I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the hundreds of my friends who have given their time and support to the campaign against the extension of the dog ban on Whitby beach.

Especially I would like to thank Irene and Celia from Whitby for all their work in distributing the petitions around town, Liz from Scarborough who spearheaded their campaign, Alex and the team from the Whitby Gazette for the fantastic news coverage they gave us, Coun Dorothy Clegg and the other members of Scarborough Borough Council who graciously received the petition on our behalf and all the local traders who kindly allowed us to place our petitions on their premises.

We have all been overwhelmed by the amount of support we have had from all over the country.

As is the case in these situations, we have had adverse criticism but that has been far outnumbered by the amount of letters we have had in support of our petition.

May I remind these people that our area of concern is the Whitby beach area and I can only suggest that the people who have an issue with other parts of town take a leaf out of our book and do something about it.

One letter that did bring howls, yes howls, of laughter from us was the one from James Smith, obviously of no fixed abode as he gave no address.

The picture he painted had us in fits of laughter and can only make one retort to his tirade.

From: John Rowbotham, aged 12, Eskdale Road, Whitby

As a dog owner in the Whitby area, I would like to express the rage I felt reading Mr J Smith’s letter in the newspaper on 11 April.

I do believe owning a dog is not having a life but I feel that I should speak up for the dog owners of Whitby.

Mr Smith (in the most cocky of ways) says that all dogs do is sniff genitals, foul on public land and generally cause a nuisance.

For me (and I do believe many will agree) this is only the case when bad owners let their dogs do this and therefore I think this should not give dog owners a bad name.

So in conclusion, I think Mr Smith should seriously review his opinion on dogs and look out for the owners that do clean up and do control their dogs rather than turning his nose up whenever he sees a bad example. Enough said.



From: Brian Crinion, Hermitage Way, Sleights

J Deane-Smith is hounding me “for more info” regarding my previous letter relating to my encounter with a dog on the beach.

Another time perhaps.

However, as you like a good tale have you heard the one about the couple taking their dogs for a walk at Sandsend.

(See report in Whitby Gazette on 7 April).

Well, these two dogs – just playing you understand – jumped into the beck and savaged a duck, while the dog owners watched.