Sir, - The crisis village halls, which you reported (July 19) for Darlington and North Yorkshire, affects Co Durham as well. Durham County Council has consulted widely, and is trying to save something from the fire, but the outlook is pessimistic.

The Government wishes to develop Lifelong Learning, which we would all support, so has transferred finance from local authorities to the Learning and Skills councils. What it has not realised is that activities in village halls are funded from local authority education budgets. At a stroke, it has undermined the existence of village halls.

The situation is similar to that of village shops. Remove the bedrock of Post Office work, and the whole village shop is threatened; selling stamps does not compensate. Remove regular support from a village hall and its whole operation is threatened; funding occasional courses does not compensate.

As village schools, shops, churches, even pubs, close, the village hall has become more and more important as the one place where the whole community can meet. If he believes in strengthening rural life, the threat to village halls from DoE needs a counter attack from the Minister for Rural Affairs, and revenue support from DEFRA. This seems to be a national problem. It is a problem made by a Government whose policy wires have crossed. They need to know how serious it is.

I hope the D&S will make revenue support for village halls another part of your campaign for strengthening rural life as a whole.

ELIZABETH CONRAN

31 Thorngate,

Barnard Castle.

Bridge sense

Sir, - At long last common sense has prevailed with regard to Creets Bridge at Kirkby Malzeard.

With a bit of luck this bridge will be made wider and deal with 2002 traffic and not horses and carts circa 1066 as English Heritage would like to see.

With regard to the tosh Brian Webster still harps on about with speeding, this bridge is half a mile away from Kirkby Malzeard. Boy racers can speed to 60mph long before they reach Kirkby Malzeard, whether the bridge is narrow or wide.

As for English Heritage, well, you couldn't make it up. They still persist in trying to put a spoke in the works and go against local opinion that says we want a wider bridge and now is the time for it when the old bridge is damaged. After all we are told the new bridge structure will be the same as the existing one, so what is the problem?

As you would expect with English Heritage, someone with no brains is trying to show who is the boss.

MALCOLM RAINFORTH

Southfield Avenue,

Ripon.

Grouse on beef

Sir, - I was recently in the Somerfield store in Northallerton where I wanted to buy some minced beef, but found there was no British meat of any kind for sale in the store.

When I approached the Store butcher and manager, they told me all their meat was brought pre-packaged from Ireland. This means it could have been reared anywhere in the world where there may be no food safety regulations.

How can the British housewife support British agriculture and industry if their goods are not made available to her, and in fact does not even know the country of origin of those which are on offer.

Northallerton is in the heart of a rural community. Might I suggest that the community does not support a retail outlet which does not support them? Needless to say I ended up shopping elsewhere.

Miss VAL BOWE

Tunstall,

Richmond.

Good day out

Sir, - The other day, my wife and I made the journey from York to Scarborough and back on board the Hogwarts Express Steam Train. Wonderful nostalgia, and very enjoyable.

I would like to compliment the staff at York station for their helpfulness, especially Walter, who insisted on helping us with our wheelchair, and accompanying us through the ticket procedure and on through the lift and tunnel to the appropriate platform of departure, also pointing out to us all the facilities of the station and telling us of all the rail services that are available. All in all, I can't speak too highly of our day-out on the steam railway.

JOHN PHILLIP LASSEY

Woolmore Close,

Thirsk.

Who's words?

Sir, - I recently renovated a venerable stone on the North York Moors with the following inscription carved into it: "They also taught us to esteem and admire temperance, virtue, truth and justice which we will never violate but observe with indefatigable veneration".

I would be grateful if any reader is able to throw light on this quotation. The date on the stone is 1818.

TOM SCOTT BURNS

Ripon Road,

Nunthorpe