Lucky to have such a range of shops

As Asda begins it’s strangulation of local businesses by actually preventing us from getting into town, I would like to share with your readers just a few of the very wonderful shops I have visited over the past weeks.

Shops which provide friendly, local services and which put their money back into the local economy.

M and J Framing has provided us with most of the frames around the ludicrous number of prints, posters and photographs we have hanging on the walls of our house — always happy to oblige with any small request and always willing to pass the time of day, even when framing pictures of donkeys!

Butlins, the jewellers down Cavendish Street is the sort of place you can go to for advice, the unusual gift and who will look at why your watch isn’t working and won’t charge you when they find they can do nothing to help you. Such a lovely shop and, sadly, becoming all too reminiscent of a slower, more helpful age.

The Wharf — friendly, know what they are actually talking about and will try to help you find exactly what you are looking for. Reasonable prices, quality jewellery and a place we have visited again and again.

Riddlesden Post Office — I did mention it in passing before, but they do know what they are doing, do it efficiently, with big smiles on their faces and are quite happy to point anyone in the right direction. With future post office closures mentioned, make sure you use this one.

We are incredibly lucky to have such a range of shops in the area. Let us all make sure they are used and that Cavendish Street doesn’t become a shadow of it’s former self.

Antony Silson Skipton Road

Thanks to park runners

Hundreds of people laced up their trainers and descended on Bradford at the weekend to support the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

More than 200 people opted for the 3km or 5km route around Lister Park on Sunday to raise vital funds for the nation’s heart charity.

I would like to thank everyone who came from all over West Yorkshire, including the Keighley area, to take part in this event and support us.

The BHF is working hard across the Bradford district to beat heart disease and funds schemes with community groups, projects within Bradford Primary Care Trust, and research projects at local universities. Heart disease touches us all — lives are cut short, living is harder and chances are it has already affected you or someone you know. Over 100,000 people die each year from coronary heart disease, the most common cause of premature death in the UK.

Helen Whiteley BHF Regional Events Organiser

Stop 'fat cat' shooters

While the economic downturn is giving us little to cheer about, one small glimmer of hope to come out of the crisis is that perhaps the unscrupulous business of commercial shooting, which depends heavily on corporate spend, will also start to feel the crunch this year.

Last weekend heralded the start of the pheasant shooting season, an industry which rears tens of thousands of birds in shockingly low-welfare conditions before releasing them into the countryside to be shot by paying guns.

The UK shooting industry is grossly wasteful and dependent on the cash from fat cats with limitless expense accounts.

Members of shooting parties can each expect to kill as many as 400 birds a day on a corporate shoot, spending anything up to £10,000 for the privilege.

When most of us are tightening our belts and counting the costs of day-to-day living, the League Against Cruel Sports would like assurances from companies and businesses that they will not buy into this blood sport, which profits from companies willing to waste money killing live targets for the sake of a corporate jolly.

Douglas Batchelor Chief Executive, League Against Cruel Sports, New Sparling House, Godalming, Surrey

Simple Will to aid others

Many readers may be worried about the economy and how recent turmoil will affect their own work and worth.

However, one thing we can all do to protect the hard earned assets we do own is to write a proper will. This is the only way to make sure that when we die our personal property and savings go to the people and causes we care about, exactly as we would wish.

Without a legally valid will, our assets will be distributed according to the rules of intestacy, which may mean that they go to relatives we hardly know, or who really don’t need the money — or to the Treasury. Unless people face up to the need to make a will, when they die their loved ones could face stress, hardship and substantial legal costs.

If readers act quickly, they have a great opportunity to put their affairs in order, while helping others. Generous solicitors in this area are willing to draw up a basic will free of charge in November. Why? Because they have signed up to raise money for the nine UK charities participating in Will Aid’s National Make a Will Month: ActionAid, British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Help the Aged, NSPCC, Save the Children UK, Sightsavers International, SCIAF (Scotland) and Trocaire (Northern Ireland).

In return for writing a basic will, the participating solicitors hope clients will choose to donate to the Will Aid charities the fee they would normally charge. For further information call 0300 0300 013 or log on to willaid.org.uk.

Shirley Marsland Will Aid Campaign Manager