No light pollution during the wartime blackout

BEN Stafford’s article (Yorkshire Post, January 20) relating to the need for us to have relief from the light pollution wrecking our night sky brought back childhood memories.

During the war years when our street – almost a quarter of a mile of terraced cul-de-sac – was our playground, we spent many happy hours playing by moonlight on the street with no cars cluttering the road, the street lamps (gas) unlit and all house windows blacked out. We invented games of hide and seek, various forms of “tiggy” and were rarely more than 50 yards away from home.

A special treat – especially in autumn on clear nights, we were able to sit on the walls, recently cleared of metal railings and look at the night sky and be treated to meteor displays which as primary school children filled us with awe and curiosity and gave us opportunities for quite serious thought about how the universe worked. New technology and the influence of Professor Brian Cox and co have really brought the issue to our attention.

I totally agree with Ben Stafford and believe that we do not stand and stare and really think about where we are, what we are for, and where we are going. We are too involved in “enjoying” ourselves with trivia and money.

From: Libby Mitchell, Springfield Road, Baildon.

I WAS brought up in my grandparents home, Whinmoor Lodge, five miles north of Leeds. In those days it was surrounded by farm land and Seacroft was a small village centred on the Green. I remember being woken up in the middle of the night, wrapped in a blanket and carried to the windows at the back of the house to look at the sky which was a mass of flashing lights – the Northern Lights – and being told they were called “the aroraborealis” (Yorkshire Post, November 24). What a wonderful word for a five-year-old to roll round her tongue? I have never forgotten the sight. No light pollution in those far off days in the 30s.