THE York Report of February 19 made very interesting reading, albeit accentuating the positive for maximum effect.

However, many of us already appreciated that York is a wonderful city in which to live, so the positive statistics in the report are a continued encouragement.

In our Dringhouses local history group during 2012, we asked members to tell us what they appreciated or valued in our local area – ancient or modern. It could be an object, a building, a person, a plant or whatever they felt worthy of recording.

The varied results were quite surprising with trees being among the most nominated items.

Other categories included views/locations, people, animals and birds, objects and transport.

Perhaps most surprising was the Coastliner bus, appreciated for its reliability, and we even sneaked in superstar Frankel, who used the Dringhouses racing stables.

Incidentally, one of the stables was also used by the swallows, who have been returning annually for many years, so they also featured in our list of treasures.

Dorothy Reed, Middlethorpe Drive, York.