I AM a member of a community speed watch group which works in one of the villages in North Yorkshire.

Last week some of the team were checking speeds of vehicles travelling through a village on a bank holiday which was busy with motorists and pedestrians.

Sadly numerous drivers were exceeding the 30mph speed limit and will receive notices in the near future.

Much worse than this was the abuse directed at the team by drivers.

One driver not exceeding the limit, aged about 70 years, thought it was acceptable to wave two fingers at the team and show his aggression with a distorted face.

Another driver, again not speeding, thought he would let his feelings be known by shouting at the team.

No doubt when these drivers’ children or grandchildren are hit by a speeding motorist they will be the ones shouting the loudest about justice.

The community speed watch teams around the UK are trying to make the roads safer for their families, and everyone else.

Why is it the ignorant cannot see this?

Name and address supplied

Restore sanity

MY first reaction on reading, in another newspaper, that an RNLI manager had done a spot check at Whitby Lifeboat Station and, finding some coffee mugs with crew members’ faces superimposed on the torso of scantily-clad female figures, had sacked two of the unpaid, voluntary members was to check the date.

I was convinced it had to be April 1. I was wrong, it was May 4.

Why were they sacked? Because the manager apparently said some children may see the mugs and be distressed at what they saw.

This ludicrous action was followed up by six other crew-members threatening they would leave the crew if the two sacked members were not reinstated.

Why didn’t the manager just have a quiet word and suggest the mugs were put somewhere that children wouldn’t see them?

It cannot be overstated just what an incredible job the RNLI do.

Rescuing surf-boarders who have been swept out to sea is likely to be the least of what the RNLI do.

Their main task, for example, is when winter storms have caused problems to the propeller, engine or rudder of a large vessel and the crew are in grave danger and need rescuing.

To lose the Whitby lifeboat because there weren’t sufficient crew to affect such a rescue would be devastating.

Let’s hope sanity is restored.

Philip Roe, Stamford Bridge

Myths about gas

FURTHER to the letter from David Cragg-James (May 9) regarding the often peddled myth that the UK is heavily dependent on Russian gas, we quote from a tweet from the Department of Business,Energy and Industrial Strategy on March 15:

“Claims we rely on gas from Russia are false. Almost half of our gas comes from Great Britain with Norway and Qatar being our major international suppliers. Less than one per cent of our gas comes from Russia and we are in no way reliant on it.”

On this basis it would seem to us that if Mr Putin did turn the gas taps off we would be unlikely to notice the difference.

This is unlikely to happen anyway as the Russian economy is heavily reliant on its oil and gas exports and any such action would be damaging to it.

Phil and Chris Rowland, Pickering

Wonderful 10k

CAN we, through your column, please thank David Pearson, the race director and his volunteers for a wonderfully organised Kirkbymoorside 10k day.

I am sure we do not realise how much hard work is involved before the actual day.

The support given to the runners from the crowds was amazing. Well done to all concerned.

David and Judith Turnbull, Kirkbymoorside

Education at risk

THIS month I take over as president of the school leaders’ union NAHT.

I’ve been head teacher at St Nicholas Church of England Primary School in Blackpool for 15 years.

In that time, my team has taken the school from ‘requires improvement’ to “outstanding” in the eyes of Ofsted.

Now I face the heart-breaking and perverse task of having to break that team up because I don’t have the funds to pay everyone.

There will be many other schools in your part of the world which find themselves in the same position as mine. Without sufficient funding, all of the aspirations we have for our schools, our staff and our students will be held back.

Nationally, eight out of ten schools are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted.

We must not allow underfunding of state education to break up the thousands of successful staff teams who have made this happen.

If we do, we will be putting future standards at serious risk.

Andy Mellor, National President, NAHT, West Sussex