MAY I thank Coun John Williams for putting us in the picture regarding the £25,000 council grant to mosques in Blackburn and Darwen to teach ethnic children to learn the language of their 'mother country.'

What rubbish education vice-chairman Kathy Stephenson speaks when she states it would be irresponsible to make changes swiftly.

That didn't stop the councillors when they awarded themselves hefty increases in allowances for serving on the council - which should be an honour, not a job.

My husband was a Labour councillor in the Sixties, when meetings were in the afternoons and unpaid, and as he was a nurse and worked on a rota had to use his days off, which included most weekends.

Going back to the grant to mosques, does this mean the children are taught twice, once at state schools for English and then at the mosques for these 'mother tongues?'

What is wrong with their parents, grandparents, extended family etc. doing the latter?

A NUTTALL (Mrs) (address supplied).

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