I write to people. Not often, and never to complain, but if there is a thing I want to know and somebody knows it, I have found the only way is to ask them.
I keep copies. If it is a letter I write it out and photocopy it at the library before it goes, which costs 10p and has saved me a good deal of bother over the years. If it has to be an email, Our Linda types it, as she is quicker than me and she does not put two spaces after the full stop, which she tells me is wrong now.
Where I have had a reply I have copied it out below, word for word. I have not put the letterheads on, and I have left the names off except where somebody signed with a first name, because who wrote it is their business and not mine. I have not corrected anybody's spelling.
There is no grievance on this page. Most of these are a no, and a no is an answer.
The first one is the gateway near Marsden, October 2009, and by 2012 I had started to wonder whether anybody kept a record of that sort of thing before I did. So I wrote and asked. I have copied the reply out below.
Dear Mr Plimmer,
Thank you for your letter which was read out at the meeting on the 14th.
The parish council does not hold records of this kind. Fly-tipping and the removal of items from the highway are dealt with by Kirklees Council and can be reported on the number below or online. Your report has been logged with the reference shown.
Members asked me to thank you for taking the trouble to write.
Yours sincerely,
Clerk to the Council
I were not reporting fly-tipping. I did think about writing again to make that clear, but she had been quick about it and had been pleasant, and it did not seem worth another stamp to tell somebody they had misunderstood me when the shoe had gone two year since.
The reference number is in the folder. Nowt has ever come of it.
There is a bench on the towpath at Milnsbridge by the mill and a fair number of my finds have been on it or near it. In November 2013 there were a grey trainer sat on the arm of it (#54). I wanted to know whether somebody clears them off, because if there is a day of the week for it then I know whether a thing is likely to still be there next Saturday, and that is worth knowing.
This is the first letter from Malcolm, though I did not know that at the time.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I walk the towpath between Milnsbridge and Slaithwaite most weekends. I am not a member of the society but I read the newsletter when I see it in the library.
I would like to know two things if somebody has a minute. First, whether the society's volunteers clear items left on the benches and the edging stones, and if so whether there is a regular day for it. Second, who I should speak to about the bench by the old mill at Milnsbridge, as one of the arms is coming away from the seat.
The first question is for a record I keep, which I will not go into here. The second is just a bench.
Yours faithfully,
K. Plimmer
Dear Mr Plimmer,
Thank you for your letter, which has come to me as I look after that stretch.
Work parties run on the second Sunday of the month from March to October, weather allowing. We litter pick and cut back and anything left on the benches goes in the bags, so in the season I would say a week to five weeks depending where in the month you find it. Nothing is done November to February.
I will have a look at the bench. It is not ours but I know the man it belongs to.
Yours sincerely,
M. Hinchcliffe, Towpath Warden
That is a proper answer. A week to five weeks depending where in the month, and nowt at all in winter, which explains a great deal about my November and December entries and I had never thought to ask.
The bench were mended by the following spring. I do not say that were owt to do with the letter.
On 18 April 2015 I went up the track above Slaithwaite towards Merrydale to measure a ladder stile, and came home past the reservoir at Blackmoorfoot with a white plimsoll in the notebook (#77). The stile is not on my sheet. I checked the sheet twice at the kitchen table before I wrote, because it would have been embarrassing otherwise.
Dear Sir or Madam,
There is a wooden ladder stile over the wall on the track above Slaithwaite heading towards Merrydale. It is three rungs each side and the second rung on the far side is loose. It does not appear on my Explorer sheet (OL21, the edition I have is 2011). The grid reference, taken as carefully as I can manage with a compass and a good deal of standing about, is given below.
I am not asking for the map to be altered. What I would like to know is whether stiles are shown as a rule, and if they are not, whether anybody keeps a record of them anywhere, as I have not been able to find one.
Yours faithfully,
K. Plimmer
Dear Mr Plimmer,
Thank you for taking the time to write to us, and for the grid reference, which is appreciated.
Path furniture such as stiles, gates and waymarkers is not routinely shown at 1:25,000 scale, so its absence from the map is not an error. The line of a public right of way is derived from the definitive map, which is held and maintained by the local highway authority rather than by us, and any query about the status of the path itself is best directed to them.
I have passed your note to our survey team for information. Thank you again for your interest in our mapping, and we wish you well with your record.
Yours sincerely,
Customer Service
Somebody took the trouble there and I have kept it.
What that letter told me, when I had read it a second time, is that nobody has the stiles. The paths are on the definitive map but the things you climb over to get along them are nobody's. That is what started the stiles register off, for what it were worth. I got three done.
On 30 June 2018 I were on the dam path at Scammonden Water logging a brown boot (#136), and from down there you can see the parapet of the bridge above with the motorway going under it. There were a shoe wedged in the drainage gap in the parapet. I could see it clearly enough to be sure it were a shoe and not clearly enough to be sure of owt else.
I could not get to it and I have never logged it. What I wanted was to know who would take it out, so that when it went I would at least know whose hand it were. I have copied both replies out below.
Dear Sir or Madam,
There is an item of footwear lodged in the parapet drainage on the bridge at Scammonden, on the west side, visible from the dam path below.
I want to be clear that I am not asking for it to be removed and I am not reporting a hazard. It is not in the road and it is not going anywhere on its own. My question is simply which authority is responsible for that parapet, so that I know who would clear it and roughly when, for a record I keep.
Yours faithfully,
K. Plimmer
Dear Mr Plimmer,
Thank you for your enquiry, reference as above.
The structure you describe crosses the M62 motorway and is therefore not maintained by this authority. Responsibility for motorway structures rests with Highways England, who may be contacted at the address below.
This enquiry has now been closed.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have been referred to you by Kirklees Council regarding the parapet of the bridge at Scammonden over the M62. My question is set out below and is the same one I put to them.
I am not reporting a defect or a hazard. I would like to know who is responsible for clearing an item from that parapet.
Yours faithfully,
K. Plimmer
Dear Mr Plimmer,
Thank you for contacting us.
While the M62 beneath the structure is part of the strategic road network, the deck carries a local road and the parapet forms part of that local highway. Maintenance and the removal of items from it are a matter for the local highway authority, in this case Kirklees Council, who you should contact in the first instance.
We hope this is helpful.
I wrote to Kirklees again in the summer of 2022, being back that way for a grey trainer on the bridleway underneath (#223), to see whether the position had altered. It had not, except that Highways England are called National Highways now.
The shoe were gone by then in any case. I could not tell you when it went or who had it. It has no number and it never will have. You cannot log what you cannot get to.
#149 were a blue trainer with a white sole, laces tied in a bow, sat upright on the bank at Blackmoorfoot. The tread pattern on it were a diamond with a bar through it and I had not seen that one before or since. I photographed the sole as well as the shoe, which I do not always do, and I sent the photograph to the firm that I thought sold them. I will not name them. They were perfectly pleasant.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I enclose a photograph of the sole of a trainer. I would like to know, if anybody there can tell me, what model it is and roughly which years it was sold.
I should say plainly that this is not a complaint. I have not bought it, there is nothing wrong with it, and I do not want a replacement or a refund or anything at all. It is for a written record I keep of single shoes found in the Huddersfield area. The shoe is still where I found it and will stay there.
If nobody can tell from a photograph then that is a fair answer and I will note it as such.
Yours faithfully,
K. Plimmer
Hi Keith,
Thanks so much for getting in touch and I'm really sorry to hear you've had a problem with your footwear.
Unfortunately we're not able to identify products from photographs as our ranges change every season. If you still have the receipt, your local store will be happy to take a look for you.
As a gesture of goodwill I've applied a 10% discount code to your email address which can be used online or in store. This is valid for 30 days. Your case reference is shown below.
Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Kind regards,
Leanne, Customer Care
The code were ten per cent off and it ran out in the May. I have never bought a shoe on the internet and I do not intend to start. Our Linda says I should have passed it on to Gary, and she is right, but by the time she said it the thirty days were up.
I never did find out what it were. It is in the register as a blue trainer with a diamond tread and that will have to do.
June 2020, a grey trainer on the towpath at Longroyd Bridge (#173). The path were grown in on both sides and I could not tell whether anybody had been down it since March. I wrote to Malcolm because he had been right the first time.
Dear Mr Hinchcliffe,
You answered a letter of mine in December 2013 about the work parties and the bench at Milnsbridge, and I have had cause to be glad of that answer several times since.
My question is whether the work parties are running at all this year. There is an item on the edging stones at Longroyd Bridge that I would like to go back to later in the summer, and I would rather know now whether that is a realistic thing to expect.
I hope this finds you well.
Yours sincerely,
K. Plimmer
Dear Mr Plimmer,
Thank you for your letter. The work parties are suspended for the present and I could not tell you when they will start again.
Two of our members are keeping the Milnsbridge to Slaithwaite stretch walkable between them but nothing is being cleared, only cut back. I would say that what you have seen will most likely still be there in the summer, and possibly a good while after that.
I hope you are keeping well in all this.
Yours sincerely,
Malcolm
That were the first time he signed it just Malcolm. I noticed it at the time and I have kept it with the rest.
He were right about the trainer an' all. It were still on the edging stones on the 20th of September, faded a good deal, and it saw the winter out.
A tan work boot on the spillway wall at Butterley, 17 July 2021 (#192). From the path you are looking down on it at an angle and across, and a shoe photographed from above tells you less than one photographed level. There is a gate on the spillway side. I asked whether I might be let through it. I have copied the reply out below.
Dear Sir or Madam,
There is a boot on the spillway wall at Butterley Reservoir, Marsden, on the far side of the gate at the top of the steps.
I would like to ask whether I might be let through that gate on one occasion to photograph it from the level of the wall, accompanied by one of your people if that is what is required. I would not touch it, I would not move it and I would not be more than a quarter of an hour. Any day and any time that suits you would suit me, including a weekday, as I only work three days.
I keep a written record of single shoes found in this area and this one is worth a proper photograph. I am happy to give my name, address and telephone number and to sign anything that needs signing.
Yours faithfully,
K. Plimmer
Dear Mr Plimmer,
Thank you for contacting us.
For safety reasons our operational land is not open to the public and we are unable to grant individual access requests to spillways, valve houses or other operational structures. Public access at our reservoir sites is limited to the permissive paths shown on site signage.
Details of the walks and facilities available at our sites can be found on the recreation pages of our website.
Thank you again for your interest.
Yours sincerely,
Customer Services
That is a no and it is a fair no. It is a spillway. If they let me through they would have to let everybody through and then there would be somebody on the wall in the wrong shoes.
I photographed it from the path with the camera held out over the rail at arm's length. It come out crooked and the top of the frame is all sky, but you can see what it is, which is a tan work boot with a snapped lace. It were gone by the 31st.
Somebody posted me a shoe. I have asked on the questions page that people do not do this and that request stands, but it had been sent in good faith by a lady who had read the site and meant well by it, and once it were on the mat it were mine to deal with.
It is not in the register and it never will be. A shoe that has been picked up and put in a jiffy bag is not a find, it is a parcel. But it were still a shoe and it had to go somewhere, so I asked.
Their reply is copied out below. I would ask you to read the third paragraph of it twice, as I did.
Dear Sir or Madam,
Could you tell me please whether the household waste site at Emerald Street has a container for footwear, and if not, whether there is anywhere in the district that takes it.
I have one shoe to dispose of. It is clean and it is in reasonable condition but it is only the one, and I would rather put it in the right place than the easy place if there is a right place.
Yours faithfully,
K. Plimmer
Dear Mr Plimmer,
Thank you for your enquiry about footwear disposal.
There is no separate container for footwear at our household waste recycling centres.
Footwear may be placed in the textile banks located at supermarket car parks and other sites across the district, provided that items are clean, dry, paired and tied together. Single or damaged items cannot be accepted and should be placed in the general waste.
Further information about our recycling sites is available online.
Yours sincerely,
Waste Services
Paired and tied together. Single items cannot be accepted.
I have read that line a good many times since and it is still the plainest statement of the position I have come across anywhere, and it were written by somebody at a desk who were only answering a question about a bin.
I asked the man on the gate at Emerald Street as well, to be sure, and he said the same thing in fewer words. It went in the general waste. I did not photograph it.
Marjorie, Our Linda's cousin, reported a tartan slipper on the wall by the bus stop at Netherton and I went over on the 5th of November to see to it (#286). While I were stood there I could see summat on the roof of the shelter. Dark, with a pale sole to it, which to my mind is a trainer. I could not get a proper look at it and I have not logged it.
Dear Sir or Madam,
There is an item on the roof of the bus shelter at Netherton, which I believe to be a training shoe.
I am not asking for it to be removed and I am not reporting damage. There is nothing wrong with the shelter. What I would like to know is who is responsible for the roof, and whether shelter roofs are cleared off on any sort of cycle, so that I have an idea whether it is likely to still be up there in the spring.
Yours faithfully,
K. Plimmer
Hello Keith,
Thanks for getting in touch with us.
Bus shelters are not the responsibility of the bus operator. Shelters in this area are maintained on behalf of the local transport authority and any issues should be reported to them directly.
I've attached our Shelter Defect Report form for you to complete. Please include the stop number, which can be found on the timetable case, and a photograph if you have one. Your reference number is below.
Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.
Customer Services
I did not fill the form in. There were nowt defective about the shelter and I were not going to write down that there were.
I went back on the 4th of May. I could not see it any more, but then I could not see it properly the first time either, so I have not put it down as gone. It has no number. You cannot log a thing you have only seen the top of.
12 April 2026, a shoe sat on the balance beam at Lock 42E at Marsden (#317). Beams get painted. I wanted to know when, so I wrote to Malcolm, that being the third time in thirteen year.
Dear Malcolm,
I hope you are well and that the winter were not too hard on the towpath.
My question this time is about the balance beams at the top end. Are they painted on any sort of cycle, and if so when were the locks around 42E last done and when would they be due. There is summat sat on one of the beams that I would like to go back to, and a painter would have it off in a second, quite rightly.
With thanks for your previous answers, which have all been of use.
Yours sincerely,
K. Plimmer
Dear Mr Plimmer,
Thank you for your letter, which was passed on to me at home.
I stood down from the society at the end of last year, the knee having made the towpath more of an undertaking than it was. I have passed your question to the chap who has taken the stretch on and he will write if he has the dates.
From memory the beams at the top end were done in 2019, so they are due, though I would not put money on when. If your item is on the beam itself rather than the balance arm it may survive a painting, as they tend to work round things and put them back.
If you write again my home address is below. I am not certain the society post is being opened at present.
Yours sincerely,
Malcolm
The beams have not been painted. The shoe were gone by the 3rd of May, which had nowt to do with painters.
I have written to Malcolm at the house since, about one thing and another. That is not correspondence of this sort, so it is not on this page. I have put his first letter up and his last one and left the middle out. Anyway.
That is the lot as it stands. Ten in fourteen year is not a great deal of letter writing and I would not want anybody thinking I am forever at it.
I answer everything that comes to me, in order, generally on a Sunday after tea. I have not always been answered myself. I do not hold that against anybody, as they are busy and I am asking about a shoe.
Best wishes, Keith.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing about a field gateway on the lane above Marsden, on the left going up, about half a mile past the last of the houses. In October 2009 there was a single boot in this gateway (right foot, brown, laces missing). I have a photograph of it and I have it written down.
My question is whether the parish council holds any record of items cleared from gateways and verges in the parish, going back over the years, and if so whether such a record can be looked at. I would also like to know whether I need anybody's permission to stand in the gateway for half an hour and take a photograph, as I would not want to be a nuisance to whoever farms it.
I am not asking for anything to be done. I keep a written record of single shoes found in this area and I am trying to be thorough about it.
Yours faithfully,
K. Plimmer