LETTERS: Respecting our right to protest rather misses the point

People who oppose fracking in Yorkshire and other threatened areas in the UK are not looking to protest for the sake of protest.

To suggest protest is the goal rather misses the point. But then that’s the aim, isn’t it? To move the debate away from fracking onto “protest”.

Protest is simply a vehicle toward protecting the future for our children and our children’s children.

John Dewar would assure us, over tea and cake, that this time it will be okay. Fracking in the UK will be different from in those “other” countries, because “Third Energy is the most monitored piece of real estate in the country”. Monitored by who, one asks?

As someone who grew up with a belief that we live in a democracy my faith in our government and the democratic process has been eroded. It’s becoming evident that an overwhelming majority of the population are opposed to fracking, yet our Westminster “overlords”, mandated to represent us, have instead interpreted their role as a mandate to rule over us.

So since we cannot rely on them to protect us and to protect our environment, it’s left to us.

It’s not some token gesture of protest in a penned off area that will bring a halt to this, it will be creative non-violent direct action by people everywhere.

So I say to Mr Dewar, to INEOS, Cuadrilla, et al, and to the government mandated to protect us, the focus here is not about respect for protest, it’s about respect for those who live here.

Heather Stroud, Gilling East

ALTHOUGH my father died some decades ago, it is only now that I have studied in detail his police memorabilia collection, which I inherited at the time of his death.

My father was a local policeman in the 1950s-1970s who was stationed in Kirkbymoorside (where I was born in 1955), Lastingham and finally Malton.

Among these items are a couple of medals, one of which, although also awarded to my father, does not match up to his years of service.

This medal, the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, has the head of King George IV as opposed to that of Queen Elizabeth II on my father’s original.

Knowing from my own medals that many have the recipient’s name engraved on the bottom edge, I checked and discovered that the medal was actually awarded to “Constable George Scarth”, obviously during the reign of King George IV.

The other medal is the Defence Medal. The medals did not have ribbons, but as there was some spare in the box, I have threaded these on and so they are now complete, though not mounted for wearing.

The collection also includes the original box in which the Defence Medal was sent to the recipient.

Nobody in my family can explain how these medals came into my father’s collection and so this will remain a mystery.

However, it is my intention to return these medals to the family of Constable George Scarth if at all possible.

I have tried to locate any possible living relatives and also contacted several organisations dedicated to the history of the police in North Yorkshire but circumstances, not least data protection, have not made this easy.

However, the Ripon Prison and Workhouse Museum Trust were able to take on some research on my behalf and this is what they came up with: “George Scarth joined the former North Riding Constabulary as a Constable, a single man on July 15, 1921, and was given the collar number 316. He left HQ after completion of his training on October, 1, 1921 and was stationed at Malton. He retired on pension in the rank of Constable on June 30, 1952, when stationed at Hovingham. This information is contained in the Appointments and Resignations Register which came to an end on April 1, 1974.”

Perhaps the clue that he retired in Hovingham means that he also settled there after his police service and so perhaps some of his descendants might still be in the area.

I hope that this letter will help me find any living relatives to whom I can forward these medals in the knowledge that they have finally found their way home.

Simon Crozier, Leimen, Germany