JUNE LETTERS FILE

As a Bankie in exile, born and raised in Dalmuir, I have many ties with Loreto"s.

My great-grandfather John Waddell was a master mason and it was he who built the wall which surrounds the church.

He was an elder in the church as it was then. The funds to raise the money for the building of the church were, I believe, by subscription and this was my great-grandfather"s contribution to this.

My grandfather James Cooper Waddell and some of his eight siblings were christened there.

My great-uncle Tommy Waddell, who was killed in action in the First World War, has his name engraved on the roll of honour which is in the entrance to the church.

Clydebank suffered greatly during the Blitz, with many lives and buildings lost - yet the church stood.

I, and many others, remember the old Singer clock which was my constant reminder that I was late for school.

It is eradicated without trace, like the shipyards on which Clydebank grew and thrived.

I know Loreto"s is only a building but, then, so is St Paul"s Cathedral.

Is it only on the historic radar of posh folk that we preserve the past and ordinary folks" past is obliterated?

Jeannette Scott, Marsh Road, Pinner, Middlesex I AM writing in an absolute fury at the taxi rank in Clydebank shopping centre, just in front of the cinema.

The taxis know they are not supposed to be parked in such volume, but that does not deter them.

I was in urgent need of a hammer on Saturday and in a rush to get into the shopping centre.

I couldn"t move for taxis. I was so angered by this I did not buy a hammer but instead went home and punched the nails in the wall.

I have phoned the taxi company involved and, to be frank, they were not interested.

I have also written to my councillor but, through past experience with the local authority, I have drawn a diagram with a crayon and drawn sad faces next to my pictures of the taxis.

Hopefully, that will clear up any misunderstandings the council might have.

Stuart Manley, Windsor Drive, Parkhall WHEN I read Gail Miller"s letter (June 13) about speeding on Great Western Road, it reminded me of over 50 years ago when the speed trap was a police sergeant hiding from view of the oncoming traffic.

When he saw a suspect speeding, he would jump out and signal with a torch to his constable, who was at a measured distance away so as to record the speed.

Not surprisingly, it didn"t do much good if there is still speeding on that road.

N MacRae, former Bankie, Old Windsor I WOULD like to say a big well done to all the staff at Whitecrook"s recycling centre for all their brilliant work.

The staff are always eager to help people with their recycling and should be rewarded for the massive part they are playing in West Dunbartonshire meeting their recycling targets. Well done guys.

Robert Harkings, Faifley A BIG thank you to all your readers who took part in this year"s Fruity Friday campaign on May 25.

We have not yet got the final results, but it is already clear that this year"s Fruity Friday has been the most successful ever.

This success is down to all the individuals, organisations and schools who put on some great fundraising events.

We are so grateful because the funds raised will go towards our vital research and education programmes.

But Fruity Friday is not just about the money we raise.

It also gives us the chance to raise awareness about the importance of eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day in a fun way.

After all, we can all reduce our risk of developing cancer by 30 and 40 per cent by eating healthily, being physically active and maintaining a healthy weight.

Hopefully this year"s Fruity Friday will have been the spark for people in Clydebank to make small lifestyle changes that can make a big difference in the long run.

Teresa Nightingale, World Cancer Research Fund People's role in the community We have, in despair, witnessed the violation of Clydebank, the destruction of our historical centre for the widening of a road, and the placing of a shopping centre of dubious merit whose back shamefully faces on to our main town thoroughfare.

There is a long history of this type of disregard for our community - Singer"s clock, a symbol of survival for the people of a blitzed town was trashed by the ignorant and uncaring.

In a similar vein when the last drone of the bombers faded over Clydeside in March 1941, Dalmuir was left smashed and unrecognisable - yet our little Gothic Cathedral survived.

Some thought by divine intervention, others by sheer luck, but it became a powerful symbol of hope and survival nevertheless.

We now hear it is to meet the same fate - trashed.

We have, of course, seen it all before - sweeping away the past to create the "new" under the guise of advancement and improvement.

To those of you who might feel you have an architectural argument to justify this destruction, cast your eye and mind to the Barbican in London, considered the ultimate post-war dream of inspirational modernism and architectural excellence.

You will find in its midst a 16th century church, "St Giles-without-Cripplegate", a blitz survivor, as well as the remains of the ancient roman wall that circled the infant city.

Prowl some more and you will find fragments of a blitz worked into its very fabric.

The architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, in the early 60s, were well aware of the need for continuity and a perception of history and time.

It is true, say Heritage Scotland, that there are many similar churches.

More than we need, listed and protected.

Numbers it seems, in their estimation, deem this one unworthy.

However, can I remind them of the obvious? It is the only one that we have.

What will happen when this church is reduced to rubble?

What will replace its dignity, its sense of place?

Will we be presented with another visual abomination built under the architectural criteria, maximum exterior, minimum interior, maximum profit, or yet another block of non descript flats - cheap and nasty, built for the buck - profit over community, a new and resolutely modern sin?

We are told this building is of no historical interest.

It is true that the heart of Robert the Bruce is not buried within its grounds, but bear witness to the fact that another Robert, world renowned poet Robert Service, a frequent visitor to Dalmuir knelt on this hallowed ground.

Service spent two years as an ambulance driver on the front lines in the first war.

The experience left him deeply scarred yet inspired him to write his most powerful poetry.

Two years of hell that he shared with a Dalmuir man.

Both often visited this church and shared prayer.

Service overcome, his mind blinded by unimaginable horrors is said to have shed tears so openly that the floor beneath his feet was sodden.

By what criteria is this history measured?

History, of course, belongs only to those who claim it.

Is our sense of history considered unworthy?

What of the thousands who took vows of marriage, the hundreds of thousands of who have bid a final farewell to their dearly loved - and the thousands more named and blessed - a million candles burned in the memory of love, measure the joy and pain of 100 years of community life and worship witnessed within those walls - this is real history, the history of a community.

If Dalmuir had ground proclaimed to be sacred then surely this would be it.

You will in due course hear a lot of lip service to the concept of community consultation.

Decisions have been made without acknowledgement of the view of the people who it will affect most and those decisions will be glossed in "planning speak", a smokescreen designed to mask deeper issues.

Face the fact, has anybody really been consulted?

Do not trust or accept from "authorities" that an asset such as this cannot be transformed into a vital and vibrant community resource providing among other things desperately needed - child care, place of worship and all - they usually have another agenda, little vision or sometimes both.

We have little built heritage left in Clydebank and in Dalmuir, less than most - with a central square that is shameful in its every aspect.

Our little gothic cathedral is our tie to the past and a gateway to a better future - it is also one of the very few beautiful buildings we have left in Dalmuir.

A church that has witnessed 100 years of multi- denomination community worship cannot be replaced.

I ask this of those who presently own this property and whose driving force is all that the Christian spirit embodies, deliver this church into the hands of people who will love it in its entirety.

Gift it to a community who will cherish and maintain it for the next 100 years, or at the very least consider alternatives to its destruction.

And to those who would trash it for profit or gain I would say, be ashamed, be very ashamed.

Tom McKendrick, Clydebank It was heartening to see your recent article on the future of Our Lady of Loreto Parish Church and the work being undertaken by Tom McKendrick to promote the buildings" retention within the community of Dalmuir.

Like the majority of Clydebank, Dalmuir has suffered major demolition not just on the nights of the March 13 and 14, 1941 but subsequent demolitions at the behest of town planners in the 1970s and 80s.

I am sure I speak for many within our community when I say that we had believed that this type of demolition had been consigned to the dustbin - how wrong we are!

Readers will undoubtedly have seen and heard of the fiasco that is the demolition of Dalmuir under the auspices of regeneration in recent months, plans that even contradict the statutory local plan.

Therefore, I must say the manner in which the Archdiocese of Glasgow has acted in relation to the community of Dalmuir, especially its own parishioners, does not surprise me.

Nevertheless, this is, of course, no consolation to those who have worked tirelessly to preserve our community of choice, Dalmuir. However, the Archdiocese is not the only player in this unfolding tragedy.

Readers may be interested to know that in February of this year councillors instructed officials to continue the demolition order for Our Lady of Loreto for a further six months.

I can testify that both Clydebank Restoration Trust and the Parish Council who made representations at the planning committee were extremely grateful for councillors of all parties" endeavours to give the Archdiocese time to reconsider their position in this matter, given that the local authority can not reject a building warrant outright.

It was a breathing space for all concerned.

Yet, just before the last local elections council officials granted the building warrant for demolition without reference to the instructions given by councillors.

Some will call this shocking; for some of us it clearly shows the manner in which officials act with impunity, without proper authorisation, and highlights the lack of communication between departments of West Dunbartonshire Council.

The Clydebank Restoration Trust can only hope that the new administration will use their powers to review working practises across all departments, especially Planning and Building control"s right to use delegated powers, and ensure that policy - not personalities - dictates the workings of local government to the benefit of local people and local communities.

The people of West Dunbartonshire, of Clydebank, deserve better.

The Trust commends Tom McKendrick and all of those working to save Our Lady of Loreto, especially the parishioners of our Lady of Loreto who have worked tirelessly to maintain a working and vibrant parish within our community to the benefit of many.

We wish them luck and our continued support in the fight ahead and call on Bankies wherever they are to lend their support.

Martin J Docherty, Chair, Clydebank Restoration Trust I would like to say a big well done to all the staff at Whitecrook"s recycling centre for all there brilliant work.

The staff are always fighting over each other to help people with their recycling and should be rewarded for the masssive part they are playing in West Dunbartonshire meeting there recycling targets.

Well done guys.

Robert Harkings, Faifley I NOTE from Mr T Brady"s response on June 6 that the original correspondent will be none the wiser.

The people of Whitecrook are still in the dark as to which groups Mr Brady speaks on behalf of.

As an individual Mr Brady is fully entitled to campaign on whatever issue happens to catch his fancy.

However, the legitimacy of any cause that he pursues will always be severely compromised as long as he persists in representing himself as something that he is not.

Mr Brady was installed as a Clydebank East community councillor in March of this year.

No vote was required since there were fewer candidates than places available on the community council.

In other words, he basically became a community councillor by default, and cannot claim to have the backing of a significant proportion of the population.

Yet within hours of his installation, households in the Whitecrook area received a leaflet purporting to come from "Tam Brady, Clydebank community councillor and noise sub-group." No such sub-group exists.

The leaflet instructed householders to take a particular course of action in protest to BAA against aircraft noise. May did, but would they have followed the same instructions if the leaflet had been signed "Tam Brady, well-known eccentric"?

I do agree with the last paragraph in Mr Brady"s letter in which he states that the purpose of a community council is to consult and represent the community"s views rather than the views of individual councillor.

Perhaps now that he has removed himself from that particular stage, the democratic process and proceed unhindered.

Unfortunately, I believe there are still one or two individuals within the system, of the same ilk as Mr Brady collectively and affectionately referred to as "The Brady Bunch", which appears to be set on following its own agenda rather than that determined by the community as a whole.

I would urge all residents in Whitecrook, and indeed throughout the Clydebank East area in general, to attend the community council meetings to ensure that this does not happen.

Name and address supplied Council is off to a good start If council leader Ian Robertson is keen to see more people attend council meetings he should ensure that the details regarding the venues of the meetings, as printed in the local press, are correct.

I write as someone, living in Clydebank, who turned up with two friends at Clydebank Town Hall at 6.45pm on Wednesday May 30, only to find a note on the gate telling us that the venue for the council meeting was now Garshake Road, Dumbarton.

Public transport being what is it, we just returned home - three disgruntled residents.

No show, bad show, Mr Robertson.

Name and address supplied Drivers will always speed Once again speed on Great Western Road hits the headlines.

The Post failed to report in both instances that a pedestrian crossing was very close to both accidents.

Would reducing the speed limit really prevent accidents?

Very few drivers obey the speed limit anyway.

As a non-driver I have to observe these things when I am in a car.

I also think I understand the road signs much better than most drivers.

Perhaps more attention should be paid to that in driving lessons and tests.

Gail Miller, YokerWDC do not listen It came as no surprise to read the comments in the Post, dated May 24, about the park and ride facility West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) is building in Dalmuir.

By ignoring the residents WDC is putting our childrens" health at risk by removing much needed green space and taking away another pleasure for the elderly.

This car park will directly cause a massive increase in poisonous fumes, which our children will be breathing in.

It will cause grid-lock on Dumbarton Road at rush hour, with an extra 60 to 80 cars trying to get on to it.

In the Post, dated May 17, a spokesman for WDC said the project came about due to community concerns over environmental issues, So what do they do? Rip down the trees, take away green space and build a car park - so much for the environment.

A representative from the roads was asked directly if WDC considered any other site and he said no.

He also said he knew of no objections to the plan.

That"s the opposite to what the WDC spokesman said on May 17.

We are sick of WDC ignoring community views.

The mast in Old Kilpatrick and the new "super school" are just two other examples of WDC attitude.

I would like to thank those who voiced there opinion in last week"s Post and also the community who gave us support and words of encouragement during this fight.

Mr Daniel Lennie, Dalmuir Aircraft noise compensation In a recent article there was a distinct referral to compensation for residents affected by noise from Glasgow Airport in the Clydebank east area.

The idea, I assume, is to set up a trust administered by various agencies, including BAA themselves.

Surely the people involved in this conundrum are aware that BAA already has schemes for all owner-occupiers and tenants of privately rented properties within the perimeters of the flight path, including the property support bond and a home owner support scheme?

Yet there is no such schemes for tenants of social landlords, ie council/housing associations.

Once again there seems to be questions regarding lack of inclusion, genuine consultation and the involvement, apparently, of several organisations who are totally incapable of informing the general public of their actions.

But they continue to dispense irrelevant and often misleading information.

However, we all eagerly await our compensation cheques, but hold on - another two questions - do I tell the benefits agency, do I tell the taxman?

Answers please on the back of your frequent flyer cards because as yet there is no comment from BAA themselves.

Eddy Gray, Clydebank Labour are sore losers The May 24 edition of the Post showed a pretty clear picture that the Labour Party are sore losers when it comes to the elections on May 3 and 4.

They obviously never prepared for the prospect of losing and having to rethink spending plans and job prospects and all they do now is complain.

We had Des McNulty, former deputy Minister for Communities and now a shadow "spokesman" for Transport - that"s some promotion.

But in his piece, he criticised our Finance minister, John Swinney, for having a large portfolio, but the new department encompasses all the responsibilities that are required for finance and "sustainable growth", hence the name.

I emphasise sustainable to the Labour Party because they clearly think sustainable means raising taxes to support an unsustainable economy and pass it off as sustainable.

Finally he attacks the SNP at a local level for having so called "no moral legitimacy" for running the council - well all I can say is - nor does Labour on two levels.

One is anybody has a right to takeover the council if they haven"t gained 11 or more seats on the 22-seat council.

Those 22 seats represent the people and so if 11 or more believe Iain Robertson is right to be council leader, then so be it.

Secondly, Labour have certainly no right to run the council with their immoral behaviour of the past few years, fighting amongst themselves and forgetting to represent the people.

It is about time somebody else took over.

Frank Douglas, address supplied Taking action It would be helpful if I knew who had written the letter, entitled "Community groups", on May 30.

I am somewhat flattered by the writer"s opening compliments as "doughty" means steadfastly, courageous and resolute.

And that is why I took up the cudgels on behalf of local community groups to co-ordinate a campaign to have the aircraft noise blight addressed.

The campaign started two years ago and numerous meetings and door to door studies have taken place.

West Dunbartonshite Council (WDC) elected members and officials, John McFall MP and Des McNulty MSP have all been involved.

Aircraft noise monitoring date provided by WDC shows that planes thunder over Whitecrook at upwards of 94dB.

If a factory, a construction company or a neighbour created these noise levels, there is legislation in place and WDC could take action against them.

Not so with BAA.

There is no present legislation and local authorities have no remit here.

There is approximately 600 flights per day.

BAA admit that aircraft noise is a problem.

They have to corporate Social Responsibility Policy, and as legal action cannot be taken against them, the purpose of the campaign was to ask BAA to introduce noise mitigation measures, such as double glazing.

It was also requested that BAA set up a community trust as recognition of the adverse impact of aircraft noise has on the quality of life living underneath the flightpath.

Does the writer wish to disassociate themselves from this?

The writer paints a very grey picture of Whitecrook.Local groups are responsible for bringing £4m of European funding into the Whitecrook area.

The groups are to be commended for the work they have done and continue to do so.

The fundamental purpose of a community council is to consult and represent the community"s views, not an individual community councillor"s views, and I am certain that Clydebank East Community Council will do this.

T Brady, Whitecrook