LETTERS

4:50pm Friday 1st February 2008

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A school is not just a place of learning I AM totally disappointed with Shropshire County Council's decision to possibly close 22 Shropshire Primary Schools in their revealed closure hit list announced this week.

I feel very sorry for all the schools involved but my main concern is the primary school at Onibury. It is a school that as a past county councillor I fully supported and also helped them in their fight to save their kitchens.

If asked, I will do the same and help them in a campaign to save Onny School (SOS).

A school is not just a place of learning but also plays a pivotal role in the community. The after-school activities create friendships with the children and the parents.

Closing this wonderful little school will damage the community spirit forever.

Claude Bodenham, Stoke St Milborough, Ludlow.

Tribute to Jimmy James A FEW lines, please, to pay tribute to my good friend, Jimmy James. The quiet man who achieved so much and whom, when asked why he kept trying to escape, replied quietly with a rather surprised expression "It was our duty".

A spirit, I am gratified to hear, that has not died and has been frequently evident in our fighting men in recent conflicts.

Tom Freeman-Keel, Coppice Drive, Craven Arms.

Unlikely to be a slave IT is unlikely that the gravestone at Bishop's Castle dated 1801 relates to a person who died as a slave. Common law had long before this date taken the view that slavery in England was illegal. In the Cartwright case of 1569 it was memorably maintained that 'England was too pure an air for a slave to breathe'.

This view was supported by Blackstone's Commentaries on Law 1765. After Lord Mansfield's ruling in the Somerset case 1772 that slavery was so odious that nothing can be suffered to support it but positive law, it was generally accepted that slavery had no legal standing in England (although this did not apply in the colonies until 1833).

Dr Colin Crisswell, Adforton, Craven Arms.

Is this really win, win?

HAVING read of the so called win win situation we in Ludlow find ourselves in regarding the smelly bio-digester up on the Parys road housing estate, I would like to ask district councillors exactly how much this is costing the council tax payers of Ludlow and, if this scheme is making money, are any of the profits going towards keeping future council tax rises down?

John Morgan, Riddings Meadow, Ludlow.

Beauty was violated THERE is high-rise building epidemic in Craven Arms.

One Sunday afternoon I needed to go for a short stroll. On the way up Clun Road it was pleasant; the houses had neat, pretty gardens. Then I turned into Alexandra Park, new to me, and was utterly astonished by what met my gaze.

On the left there were tenement-like apartments dwarfing the tiny bungalows on the right. Our prized Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty has been violated. Whatever has come over the planners recently?

Doreen Nightingale, Mynd View, Craven Arms.

Great performance I WAS visiting Ludlow and had the good fortune to attend the Sixth Form College performance of Grease.

The show was great, leaving the audience finger clicking happy with some fine performances.

A big round of applause for the band. What a show, excellent value and a joy to watch.

Sharon Smith, Scarborough Road, Pleck, Walsall.

Battlefields revisited I AM an organiser for the War Research Society which was formed over 30 years ago by serving police officers and ex-servicemen.

The society is still run by its founder, Alex Bullock MBE. The society supports a number of causes including the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Normandy Widows and Veterans and other charities.

The society runs coach trips to the First and Second World War battlefields, cemeteries and historic sites of northern Europe.

In 2008 a selection of the places to be visited include Ypres and the Somme, Normandy, Arnhem, Berlin, Reichswald and the Dambuster Raid. Enquiries would be welcome.

Ralph Wilkins, 51 Princes Road, Tivoli, Cheltenham.