Letters

AS a law-abiding metal detecting enthusiast and as co-ordinator of Northern England Weekend Searchers, a computer-based metal detecting association patronised by over 100 people from the north of England, I object to your newspaper being used as a conduit for archaeologists who are trying to blacken our hobby's name and get it banned.

I notice in your interesting and informative piece on Lanchester Roman fort (Echo, Dec 27) there is a mention of metal detecting enthusiasts stealing ancient metallic artwork worth thousands of pounds.

Could the archaeologists tell us when this was reported to the police, where it is believed to have been disposed of, and what exactly was this piece believed to have been?

I suggest this incident is just another piece of ammunition to be used against our hobby.

When will the archaeologists acknowledge that 90 per cent of articles on display in the Yorkshire Museum have been donated by metal detecting enthusiasts and that the knowledge held by our colleagues is far greater than that of archaeologists?

Last time I saw an archaeologist identify something on Time Team on a Channel Four dig at Hartlepool an item was described as a suspender from a nun's suspender belt, when in fact the article in question was instantly recognisable to the most inexperienced of metal detector enthusiasts as a clasp from a medieval book, a fact the archaeologists later confirmed.

Metal detecting is a legal hobby that has improved our knowledge of history no end and has, on numerous occasions, caused us to re-write history. - N Smith, Newton Aycliffe.

RAILTRACK

RAILTRACK has issued a statement explaining how its track repair/renewal scheme has proved to be more expensive than originally anticipated and could it have more public money in advance to cope financially in the near future.

Railtrack seems not to have invested in rail safety or its maintenance. Priorities appeared to be high salaries and retirement pay-offs at the top, cheap, possibly unqualified, labour at the bottom and high returns to shareholders. Its procrastination must have heightened the risk of further deterioration of the track.

Why is John Prescott not kicking corporate bottoms and stopping rail companies returning to complacency and privilege? - CJ Blair, Darlington.

BUS SERVICES

ARRIVA appears to have virtually abandoned the estates on the outskirts of Darlington on weekends and late evenings because of the cost effectiveness of the services.

It is a wonder any of the services are cost effective judging by the way the buses run round all day in convoys without any attempt to regulate them.

Public transport was once zealously regarded as service to the public by the bus companies, but since being broken up and sold into the private sector, the "if it doesn't pay scrap it" attitude prevails.

What happened to the swings and roundabouts, the good routes helping to support the not so good?

It was a sorry day for the town with the demise of Darlington Corporation Transport Department, a sentiment echoed by more than a few. - TH McCullagh, Darlington.

EUROPE

IN your report, Europe on the agenda, (Echo, Jan 12) you neglected to indicate whether the students from Prior Pursglove College, Guisborough, are being told in advance that they are being brainwashed by the Europhile machine or are they led to believe that no contrary position exists?

The salient fact is that the vast majority of the people of this country are opposed to the erosion of our democracy by the cabal that now rules us.

Will the students be told, for example, that if we accept the single currency we have, de facto, surrendered our sovereignty, and our existence as a free nation state is no more? I'll bet they aren't. This is not conjecture but fact.

The creeping brainwashing of schools, colleges and other places of learning would make Joseph Goebbels proud.

Parents and citizens should be aware that this is happening. I think it is now called citizenship training.

This is a euphemism to cover the insidious nature of their aims to drive out of our children pride in their history, culture, traditions and replace it with a soul-less creed. - David Pascoe, Hartlepool.

METRIC MEASURE

PEOPLE, perhaps understandably, fear changes in their way of life, such as using the euro and kilos rather than the traditional British money and weights.

But the fact is that jobs are at risk if our exporters stick to present money for pricing.

Ever since pounds, shillings and pence were changed successfully, I personally don't care what money is used in Britain and, as many of us holiday in Europe, using euros is an advantage.

Why not display pounds and equivalent kilos together for, say, five years? - FM Atkinson, Shincliffe.

LITTER

WHILE staying recently at Catterick Garrison, I witnessed an episode which illustrates some of the ills of today's society.

One lunchtime, I passed a bus stop opposite a row of shops where a group of four or five school pupils were sitting eating takeaway meals. On my return about an hour later, the pupils were gone but the remains of their meals - polystyrene plates, half-eaten food, bits of paper and paper bags - were still there, scattered over the benches and on the ground underneath.

What makes this sorry little saga all the worse is that three feet away was a perfectly serviceable litter bin.

Is no one teaching our children how to dispose of litter property? Are they deliberately defiant or are they unable to recognise a litter bin or remember what it is supposed to be used for? - K O'Brien, Ferryhill.