June 2006

AS DA VINCI Code fever swept across the western world, rare documents belonging to the Knights Templar – the fabled keepers of the Holy Grail – were revealed by a Wakefield historian. Title deeds of the knights – the order which shot to prominence in Dan Brown’s controversial novel The Da Vinci Code – were released by John Goodchild, who has held them for almost 40 years. Mr Goodchild’s deeds, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, showed the generous tracts of land held by this once-powerful military order, which was suppressed in the early 1300s on orders from the Pope. Mr Goodchild said: “These documents were given to me as part of a huge local estate archive from someone whose name I’m not prepared to reveal. The archive I have relates to property held in Lofthouse and the area of Newland, near Normanton, and land now covered by Welbeck tip. “The rents that came from these properties helped to support armies in the Holy Land and later armies protecting the Christian faith against the Muslims in Rhodes and Malta.”

A GUTSY Wakefield worker prepared to bare all as she streaked through a Spanish town in a protest against their barbaric animal sports. Lynne Shepherd, 38, a librarian at Wakefield College, wore only a pair of horns and a red scarf as she ran through the streets of Pamplona two days before the city’s annual Running of the Bulls. The event is a time-honoured tradition to honour the city’s patron saint, San Fermín, but is today considered dangerous. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have been protesting against the sport for five years, and arranged the Running of the Nudes to raise awareness. Mrs Shepherd, of Heckmondwike, said she was nervously anticipating the event but added: “ I feel very strongly about. I found out about it when some leaflets were dropped off in the college. I thought at first it would be full of young trim bodies but after seeing some of the photos, now I feel a bit better.” After Barcelona City Council voted in April 2004 to ban this primitive blood sport, other towns, including Torello, Calldetenes and Olot, followed suit. Mrs Shepherd added: “My husband Paul has been really supportive, but he’s drawn the line at joining me.”

WAKEFIELD Council was accused of covering up the closure of Sun Lane baths until after the local elections by burying reports and therefore putting public safety at risk. Structural reports on the 70-year old building flagged up concerns, but this information was not made public until after voters went to the polls. Controversial claims from an inside council source allege the council deliberately “buried” the reports which led to the closure of the swimming pool building. Our source said at the time: “The general feeling at the time was to keep one’s fingers crossed until after the local elections and then shut it down. A cover-up of the danger to the public at Sun Lane baths was deliberately carried out in the weeks leading up to the elections so votes would not be lost. They hoped the building would not collapse in the meantime.” An internal council report, dated April 5, confirmed the building would have to close, but the Express saw an internal council communication plan which stated that the public should only be informed after the May 5 elections. A former swimmer at the pool backed the cover-up claims after he made a Freedom of Information request to see the report – but was turned down. But Steve Stewart, assistant chief executive for the council, assured concerned folk that at no point was the public’s safety ever at risk. He said: “We knew there were structural problems but we were awaiting the results of a survey to assess the risk to the public. When we got this I took the decision to close the building. At no point when the building was open were people ever at risk.”