I TRIED to enjoy York Residents First weekend.

On Saturday, I went to the Castle Museum. Great fun was had by my family and I, until we found two major sections of the museum were shut for refurbishment.

On Sunday, we tried the Jorvik Centre. We were told we should have pre-booked, and had to make an appointment for much later, to allow the "paying guests" in first.

My point?

1. All attractions in York should be free of charge all year round to the mugs that subsidise them in their taxes, ie, the York taxpayer2. We should not be bullied into joining a library to gain a York Card. They should be issued with council tax bills.

3. We should not be made to feel like second class citizens to paying customers, like I was, when a group of Americans got in at the Viking centre before me purely because they were paying.

4. Areas of attractions should not be closed during residents' weekends. Residents, although getting in free, should be entitled to see what they have already paid for.

For too long, we have been brushed aside. I am not asking for the keys to the city, merely for these attraction not bite the hand that feeds them.

Adam McCartney, Brailsford Crescent, York.


* I WISH to express my disgust at the availability of free tickets to visit the Jorvik Centre on Residents First Weekend.

My family and I wanted to visit the centre on the Sunday. Initially, I had gone in person to the Jorvik Centre on Wednesday to pre-book tickets for the free weekend. I was told it was a telephone only booking system and to phone from 9am onwards on Saturday.

On Saturday, I tried to telephone, the lines were blocked for more than two-and-a-half hours before I eventually got through. I was most annoyed then to be told I could not book tickets for Sunday on Saturday.

Again I telephoned on Sunday, this time the lines were blocked for more than three hours. When I eventually got through, all the tickets had gone.

What a waste of my time and the time of every other York resident who tried phoning for tickets.

Apparently, there were only 200 free tickets allocated for each day, a totally inadequate number, given the large population of York, and the demand for them on the blocked phone lines.

Wake up City of York Council, this is not putting York residents first.

Maureen Ferguson, Huntington, York.