December 2006

IT was a case of “the pies to the left have it” as Wakefield butcher Nigel Hofmann dished out 60 of his award-winning pork pies to the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday. Mr Hofmann and his children Emily, 10, and Harry, eight, even left a pie for Labour leader Tony Blair who was busy with Prime Minister’s Question Time. But the award-winning butcher, whose pork pie won the best in show at the Great Yorkshire Pork Pie and Sausage Competition in November, personally delivered one to Chancellor Gordon Brown. The visit was prompted after Wakefield MP Mary Creagh talked of H Hofmann and Sons’ achievement in the Commons. Minister Ben Bradshaw, from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, asked if she could arrange a tasting session. Mr Bradshaw got his wish in December. Mr Hofmann said: “He thought it was the best pork pie he had ever tasted.” The minister told the Wakefield Express: “Hofmanns’ pies are an excellent example of a quality regional food rooted in great tradition.”

A TEAM of heaven-sent volunteers hit the streets of the city centre offering an angelic helping hand to drunken or drugged-up revellers. After months of planning, the Street Angels project went live for the first time between 9pm and 3am on Fridays and Saturdays for a month-long pilot during the busy Christmas and New Year celebrations. Street Angels are based on the pioneering scheme set up in Halifax which has been running for 12 months. During the first six months of the Halifax scheme the Street Angels have saved two lives and stopped six sexual assaults as well as attending more than 1,000 incidents during boozy weekend nights. And police reported that there was a 40 per cent reduction in violent crime as a result of the volunteers working alongside police, community support officers, nightlife marshals, St John Ambulance and the nightclubs. The Wakefield Street Angels were aiming for a similar success in the city.

PRIVATE schools banned parents from taking pictures of their children’s nativity plays – and then charged them for professional snaps and DVDs. Wakefield Girls’ High School pre-prep department was charging £17 for a recording of the nativity plays and forbidding parents from taking pictures. Cliff School was asking for £12.50 for a DVD of the play and a minimum of £5 for a photo. And St Hilda’s in Horbury – part of Silcoates School – is charging £7 for a DVD but allowed pictures at the end of the performance. The schools claimed they were doing this because of data protection legislation, despite the fact that there is nothing in the act banning video recordings for these types of events. All the schools claimed the proceeds covered the costs of the DVD and photographer. Other primary schools across Wakefield said although they were cautious because of data protection, they thought school Christmas plays should be accessible to everyone. Some parents were annoyed by the charges for the DVDs and schools but others agreed with the stance taken by the private schools.