YEP Letters: September 18

Fifty year passport wait ‘unbelievable’

Edna Levi, by email

It is unbelievable and disgusting to learn that Lorenzo Hoyte (‘Windrush child’s passport joy 50 years after arrival’ YEP September 14) has been waiting 50 years to be granted a passport.

This gentleman has, I am sure, worked hard all those years and yet been denied being able to visit his remaining family in Barbados.

The Home Office state they “have worked hard to resolve Mr Hoyte’s case” - only nearly 50 years!

Key fact is airport is in the wrong location

Philip Crowther, Bingley

I doubt anyone can object to the proposals to expand and improve arrival and departure infrastructure at Leeds Bradford Airport.

However, media reporting contains either much naivety or lack of understanding. In my view, the £12m plus proposals are long overdue to lift an archaic service to passengers into the 21st century.

However, it is stated that this miniscule amount of spending will be a forerunner to expanding services with larger aircraft handling 300 to 400 passengers and more distant destinations such as the middle east.

Such enhancements are currently pie in the sky. Should LBA and political leaders take off their rose tinted glasses and look out of the window they will see as follows:

A short single runway that cannot operate fully loaded aircraft such as AirbusA330 that have the range for long haul.

Single carriageway inadequate road links that cannot handle current passenger loadings. Proposals are talked about but no action.

The absence of any feasible rail connection that will connect both east and west large conurbations. A Parkway arrangement at Horsforth serving only Leeds is totally inadequate.

The above are major large and long term infrastructure works that are key to developing LBA, which still ignores the key fact, it is in the wrong location.

Airport needs to catch up

Jeanette Lascelles, by email

In 1961 I travelled to the isle of man from Leeds Bradford airport .

We had to walk out to the aircraft (an old Dakota).This year we were travelling to Turkey where we were crammed onto a bus to take us to the aircraft. Instead of spending millions on a rail link to Leeds they should be trying to solve problems they’ve got already.

After all these years you would think they would have these walk on tunnels like Manchester, the extension a few years back did not improve anything, it made the parking worse.

People going on holiday do not want to be carrying their cases 300 yards to get to the air terminal.

In my opinion it has a long way to go to catch other airports up.

Worst arrival experience

M Little, by email

so David Laws chief executive of Leeds Bradford Airport says at the minute the arrivals experience into the airport is not the best. I would state it’s the worst one going for an international airport but hey the overpriced shops are nice.

Gratifying news on LBA extensions

Graham Robinson, by email

It is gratifying to read about the extensions to Leeds Bradford Airport. Gratifying because they are more on customer comfort rather than taking advantage of a captive traveller.

Just about all the modificatons to the airport over recent years have been made to extort money from the general public.

Generally this is through more eating and drinking venues in the departure lounge. Some seating has been installed but the accommodation still fails to provide enough capacity thereby encouraging visits to bars etc in order to get a seat whilst waiting for one’s flight. This of course means more income for the airport.

Could it be that, coupled with these improvements, the authorities decided to rescind the hated parking charge of £3 just to drop off and pick up travellers.

Years ago it used to be that drivers were given five to 10 minutes free of charge to pick up and drop off and any longer and one had to pay. This is a much more humanitarian approach.

Let’s also hope that the buildings will get rid of the drafty and cold walkway one has to encounter to board one’s ‘plane.

Thanks to ambulance staff

Arthur and Kath Thompson, Bramley.

We would like to send our grateful thanks to the ambulance staff.

We have needed to go to the hospital three different times.

My husband was taken poorly and was rushed into Leeds General Infirmary. Thankfully he was attended to quickly. The second time he was treated with every care and was soon back at home.

The third time it was February and snowing heavily. The ambulance came at 3am. The staff were marvellous. The driver moved the snow from the steps so I could go with him and helped me out.

They made my husband comfortable. They were very helpful although it was early in the morning. They must have been tired as they were just finishing their shift. When we settled down with a seat they came and shook hands and wished us well. Thankfully we have kept well since. So many thanks to them. We are in our eighties so we’re very glad to have been looked after so well.

Bus problem

Mrs L Kitching, Bramley

On Monday afternoon, September 10, I visited the Owlcoates Shopping Centre.

On leaving I was amazed to read that the last bus of the day was at 2.35pm (which did not turn up). Surely this is wrong - we don’t all have a car.

Kenneth Leighton should have ‘Walk of Fame’ plaque

Robert Cowan, Sandal, Wakefield

Extending from the Bull Ring down into Westmorland Street is a series of brass plaques embedded into the pavement bearing the names of illustrious individuals with Wakefield connections who have gained distinction and fame in such diverse fields as music, literature, science, and sport.

As we pass by we can be reminded of, and take pride in, the achievements of people like novelist Stan Barstow, naturalist Charles Waterton, explorer Sir Martin Frobisher, cyclist Barry Hoban, rugby player Neil Fox, and composer Noel Gay who famously penned ‘The Lambeth Walk’. One glaring omission from this ‘Walk of Fame’ however, is a plaque to commemorate the life and work of composer Kenneth Leighton widely acknowledged to have been one of the major figures of post-war 20th century ‘classical’ music.

As a boy, Kenneth lived in a small, red-bricked terrace house not far from Wakefield city centre. He attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and was a chorister at Wakefield Cathedral. So huge was his musical talent that even before leaving school he gained the notoriously difficult L.R.A.M. piano performer’s diploma. After great academic success at the university of Oxford he went on to study with Goffredo Petrassi in Rome.

He later became the Professor of Theory at the Royal Naval School of Music, and held Fellowships at both Leeds University and Worcester College, Oxford.

His highly accomplished career culminated in his appointment to the Reid Professorship of Music at the university of Edinburgh, a post he held until his early death in 1988. But Kenneth Leighton was much more than a gifted academic. He was also a highly acclaimed recitalist and broadcaster, but it is as a prolific composer that he will undoubtedly be best remembered.

He published more than 100 works including church music, operas, orchestral and chamber music, three symphonies and many concertos, garnering many prestigious prizes in the process.

I am aware that Wakefield Civic Society has placed a blue plaque at Kenneth’s boyhood home in Denstone Street, Wakefield, but this location is rather off the beaten track, and I feel there should be some permanent memorial to this major 20th century composer more centrally in Wakefield for all to see.

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