YEP Letters: October 15

Check out today's YEP letters
Quarry Hill flats
1967Quarry Hill flats
1967
Quarry Hill flats 1967

Make sure name Quarry Hill stays prominent

Chris Nickson, Roundhay

This is an open letter to Leeds City Council. I have to admit that I’m surprised by your decision to allow a developer to brand an entire part of Leeds as SOYO, simply to market their buildings.

In a stroke, this erases centuries of Leeds history for a purpose that will very likely be gone again in just a few decades. Let me remind you of just a few things about the history of Quarry Hill.

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Quarry Hill flats. For a number of years, this was held up as one of the great architectural wonders, to the point that false rumours existed that Hitler wanted it as his Northern headquarters if he conquered England.

Plague cabins. In 1645, Leeds has a visitation of the plague that killed almost one-quarter of its inhabitants. Plague cabins were built on Quarry Hill to quarantine those who came down with the disease, and early example, not just of public health measures, but also compassion.

Romans. According to Ralph Thorseby – and please, if you don’t know who he was, read up on history – Quarry Hill was the site of a Roman settlement, and artefacts had been dug up there before his time.

The name Quarry Hill goes back hundreds of years. It’s as much a part of our history as Briggate or Kirkgate – or would you be willing to get rid of those names for branding rights?

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Whether true or not, this smacks very much of selling a birthright for a mess of pottage. Yes, you’re elected to represent us.

That doesn’t give you the right to throw away the history of the people who live here, of their forebears, plenty of whom lived on Quarry Hill, not SOYO.

By all means, let the developer call their buildings SOYO at Quarry Hill. But by allowing this change, this sleight of hand that allows centuries of history to be eradicated to satisfy a brazen, not particularly clever, piece of marketing, not only do you do us an injustice, but I feel you insult us all and show how little the past matters to you when offered a brief, shiny future.

I do hope you’ll reconsider this, and ensure that the name Quarry Hill remains very prominent, because it will still be there long after SOYO is rubble on the ground.

We want numbers, not an email

Barry Stoner, Wakefield

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I agree with Bob Stone (YEP, September 5) as I, along with thousands of older people, do not have a computer at home and never will have one.

We are not at all interested in email, Facebook etc. Why not just write a letter and post it - this more personal way is the way forward I think.

I have recently had the AA, Samsung, Axa Insurance and many others complaining that I have no email, yet I give them my text phone number - they can text or ring me. Have they no ability?

It is time contact numbers are displayed to enable people with no email to participate in areas taken away by idiotic computers, which make life unbearable for me and many others. Now is the time for change.

Years of training for nurse practitioners

Ron Davies, Yeadon.

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IN response to Duncan Long (YEP October 10) regarding advanced nurse practitioners, he seems to be unaware of the role and its position in general practice. He states that the majority of ANPs have no extended qualifications other than basic nurse training.

Actually nothing could be further from the truth!

My wife is an ANP in general practice and, apart from her nurse training in the hospital setting for many years, she went back to university to undertake a career-based BA (Hons) degree. Like all ANPs, she went on to obtain a MSc in clinical skills. Without this qualification, you can’t be an ANP.

This degree covers examination, diagnosing, prescribing and referring patients. My wife is not seen as a cheap GP but a valued member of the team with the skills to work autonomously. She has extended her skills in women’s health again through university study and patients are often directed to consult her, and are generally very satisfied with her advice and treatment.

I feel his words are insulting to ANPs (my wife has spent over 12 years at university) as most other ANPs have, and are proud of their roles in their teams.

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Mr Long should have researched the subject before criticising those who have studied hard to achieve this position.

Praise for nurse practitioner

V Curnin, via email

I am writing with regard to the letter from Duncan Long (YEP Letters October 10).

I must disagree with him as I had had a long standing condition over a few years and nothing seemed to be done about it.

I thought I had to live with it until I received an appointment with a Lead Advanced Nurse Practitioner.

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In April I saw her and she immediately referred my to a specialist whom I saw in a matter of a few days (and am still being reviewed by him).

I have had three consultations with him to date. My views are entirely different and if it hadn’t been for her my condition could turn out very serious.

Build up of body parts is a ‘total disgrace’

M Wilson, by email

Wakefield Council has approved the Welbeck extension - this is the council that says it is listening, but it doesn’t listen to hundreds of objections from Normanton and Altofts residents.

I have written many times about the pollution and dumping in this area but never thought that I would hear the phrase “build-up of body parts in Normanton”.

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Normanton and Wakefield councillors are the ones who have approved all the waste, recycling and pollution that is encircling our town and village.

They should all resign now and local people should have the guts to not vote for any of them again.

This is wishful thinking but I would like for Wakefield Council to state, once and for all, that they will never give permission for an incinerator to be built in this area.

Not just a “we have no future plans to build one” but a definite promise to the local people that this will never happen.

I won’t hold my breath.