YEP Letters: May 19

Concerns over pavement parking

H Dorey, by email

I am concerned over the amount of drivers who park on pavements.

I think this really needs to be looked at further as my mum is in a wheelchair I am very tired on having to go into main roads as the pavements are blocked by very bad mannered and uncaring people.

Disabled bays should be offered more in general as a lot of people seem to park where they want.

A history of the taste of our Tetley’s bitter

Malcolm Toft, Silsden.

IN response to John Heasman (YEP May 17), the history of Joshua Tetley & Son is chronicled in the book Quality Pays by Clifford Lackey published in 1985.

Mr Lackey, who was employed as a reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post, joined Tetleys as publicity and information manager in 1964 and retired 18 years later. He was succeeded by the late Colin Waite.

The publication records that improvements were made to the Tetley brewhouse and fermenting rooms in the late 1950s and 1960s.

They included a completely new brewhouse, two new fermenting rooms, laboratory, yeast handling plant, racking tank room, cellar block and cask washing department.

The official opening of the new brewhouse came on September 19, 1967, and changes to the flavour of Tetley ales may have stemmed from that time.

One man could then initiate all functions of the brewing process from a central control panel in the brewhouse. Varieties of malting barley and hops available changed over the years that the company was in existence.

In 1960 Joshua Tetley & Son Limited merged with Walker Cain Limited of Warrington. Both companies had large tied estates of public houses on either side of the Pennines, making a formidable combination to combat any raid by a takeover bidder.

The parent company Tetley Walker Limited joined with Ind Coope and Ansells in 1961 to form a business which became Allied Breweries Ltd.

That firm was formed largely as a defence against the predatory and acquisitive Canadian brewing magnate Edward Taylor. Tetley’s Brewery in Leeds continued to produce the company’s bitter until closure in 2011. The Warrington-brewed Tetley Bitter and Mild was completely different in flavour to the Leeds version, but brewed to the same strength until they commenced brewing a darker mild.

In 1996 the Warrington brewery closed. A supermarket and the Warrington Wolves rugby ground now stands on the site. A new brewhouse had to be built in Leeds and more fermenting capacity added as a result. Water from the company’s own borehole was used for brewing until closure.

Stop Brexit now

Ken Cooke, Ilkley

WOULD all the Leave voters care to advise the Government sub-committee on Brexit how they can square the circle of free trade with the EU without a customs union?

Clearly the Ministers have absolutely no idea. They should have worked that out before the referendum. But no, they invited unbelievers to join them in a leap into the dark.

The EU works very well for the UK. Maybe its not perfect, but neither is Westminster.

Our position in the EU is not broke. It does not need fixing. Stop Brexit now.

Holiday airport a stark contrast with home

Bob Watson, Baildon.

HAVING just returned from a holiday in Lanzarote, it was interesting to compare the airport there with Leeds Bradford, which appears to be of a similar size. At Lanzarote there are several airbridges, so that virtually all passengers can board and alight directly into the terminal building.

What a difference at Leeds Bradford, where there are only two such airbridges.

Far too often passengers are dumped at the far end of the site, and then bussed to the terminal, or have to undertake a lengthy walk along corridors.

The powers-that-be tell us that Leeds Bradford is “Yorkshire’s Airport”, but sadly they seem to spend most of their money on improving the shopping experience, and nothing like enough on the passenger experience.

This is the highest passenger airport in the UK and, as such, travellers deserve a much better level of convenience and comfort.

What is urgently needed is an extension of the terminal building along the apron, together with the installation of several more airbridges.

Until these sorts of improvements are put in place, then, sadly, the airport will continue to be second-rate in the eyes of many people from Yorkshire and beyond.

Raising profile in Dementia Action Week

Paul Hardcastle, musician and producer on behalf of the Utley Foundation

I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who is helping raise the profile of dementia during Dementia Action Week (May 21-27).

Anything which raises awareness of dementia must be applauded. It’s one of the biggest medical challenges that we face and it can be very isolating. We know that people with dementia often live in a silent world yet music can bring a person back to life.

Work that we’ve done at the Utley Foundation with the International Longevity Centre-UK has shown how music can alleviate symptoms for people living with dementia, yet less than 5% of the 16,000 care homes in the UK provide music as part of treatment.

We want to change this and are looking to appoint an Ambassador to mobilise a task force to help create more access to music for people with dementia. Research suggests that there is a ‘memory bump’ for music: people with dementia retain the clearest memories for the music they enjoyed and heard between the ages of 10 and 30.

So we’ll be looking to help introduce musical initiatives which unlock these memories like digital playlists in a person’s home, running community choirs inclusive of people with dementia and bringing trained musicians into care settings. We’ve got some way to go to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of people living with dementia but thank you to those who have helped us champion the use of music therapy, it’s hugely appreciated.