He has uncovered what can best be described as cultural snobbery which is robbing our heritage of much-needed cash.

Brass bands have for years provided a much loved musical backdrop to the life of South Yorkshire offering entertainment to the audiences and companionship to the bandsmen.

But the whole band scene is in danger of collapse after traditional sponsors - mostly collieries - disappeared and left them ever more reliant on charity and Arts Council funding.

The revelation that £155 million was spent on opera over the last five years while brass bands received £140,000 highlights the cultural abyss into which the musicians have stumbled.

That situation is not fair not representative of the contribution brass band music makes to people's lives. It is time the Arts Council fund-holders stepped down from their ivory towers and showed that where there is brass there truly is money.

Long road leaves a bitter taste
AFTER more than a year work has finally begun on Middlewood Road North, damaged in last July's flood.

Major projects do take time to set up and the right contractor had to be found for this tricky task.

But people living in that area will always be convinced that things would have been different if a more 'fashionable' suburb had been virtually cut off from the city.

They may have a point. A year is too long for such important works to be delayed, no matter where they are.

Toast to our health!
THEY used to say water was good for you...then warned us of the perils of drinking too much.

Orange juice was the tasty way of getting those extra vitamins but they say too much could lead to diabetes.

The solution? Simple - order another glass of red and stop listening to the prophets of doom!

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