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Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP Secretary of State. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Nobel House 17 Smith Square London SW1P 3JR 16 July 2009 Dear Secretary of State, My friend, who is in farming at

WITH Halloween over,our attention turns to fireworks, bonfires and seasonal comfort food like parkin, pie and peas. It’s a nice, cosy and cheerful way to mark the change of season and it may be my imagination, but the early autumn blues that

A FORMER North Yorkshire vet will take on one of history’s toughest sporting events this weekend, and says he does not intend to stop there when it comes to sporting challenges. Stuart Easby, 60, will jet off to Greece on Saturday to take part in the

CHILDREN were able to travel back in time when Poppleton Tithe Barn opened to the public. Youngsters were able to play games such as skittles, quoits and cup and ball as well as dress up in period clothes when uniformed members of the Sealed Knot

MEDICAL experts from across Yorkshire will descend on the University of York tomorrow for a top-level conference aimed at improving the lives of diabetes sufferers. Doctors, practice and community nursing staff from around the region will discuss how

OOH la la! Scenes reminiscent of TV sitcom ’Allo ’Allo came to North Yorkshire, as children enjoyed a taste of French culture. Youngsters at Sherburn Hungate Community Primary School, in Sherburn-in-Elmet, set up a café during the school’s recent French

CHANCES of economic recovery for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in York, North Yorkshire and Leeds will be at risk unless there is more Government help, it has been claimed. Business leaders say help is needed as SMEs continue to

JACKIE Mathers, the dean of York St John University’s Business School, has been appointed to the board of York Professionals. In her role as head of the city’s first business school, which was launched 18 months ago, Jackie has developed strong

MEMBERS of family businesses throughout York and North Yorkshire will converge on Hazlewood Castle, near Tadcaster, on December 8. They will be attending a free meeting, one of a series organised by Garbutt & Elliott, the York accountancy firm and business

YORK City centre-back Djoumin Sangare could be sidelined for up to a month after injuring his groin at the weekend. Sangare limped off during the second half of City’s 3-1 defeat at Crawley Town and has been ruled out of Saturday’s FA Cup home tie with

THREE tournaments totalling $17 million will signal the end of Simon Dyson’s most successful golf season – and he is aiming to take a big slice of the mega-money on offer. Since scooping the KLM Dutch Open in August and then capturing the coveted Alfred

THE campaign Asbestos – The Hidden Killer is launched this month and I am writing to plead with tradesmen to be aware of this dangerous substance. I lost my husband to an asbestos-related disease when he was only 64. He was exposed to the deadly

YORKSHIRE batsman Andrew Gale believes he has two main areas of improvement if he is to build on a successful 2009 county campaign. The 25-year-old left-hander is preparing to fly out to South Africa in the next fortnight with county colleagues David

With Christmas just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about the perfect Christmas presents. But what would make the perfect gift? For those friends and family members with a sweet tooth, the answer is easy. At this time

PRISONS are not the place for young offenders. What is needed urgently is the re-introduction of compulsory work places, such as the former Castle Howard reformatory farm school. This was situated opposite the Welburn junction on the A64. Discipline

YORK Minstermen will hold their monthly quiz night at Bootham Crescent Social Club on Thursday. The quiz starts at 8.30pm with doors open from 7pm. Entry costs £1 per person and teams should contain no more than four adults. Prizes

I RECENTLY paid a visit to the war weekend at Pickering and would like to congratulate and thank the town, organisers and everyone who participated in this superb event. I felt I had been transported back to the war years, a living history lesson. A

CITY of York Athletics Club 400 metres ace Richard Buck will spend the next year with fellow Olympic hopefuls at Loughborough’s High Performance Athletics Centre. UK Athletics have set up two HIPACs – one in Loughborough and one in London – to give the

Riverside opened their York Badminton League season with mixed fortunes in men’s division one. An unexpected 6-3 away win over Selby/Drax ‘A’ was followed by an 8-1 capitulation at RI Tues/Thursday ‘A’. Geoff Oxley and Craig Dobson turned back the

I AM hoping someone can help find a cousin of mine who lived in York and may well still be there. Her name is Nancy Parkinson (nee Bowen) and she would be about 83. Nancy had a daughter, Kathleen, and a son, David, who would be about 63 and 60 respectively

TEN-MAN Gillamoor beat Bagby & Balk 8-1 to stay top of the RJF Homes Beckett League. Despite Andrew Claughton’s first-half sending-off, goals from Lee Nesfield (4), Paul Brackley (2) and man-of-the-match Luke McLaren (2) consigned Bagby to their heaviest

THE CIU Bowls League annual general meeting will be held at Railway Institute Bowls Club, in Ashton Lane, York, on Tuesday, November 10, at 7.30pm. Clubs are requested to ensure they are represented at the meeting, which will be followed by the presentation

Brett Edgeworth was the first Thirsk & Sowerby Harriers finisher in the Guy Fawkes Ten race, taking 67th place in a time of 70 minutes 39 seconds. Iain Milner, in his first outing for the club, was 264th in 82-16. The top Harrier in the Great Whernside

Sahara Kingdom looked a horse with a bright future when making a winning debut at Lingfield last month and he returns to the same course tomorrow with every chance of fulfilling that promise. Trained by Saeed bin Suroor, the two-year-old son of Cozzene

JUST because a politician can talk, win votes and follow the party line (some are given a ‘policy script’), doesn’t mean they can actually run anything; most have never run anything in their lives. For instance, Alan Johnson, Home Secretary and ex-postman

I MUST take issue with Councillor James Alexander, Prospective Labour candidate for York Outer (Readers’ Letters, October 30) in which he supports the idea of Tony Blair for president of Europe. Has Coun Alexander forgotten that eight years ago when

LIFE and pensions sales for Aviva based in York have plummeted by 25 per cent over a year, partially as a result of tough market conditions, it was revealed today. The drop was disclosed in the insurance giant’s third quarter figures which showed

I WAS always led to believe that under the British justice system (applicable also in all or most Commonwealth countries) that a person was innocent until proven guilty. But apparently I am wrong. Under guidelines set by the Government, parents are now

MRS Ida Goodrick seems to have become incensed at my perceived lack of compassion when I compared uncollected rubbish in Leeds with the casualties at Dunkirk (Readers’ Letters, October 31). Innocent as charged, “m’lud”. I think if Ida carefully re-reads

I wish to inform the Communication Workers’ Union that I am going on strike and refusing to post any Christmas cards. Instead, I will phone people and wish them a Merry Christmas. I appreciate this might cause some inconvenience to Royal Mail as I will

REGENERATION replaced degeneration in the House of Commons, only for a day, as 300 members of the Youth Parliament, including York’s 17-year-old Joe Feeney, debated “votes for 16-year-olds” there, as the keynote issue among others. The House of Lords

WALL Of Sound record company supremo Mark Jones reckons Cosmo Jarvis is “without a doubt the most raw talent I’ve ever come across”. High praise indeed, but then Cosmo is a songwriter, singer, filmmaker, storyteller, poet and Jessica Alba enthusiast,

ON Sunday, I saw rock and roll’s future and its name is David Ford. In misappropriating the prediction made by music journalist Jon Landau after encountering the tornado force of Bruce Springsteen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in May 1974, the intention

THE Grand Opera House in York is under new ownership today after being sold by its American owners as part of a £90 million deal. The Cumberland Street venue was sold by American entertainment company Live Nation to the UK-based Ambassador Theatre Group

SUPERMARKET giant Waitrose is planning to open its first store in York, The Press can reveal today. The upmarket retailer is eyeing-up the former MFI building in Foss Islands Road, which has lain empty since the furniture firm went into administration

AT FIRST sight, the skull looks as though it is screaming. The jaws are opened wide, the mouth gaping. Did this person die an agonising death nearly 2,000 years ago? There is no particular reason to think so, says archaeological fieldwork officer

A YOUNG woman was sexually assaulted in York as she made her way home on Hallowe’en night. Police today appealed for witnesses, and said they believed a young Manchester United fan could provide vital evidence to catch the attacker. York detectives

A MAN who spent 26 hours on the roof of a city centre office block was seen to jump to his death, York’s coroner has said. Colin Bluck, of Barnsley, spent more than a day at the top of scaffolding at Stonebow House last week before falling to his death

THUGS subjected a man to a chilling knifepoint ordeal after he withdrew money from a cash machine in York. The incident happened outside a HSBC cash point in Clifton shortly after 7.30pm on Sunday. Colin Ventress, of York Police, said two men brandishing

ELECTRICITY chiefs have apologised after a power cut shut down businesses and council offices in York city centre. Traffic in Rougier Street and George Hudson Street was also disrupted by the blackout, which was caused by a fault in an underground cable

AN award-winning North Yorkshire restaurant has closed its doors after more than 80 customers developed sickness and diarrhoea and members of staff contracted norovirus. The Star Inn, at Harome, near Helmsley, has confirmed that it has temporarily

RESIDENTS plagued by vandalism have partially won the first stage of their fight to have alleyways cordoned off. Coun Steve Galloway, City of York Council’s city strategy executive member, yesterday gave the go-ahead for officers to start the

THE opening event of the York Late Music Concert Series on Friday has been called off after illness struck a member of the Bingham String Quartet. Series administrator Steve Crowther says: “We’re looking to reschedule the same programme, hopefully

THREE Riccall carers are up for honours at the Great North Care Awards. The awards ceremony will be held at the National Railway Museum in York later this month and Riccall Carers, a company which offers people support and care within their own homes

THE flagship East Coast Main Line will be renationalised on December 12 and will not return to the private sector until mid-2011, union leaders have claimed. The York-based publicly owned company will have a new name – East Coast – and staff will have

PARKING charges are being suspended for festive shoppers in East Yorkshire. Continuing a move started last year, council officials are waiving charges during the three weekends leading up to Christmas. Stephen Parnaby, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire

A MAJOR operation to crack down on antisocial behaviour and clean up the streets in part of York city centre has had an “amazing response” from residents. North Yorkshire Police joined forces yesterday morning with DVLA and environmental health officials

KEEP your homes lit and locked – that is the message to be given to thousands of city-wide residents as part of police burglary blitz. Under the banner Light Up And Lock up, the Safer York Partnership burglary task group is urging residents

A TRAVEL firm is going for gold as it prepares to unveil a new £1.4 million fleet of vehicles on a North Yorkshire bus route. Arriva Yorkshire is modernising its service linking the centre of York with Selby later this month, as eight state-of-the-art

A WOMEN’S open prison near York which lost its governor in a cost-cutting shake-up has come in for praise from a watchdog. Askham Grange Prison faced transition earlier this year when it was placed under the same regime as Wakefield’s New Hall Prison

THE driver responsible for a crash involving a coach and three cars near Malton earlier this year has admitted causing the death of one of his passengers by dangerous driving. The Yorkshire Air Ambulance and an RAF rescue helicopter helped take seven