NHS praise, wind farm concerns and gamekeepers – readers' letters, plus royal visit to Ludlow in 1922

My thanks to all at the RSH

I have very recently had to spend two weeks in the RSH after an accident. We hear many criticisms of hospitals and the NHS but my experience was excellent.

All the staff, whatever their roles, were competent, conscientious and caring.

What was particularly striking was that this vital service was being provided by people from a very wide range of ethnic backgrounds.

At a time when division is rife in society this is a stark reminder that every one of us relies completely on all those who are working in our health service. Their backgrounds or how long they have been here is irrelevant.

Remember during Covid we stood outside our homes to clap and show our gratitude to all NHS staff - they deserve the same today.

Frank Oldaker, Condover

Wind turbines are monsters

I wager that not many of your readers have heard of “Lluest-y-Gwynt”! It would be in their interests to Google this Welsh name. It is a proposed wind farm comprising 12 wind turbines, around 600ft high – real monsters!

It should interest your thousands of readers because it is being proposed near the mountain called Pumlumon Fawr, just inland of Aberystwyth. It is here that both the mighty rivers Severn and Wye are born. They emanate from the peat bogs, marshlands and conifer forests that carpet this very wet, remote region of Wild Wales.

The problem is that the 12 wind turbines of Lluest-y-Gwynt are not alone. In all, a phenomenal 1,000 gigantic wind turbines, up to 820ft tall, are being aimed at Wales, many of them in this central Cambrian Mountain area.

Your problem is that these are gargantuan projects which will replace highly absorbent peat, moorland and forest with non-absorbent concrete and tarmac, enough to cover miles and miles of Wales, including the vast catchment areas of the Severn and Wye! If these plans go ahead, there will be inevitable flash flooding downstream, in places such as Welshpool, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Tewkesbury, Ross, Hereford and Gloucester! How can it be prevented?

I urge your thousands of readers to take this up with their MPs and to write to both this influential journal and the Western Mail in Cardiff. They could also sign the “Cambrian Mountain Peatland petition” that appears online. It currently has 2,085 signatures. More are needed to end this Welsh Government idiocy.

Lyn Jenkins, Cardigan

Gamekeepers role questioned

The South Shropshire MP, Stuart Anderson, may be correct in his assertive statement, 'Gamekeepers play a valuable role in protecting our countryside'.

This could be the case in South Shropshire but in England there is evidence of gamekeepers acting illegally.

In the past 15 years more than 1000 birds of prey were illegally killed.

Of these it is considered that 75 per cent were in the vicinity of shooting estates.

Hen harriers are particularly vulnerable to persecution. More than 100 satellite tagged birds have disappeared in recent times.

In January this year a former head gamekeeper pleaded guilty in York Magistrates’ Court to wildlife crimes against hen harriers.

Other cases of crimes against hen harriers are under investigation.

The headline we saw recently might imply that Mr. Anderson may 'urge gamekeepers to have a say on plans for gamebird restrictions'.

But can their contribution be untainted as they attempt to protect the interests of the gamebird shooting fraternity?

Roger Norton, Monkmoor

Complications of our morality

What is right and what is wrong? It all stems from where you live and how you were brought up as a child, which goes back to your carers. Some people may argue that morals and ethics determine right and wrong. Morals tend to be personal, while ethics are cultural. With that in mind, if you are from a country where violence against women is considered acceptable and you relocate to a place where it is not, you may enter a state of confusion or cognitive dissonance.

The question then is this: if one inhabits a multicultural society, should one accept attitudes that we consider morally wrong or not? Because ethically, a multicultural society should accept all. Similarly, if one’s parents allowed one to believe that family ethics overrule those of society, should one be blamed if one oversteps the ethical standards accepted by the rulers of that society?

Andy Chetwood, Dawley

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