WE the clergy of the churches in Helmsley, and Helmsley in Business, wish to express our deep unhappiness that the traditional Maundy Thursday market is being moved by Ryedale District Council to Good Friday.

We regret the lack of consultation with Helmsley Town Council, Helmsley in Business and two out of our three clergy.

Good Friday is the most solemn day in the Christian year.

Now that the 1994 Sunday Trading Act has turned Sunday in to “just another day” can we not please have one day in the year where we take our collective foot off the consumer pedal and allow a little time away from acquiring? For everyone’s sake.

Rev Tim Robinson, Katie Atkinson (Helmsley in Business), Fr Kentigern and Rev Ken Gowland

A cause for regret

I READ that there is a proposal to hold the Helmsley market this year on Good Friday, although in the past it has occurred the day before.

Good Friday is the most solemn day in the calendar of the Christian Church; it is remembered as the day of mourning and prayer when the Son of God was tortured to death on a cross with common criminals.

To hold the market on Good Friday within sight of All Saints Church is, to say the least, inappropriate.

The reason quoted for the change, attributed to the market traders by Ryedale District Council, is that “over the years traditions have changed” and it was also said that there was a precedent for it in Skipton.

Rather than setting a precedent I suggest it should be seen as a cause for regret.

Ian Kibble, Helmsley

No to EU bribes

MANY wars have been fought over assets.

Gold and silver, traditional assets for holding wealth, pay no income on investment or delivers no income at all.

Oil and natural gas can be taken from the ground for free, sold around the world for huge profits and pay good dividends to investors for many years to come.

Investors such as pension funds and insurance companies, including religious institutions need steady flows of income. Printing money has done nothing for investors.

All it has done is to drive up asset prices. The higher the asset price the lower the return.

People who have done the right thing and put money away for the future also have no interest on their savings.

We must not let the liberal elite bribe us out of leaving the EU.

R P Armitage, Malton

A country divided

IN 2017 on BBC Question Time, Theresa May told a nurse who hadn’t had a pay rise for eight years: “There’s no magic money tree”. Well, it seems there is.

Mrs May used the £1 billion - of our money - that she found on its branches to bribe the Democratic Unionist Party to prop up her hung Parliament. She has shaken the tree again to find more millions with which to bribe Labour MPs in Leave-voting constituencies to support her failed Brexit deal.

It has become very apparent over the last two years that this government lacks strategic direction, and now we see the Prime Minister has also lost all moral authority. After her Brexit plan was dismissed in the Commons by the largest majority in modern times, the honourable thing to do would be to resign or call a General Election. Instead, Theresa May is in denial; her obsessive character and worrying inability to compromise threatens our future prosperity.

Our country is in greater division and turmoil than at any time since the Second World War. None of the many Brexit schemes can command a majority, so the only solution to the impasse is a General Election or a second Brexit referendum. Not even the magic money tree can help us now.

Dr Peter Williams, Malton

Join charity trek

WE’D like to invite any of your readers looking for an adventure to join the Meningitis Now team on a trek in the beautiful Atlas mountains of Morocco.

By taking on this challenge, you will not only have an exciting trip to a stunning region of the world, but also help us fight meningitis in the UK.

Sadly, meningitis and septicaemia continue to affect thousands of people in the UK each year and kill more under-fives than any other infectious disease. Help us fight back by funding research, raising awareness and supporting survivors.

Fancy joining us? The trek is scheduled for September 7 to 9 and you can find out more by emailing michaelai@meningitisnow.org or phone 01453 769024.

Michaela Ilfill, events fundraiser, Meningitis Now