Charity shops are not an alternative to rubbish tip

Sir Harrison Birtwistle, composer, Lord Winston, doctor, scientist, politician and television presenter , Linda Ronstadt, singer,

Trevor Horn, record producer, Celia Imrie, actress Forest Whitaker, actor, Brigitte Nielsen, actress, David Miliband, politician, Diane Kruger, actress, ANY charity which runs a shop is extremely grateful for donations without which they could not exist.

However, I would urge donors not to use these shops as substitutes for a visit to the tip.

Speaking as a volunteer in one of these shops I can tell you there is nothing worse than opening a bag of clothes which are dirty or smell of smoke or are covered in pet hairs or have holes in or are screwed up and crumpled.

Other items can also arrive in a state of disrepair such as having bits missing or in need of a bit of soap and water.

Yes, people do actually bring in items in these conditions.

The objective of making these donations is for other people to buy them.

When bagging up your items ask yourself if you would be tempted to buy them yourself if you saw them in a shop and donated by someone else.

If the answer is no then think again.

Fortunately, these instances are in a minority and I would like to thank those who give items in an almost pristine condition and clothes which have obviously been lovingly washed, ironed and neatly folded. We are very grateful. WELL done Michael Thorley for publicly highlighting the litter problem at Castle Hill by collecting it and delivering it to Huddersfield Town Hall.

The hill has become a derelict site since the Thandi planning requests were refused by Kirklees, really as a result of pressure from the dissenters.

There were never such major litter issues on the site when a hostelry was there. Now it is a free-for-all with no presence to deter.

Can I please make a suggestion that those individuals form regular working parties to patrol the site to warn those thoughtless and mindless visitors to either bin their rubbish or take it home.

Or the group could clean up the site themselves, though that would be a big ask.