Plight of First World War horses recalled

THERE are many commemorations in progress, both local and national, marking the centenary of the First World War.

We have education programmes, visits to battlefields, refurbishment of memorials and much more.

In Middleton-on-the-Hill in the north of our county there is an unusual memorial. which commemorates the fact that Middleton is one of the very few ‘blessed’ or ‘thankful’ villages in which all the soldiers returned from the war.

There are thought to be only around 50 such places in the country.

Middleton is even more unique in being a ‘doubly thankful’ village, also losing no soldier in the Second World War.

My main reason for writing, however, concerns horses. The film War Horse reminds us of the role of horses in the First World War. It is estimated that around eight million horses were used during the war and very few came home. Some animals were cavalry horses but cavalry charges were rendered useless by the development of trench warfare and so the majority of horses were workhorses, which one writer called “the equivalent to the poor bloody infantry”.

Horses were purchased or requisitioned from businesses and farms and I wonder if there are local records of this?

After the war there was a great outcry when as many as 45,000 now redundant horses were sold on the continent for slaughter. The RSPCA and other charities became involved. Despite their valiant efforts it is thought that only around 60,000 horses made it back home.

This sad tale reminds us that we still involve animals in warfare. In February this year national newspapers carried the story of pigs in Denmark being used for surgery practice including by our armed forces.

Apart from the ethics of using our fellow creatures in this way, you might think that there are enough human battlefield casualties around the world to supply ample (and more realistic) practice.

JOSEPH COCKER Castlefields Leominster

Wild flowers need our help

THE grass in my area was cut on June 26. I would have thought that, after cutting, it should be raked up, then the pavements swept. In this area, residents did this.

I noticed that the grass was cut in the morning and later some men came to strim and blow the grass into the drains. But then the mower turned up again and did a re-cut. Is that saving money?

I read the letter from Judy Seymour (Positive results for these habitats and wildlife, Letters, June 12) , but what she forgets is that wild flowers need short grass.

Bees and butterflies aren’t happy diving into grass 4ft high. To get a lot of wild flowers, the grass needs cutting short, then raking, and to help the wild flowers, some seeds should be planted. Areas that had lots of wild flowers have been covered by long grass, and so there are no flowers.

Children are being told they need more exercise, so why are the play areas not getting the grass cut?

Also, why is the grass cut around the flats, and in Marlbrook Road? Do they pay more rates than the rest of us?

I visited the city centre this week. Empty shops and messy roads, bird’s mess everywhere. Are highways going to send someone to remove the weeds from the laybys and gutters?

Many people remove the weeds from outside their homes, but a lot don’t.

MRS D TREHERNE Bardolph Close, Hereford

Turbines aim to rake in subsidies

I AM writing in response to Roy and Jackie Day’s letter (Get ready for a turbine invasion, Letters, June 26).

Herefordshire does indeed need to wake up to the ‘wind turbine invasion’.

These monstrous constructions are designed to milk money from the government in the form of subsidies. These will be paid even if the blades never turn.

Consumers will pay in surcharges on electricity bills.

The companies and landowners profit, while everyone else and the environment suffer.

In the EU, Germany and Denmark produce the highest proportion of electricity from renewables. They have the highest electricity prices in the EU! They also have the highest per capita CO2 emissions (source: The World Bank ).

Wind turbines, with their aura of something for nothing, are the modern equivalent of medieval alchemy which claimed to turn base metal into gold. We all know that you cannot get something for nothing.

Herefordshire must not be complacent. There will be other sites. Very soon there could be a wind turbine near you, damaging your health, decimating local wildlife and sapping money from your bank account.

Some environmentalists suggest that all energy problems can be solved by renewables, but as Brian Schweitzer (governor of Montana) said in 2006: “Unless you’re living naked in a tree, eating nuts, you are part of the problem.”

STEPHEN TILLING Pencombe

Now attend to buses and sports fields

WELL done, Herefordshire Council, for postponing verge-cutting, to provide butterflies, bees and other pollinators, on which our food production depends, a wildflower habitat safe from the barrage of pesticides applied elsewhere.

Drivers will just have to travel more carefully on narrow country lanes.

Well done also for siting a new Gloucester/Ross-on- Wye bus stop alongside Hereford railway station.

This is an intelligent step towards a fully integrated public transport system – known to be a more effective method of reducing traffic congestion than building new roads.

But our council must go a little further to claim an A* grade for its efforts. To ensure Herefordians of all ages live healthy, sociable lives, grass on sports fields and parks must be regularly mown and all rural Sunday bus services retained.

CATHARINE SADLER Little Birch

Puzzle over weekly bin collections

LAST week I emailed all members of Herefordshire Council about the proposed cut in the frequency of refuse collection.

The minority of councillors who had the courtesy to respond ignored the key element of my email, which was fortunately taken up by the Hereford Times.

In order that the voters of Herefordshire may understand what is happening, I would like to repeat it here.

The UK government states that it is “reasonable for householders to expect their waste to be collected every week, particularly biodegradable waste”.

Secretary of state for local government Eric Pickles said that weekly food waste collection was “a fundamental right for every Englishman and woman”.

In February 2012 the government established the Weekly Collection Support Scheme to provide funding for local authorities to continue this service.

Herefordshire Council declined to apply for funding from this scheme and is now cutting the frequency of general waste collection to fortnightly.

Could we please have some sort of explanation of how this situation came about?

P PIKES Church Street, Hereford

Eyesore of tall stumps

I NEED to express my disappointment at the way the council have instigated the pollarding of two beautiful lime trees in Etnam Street.

The trees were in full leaf and flower and healthy. If they needed pruning, the work should have been undertaken in the winter when the main branches could have been identified and retained. As it is, we are left with tall stumps.

Lime trees respond well to pollarding but benefit from spring growth to regain form. The contractors have done the worst they could possibly do to these trees and stupidly have left all the suckers at the base of the trees which will now grow vigorously, making it difficult for the stumps to recover.

Money has been spent creating an eyesore in Etnam Street which is painful to residents and shocking to visitors.

Leominster needs many more trees and those in existence should be treasured.

Money is being saved by letting Sydonia Park become a wilderness and go to ruin.

The council should encourage these assets to be used and enjoyed.

With this and the gross injustice of having to pay for parking up until 10pm in the car park, the town is becoming a depressing place to live in and to visit.

ANTHONY LOCOCK Etnam Street, Leominster

Bulls queries

CAN anyone on Herefordshire Council explain how and why £65,000 of taxpayers money has been left uncollected from Hereford United for 18 months and despite being made aware of the club’s financial position, both the new owner and previous chairman were not made to settle arrears before the council entered into discussions regarding reassigning the leases for the ground?

Also why was the rent on these leases reduced to a nominal £1 per year when the council hasn’t enough money to cut the grass!

With the club entering administration this money will have to be written off.

MIKE WORTHING Loder Drive Hereford

Insect threat

IF the NFU seriously believe that the over-regulation of pesticides will result in food shortages, then I would be interested to know how they think food crops will be fertilised once pesticides have killed off our bees and other pollinating insects. (NFU fears at crop ‘flatlining’, Farming Times, June 26)

JUDI INGHAM Three Ashes, Hereford