residents.

I am not, and never have been against the regeneration of Maryport. As someone who grew up here, left and has returned two years ago, I love Maryport.

I am puzzled that, to some folk, it would seem that regeneration equals a new pub/club. Is that all you have to offer? Are you so unimaginative?

Please, show us all a little more originality. It would seem obvious to me that if there was a need for another pub, the Golden Lion would have reopened.

Surely, its derelict state is a clear sign that the need is not there.

I would like to support the regeneration of Maryport, in a way that would offer something positive to the whole community and not just benefit those who want to save on taxi fares!

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

* AS a Maryport lass, I still have a very strong affection for the town. I visit it regularly and still have many relations and friends living there.

On visits I still look in at my old original home at Hewitson’s yard (off Crosby Street) where there used to be a very strong community spirit.

Later I moved to Netherton as part of a large family, before getting married and moving to Workington in 1960.

On my return trips I love to see the obvious improvements to the harbourside including the buildings, the aquarium, maritime museum, pubs and restaurants etc. They are all used to the best advantage during the summer Blues Festival.

I like the way many of the old and new buildings and houses around Fleming Square and High Street areas have been tastefully built and re-conditioned.

The new Co-op superstore is a big advantage and the adjacent shops on Curzon Street complement this.

But the big let-down is the central area, which residents and visitors alike have to go through to reach the more scenic parts.

I know that funds are scarce, but the Senhouse Street and middle Crosby Street shops and pub buildings are a collection of closed or run-down properties with a few spruced-up businesses propping them up.

The biggest eyesore is the old Carlton Cinema. I know that there have been plans discussed for many years and something is bound to be done in the future, but in the meantime could it not be given a coat of paint or a general clean-up as a temporary measure?

As more and more manufacturing businesses and jobs are going, and we are moving rapidly into a tourist industry environment, Maryport has the advantage of a harbour-front attraction adjacent to a “living town.” Please don’t let these eyesores spoil the good parts.

ELIZABETH CORRIE

Ennerdale Avenue

Workington

* AS A young schoolboy, I was lucky enough to spend nearly three years in Singapore when my dad was posted to RAF Seletar in the mid-1950s.

This overseas posting was much favoured by RAF personnel, which took them to one of the most colourful and historic Far East bases, until its closure in 1971.

Over the years, Seletar base, located in the north of Singapore island, was home to several squadrons of fighter and transport aircraft, plus those much-admired Sunderland flying boats.

This base is remembered with affection by the growing number of members of The RAF Seletar Association.

The association was formed in 1997 to bring together any personnel who served or were based at RAF Seletar in any capacity, service or civilian, including the families of those based there.

Should any reader wish to join or find out more about the association with a view of possibly renewing old friendships, or just rekindling pleasant memories, please contact me at: The Dock Office, Silloth, Cumbria, CA7 4JQ, tel 016973 31358.

CHRIS PUXLEY

The Dock Office

Silloth

* I WISH to thank all the people of West Cumbria for their support and backing of the West Cumbria branch of Leukaemia Research.

Over the past year we have raised £17,150, which is the highest amount raised in one year since the group was reformed in 1987.

You have supported us through four bikeathons, which ranged from small children to pensioners, sponsored walks, store collections and many donations.

When Leukaemia Research started in 1960, leukaemia was a virtual death sentence.

But now with improved research and treatments, 80 per cent of children with the most common form of leukaemia are getting long-term remission and the numbers of adults in remission are improving all the time.

If anyone would like to join our small friendly team, please phone John Dixon on 01946 824060. Well done West Cumbria.

JOHN DIXON

West Cumbria Secretary

Leukaemia Research

* I AM the treasurer for the West Cumbria branch of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards Old Comrades Association and I would like to know if there are any wheelchair-friendly hotels or bed and breakfast establishments in the Workington area.

We hold at least two functions a year, which are very well attended by people from all over the British Isles.

Unfortunately, some of our comrades are wheelchair-bound and have been reluctant to attend, so I am determined to find suitable accommodation.

M V BURDON

6 Botany Court

Workington

* I AM grateful to Suzanne Greenhill for her response to my questioning of the source of her quotation about the public being guided towards a European 'superstate' without knowing what was happening (letters, February 18).

However, in light of her concession that doubt exists as to whether Jean Monnet actually made the outrageous statement which she cited, it seems to me that she was somewhat disingenuous in doing so in the way she did to introduce her anti-EU diatribe.

The European Free Trade Area, whose members she suggests we would do well to emulate, was largely the creation of Harold Macmillan as a stick with which to beat Charles de Gaulle into changing his 'non' to Britain's admission to the then Common Market to a 'oui'. Once in the market, we swiftly quit EFTA.

Were Britain now to seek a return to the status enjoyed by EFTA's remaining members, and be outside the EU but trading within it, I suspect that we would hear a polyglot chorus of 'neins, nons' and 'nos' from our present partners.

The only reservation I have about our becoming part of a United States of Europe concerns the status of the European Parliament.

Like most opponents of the EU as it exists at present, I find administration and legislation by the Commission and the Council of Ministers of the member states undemocratic.

However, unlike the Little Englanders, I believe that membership has done much to protect our civil and employment rights against the business-driven assaults of Conservative and Labour governments at Westminster.

What I would like to see, and what should have been the case, is a European Parliament with real legislative power, replacing that of the Commission and the Council of Ministers.

While one may argue that we elect the British ministers, no UK government since Attlee's has had absolute majority support, and I believe that our proportionally-representative MEPs should have the supreme authority over legislation, with their numbers allocated in accordance with the population of the countries they represent.

That said, I believe membership of the EU, as envisaged in its new constitution, to be essential to our future, for much the same reason as Ms Greenhill cites the honorary president of the Pan Europa Movement, Aristide Briand, in 1929.

American economic power, not to mention military might, in what has become the global village, remains, in my view, a menace.

MIKE BIRD

Main Road, Maryport

* I AM an author compiling a book on football in Cumbria and am keen to obtain information for the period 1945 to 1955, and in particular the football programmes for Barrow, Carlisle and Workington for those years.

I will return any material loaned or will pay excellent prices to purchase for my research. Anyone able to help should contact me on 01322 523153 or write to me at 9 Manor Close, Crayford, Kent DA1 4EX.

CHRIS STAGG

Crayford, Kent

* THE governors and staff of St Michael’s Nursery and Infant School would like to thank Ian Francis, county councillor, for the £50 which he has kindly donated to the school out of his expenses that he receives from the council.

Mr Francis donated the same amount last year following the cancellation of the Christmas pantomime in Maryport.

This is a kind and spirited gesture and we would like to put the money towards improvements to the outdoor areas of the school.

ANN MACRORY

Headteacher, St Michael’s Nursery and Infant School

Station Road, Workington

* ON APRIL 23, 1930, two men were engaged in painting a 163ft chimney at the Derwent Works of the United Steel Companies Ltd, Workington, when one of them, Thomas Brewis fell backwards, apparently unconscious and hung head downwards 150ft up.

Fortunately, his feet became entangled with the ropes of the bosun’s chair in which he had been sitting.

Thomas Fleming, the chargehand, who was on a gantry about 80ft up, went to Brewis’ assistance, accompanied by a painter’s labourer, a youth of 17 called Nicholas Whitehead.

At considerable risk they managed to secure Brewis in the bosun’s chair and assisted in lowering him to the ground.

For this brave rescue, Fleming and Whitehead were awarded the Edward Medal (now superseded by the George Cross), the Daily Herald Order of Industrial Heroism and the Certificate of the Carnegie Hero Fund Trust. Fleming also received £20 from the trust and Whitehead the trust’s inscribed silver watch.

They were presented with their Edward Medals by King George V at Buckingham Palace on February 24, 1931 and their Orders of Industrial Heroism at the Beehive Co-operative Hall, Workington on May 30, 1930.

As one of the few teenagers to win the Edward Medal, I am particularly interested in learning more about young Nicholas Whitehead.

He might have been a local man, although the firm he was working for at the time, Robert Bowran & Co. Ltd, was a Newcastle firm.

All letters answered. Confidentiality is assured.

ALLAN STANISTREET

12 Normandy Avenue

Watchet, Somerset, TA23 0TU