I READ HAS every day, and enjoy the range of opinions expressed and subjects discussed. I feel prompted to reply if I passionately agree or disagree with content, or if I feel I can add to an interesting story.

However, Mike Cunningham's contribution about the Durham Miners’ Gala last Wednesday (June 24) was probably one of the most disappointingly unpleasant pieces of writing I've come across in the Echo, never mind HAS.

I deliberately withheld from replying to ensure I didn't fall into the trap of responding with simple insults to the man.

Let's just hope he never needs the help of a trade union if he has problems at work, although if he can remember the windows in Durham being boarded up he's probably retired.

The Big Meeting came about as a celebration of the mining community, a celebration of those ordinary workers who campaigned for better working conditions, safety, welfare, wages, job security, and education.

Without those people celebrated on the "threadbare" banners, many of us in County Durham simply wouldn't be here.

It continues because it's a celebration that those communities still survive despite the efforts of the government of the day to destroy them by providing no alternative opportunities as they closed the pits.

Banners of other, non-mining, unions have joined in recent years in celebration of the work they've done as other industries have suffered. It also reminds us whose hard work actually created much of the wealth of County Durham.

Following a banner is now also a way of showing respect to your ancestors, the places they lived, and the pits they worked in. It's a chance to meet up with others who share your roots, to see where folks have ended up, and to have a great day out in good company.

If you don't want to listen to the speeches, you don't have to, but you're missing part of the point.

Perhaps Mr Cunningham should take to the stage on the racecourse to tell the masses why they should all go back to their grubby little houses and leave Durham alone?

Paul Dobson, Bishop Auckland

I REFER to the letters (HAS, June 25 and 26) from Mr Robinson and Ms Watson regarding my mildly astringent comments about the Miners’ Gala.

They talk about having a picnic and sitting to reminisce about the years gone by. They state that the Gala is an ‘upstanding event for the youth of today to remember their past heritage’ and that there are people who treat the Gala as a non-political event to listen to the brass bands.

It seems to me as though both correspondents wish to live in a Socialist dream world where everything supposedly wonderful has been preserved in a heritage museum environment where the Working Man’s Labour Party was the saviour of all, and the dastardly capitalists had been put to the metaphysical sword.

Sorry, folks, but the slag heaps have long disappeared from the green fields which they despoiled for many years; only the out-dated thinking that the world owes anyone a living remains. The banners should be allowed to fade away.

As for my letter being a hypocritical rant, I would state that from an early age, having seen at first hand the ruthless application of Communist beliefs; I have consistently voted, spoken and written against the Reds, both in my books and on the internet, and firmly believed that that evil ideology should be trodden into the dust, along with the fellow travellers of Socialism.

Mike Cunningham, Durham