ANOTHER eatery in Malton is to be established in the Old Town Hall, the architecturally beautiful and impressive centrepiece to the Market Place, which has been standing idle for far too long.

Let’s hope it succeeds. But on a salutary note, what about the other five eating places already in the square? Let’s hope that a new culinary experience doesn’t result in these well established restaurants closing down due to too many choices, and not enough demand.

With imagination and commitment, rather than seeking mere profit, a building such as the town hall could have been the ideal venue to show off Ryedale’s cultural and artistic strengths, provide a wonderful setting for the area’s historical heritage, as well as a place to welcome visitors to Malton and its surrounding places of interest.

This could, of course, be incorporated within a restaurant, but it probably won’t be considered.

People do need some other attractions to come here, throughout the year, other than another opportunity to expand the waistline.

Linda McCarthy, Old Malton

Outdated system

FURTHER to the NHS services back after the cyber attack (Gazette & Herald, May 17), it poses the question – how much does our NHS minister care about keeping our medical records confidential?

I trust the NHS will now get rid of the outdated, unsupported, XP system.

Since XP, we have had Windows 7, which is now not supported. The NHS should be using the modern Windows 10, which is supported.

John Taylor, Norton

Thanks for support

I WANT to thank your readers who have been supporting the British Heart Foundation (BHF) this spring by decluttering and donating items from their clear out to their local BHF shop.

I work at the University of Leeds as a BHF professor and wanted to tell your readers about my current research project, funded by the BHF.

My team is developing new treatments for people with diabetes and working to better understand the link between diabetes and heart disease.

One of our main focuses is examining new ways of repairing damaged blood vessels. This work could lead to the discovery of new treatments for diabetic patients and help prevent the development of heart disease in the future.

My project is just one of more than 1,000 research projects that the BHF currently funds at universities across the UK, investigating every aspect of heart and circulatory disease – from causes and better drugs to improving surgical techniques.

Each of these projects are only made possible by the BHF’s generous supporters and each unwanted item donated this spring brings us one step closer to the next big breakthrough in heart research.

I cannot thank the people of Yorkshire and The Humber enough for helping to support such an important and worthy cause. There are currently 616,000 people living with cardiovascular disease across the area and I’m sure every reader will have been touched by heart disease in some way or another whether it be personally, through a family member or close friend.

If you are yet to have your clear out or would like to support your local BHF shop at other times of the year, they are always in need of items to fill their rails and shelves so please do keep them in mind for you unwanted items. To find your local shop, order free donation bags or find out more about the free home collection service, please visit bhf.org.uk/bagit Professor Mark Kearney, BHF funded researcher