CHRIS Jack (“Rangers have the chance to lead the way for disabled fans”, Herald Sport, December 2) shines a welcome spotlight on a topic many choose to ignore.

As a 64-year-old football fan who suffers from multiple sclerosis, walks with a stick and has attended matches at all but one ground (Elgin City) in the SPFL’s four divisions, I can say with some certainty that the access provision for disabled fans in Scotland ranges from barely adequate (at best) to appalling (at worst).

There are two basic issues that need to be addressed, one is finance and the other is attitude (the acceptance of clubs, Government and public agencies to do the minimum and pay lip service to the matter).

I support Raith Rovers and recognise that many smaller clubs simply do not have the cash to adapt usually-ancient stadia to provide adequate disabled access, but there can be no excuse whatsoever for the likes of Rangers and the other wealthier clubs in the Scottish game. There is simply no desire on their part to provide adequate access, let alone attractive facilities for handicapped (and elderly) fans.

But aren’t these clubs missing a trick? I can walk through a shopping centre at any time and see similarly disabled people everywhere. I go to a football match and I am usually the only person there with a walking stick. I can accept that not everyone is as determined and obstinate as me, but does this not suggest there’s an untapped market out there? Even the provision of Easy Access seats for the “walking wounded”, like me, would be welcome, but nobody seems to have thought of it.

Smaller clubs need money to make the necessary changes and there is surely a role here for the National Lottery in the form of grants and soft loans? Political will and pressure from the Scottish Government would also trigger meaningful change, but there is nothing coming from the Scottish Sports Minister, Maree Todd. What about getting off your Holyrood armchair and inspecting a few football grounds in a wheelchair, Ms Todd?

Football is our national game. Access to it is a national disgrace.

James Miller, Glasgow.

BACK TO BASICS IN HORTICULTURE

BILL Irving’s observations (bout the public’s enthusiasm for gardening as observed by the crowds at garden centres is correct ("How local gardening clubs can continue to grow", The Herald, December 2). However, the new enthusiasm is not often married to any expertise. Many of us acquired knowledge from our parents, but the younger generation can’t bank on that. All too often they rely for information on what they can find on the internet. It’s easy to make glaring mistakes. A plant identification app is no substitute for practical experience or knowledge acquired from a good gardening book.

In times past local horticultural societies were important places to learn. Committees were made up of experts in one field and another. A now-retired president of my local society began each meeting by bringing along some specimens of flowering plants in his garden and giving us a quick lecture on each one.

As Mr Irving observes, the pandemic has meant that horticultural society activities have been seriously curtailed, but even before then societies were subtly changing. It was becoming increasingly difficult to attract younger people to participate, let alone volunteer to join a committee. Ageing audiences at winter lectures seemed more interested in enjoying a slide show than learning the finer points of propagation. The annual outing was deemed to be a success as much on the basis of an enjoyable bus ride and good tea as to the venue visited. The annual show was once an opportunity to see the very best in flower and produce displayed to perfection, but recent shows have spread themselves too thinly trying to attract a wider audience by including a range of classes only loosely related to horticulture.

If the new generation of gardening enthusiasts are to learn skills to make their contribution to addressing the climate emergency, I suggest horticultural societies need to go back to their founding aims of a century or more ago. They should return to being organisations which help newcomers learn basic gardening skills and annual shows can once again become showcases of the best of local horticulture. Only by examining their relevance today will they attract younger members to ensure a sustainable future for local horticultural societies.

Jenny Mollison, Inveresk Village, East Lothian.

WHEN ART IMITATES LIFE

I CONTEND that Scot Squad is the funniest programme on TV which even makes me laugh out loud whilst watching it on my own.

Jack Docherty's portrayal of Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson captures the very essence of laughable political sensitivity often seen in reality by senior officers of Police Scotland when making public statements.

He gets my nomination as the funniest man on Scottish TV.

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.

LET THEM MEET PI

TO pursue further David Leask's humorous take on the correct pronunciation, or otherwise, of the Greek word Omicron/Omikron: as every school child knows, or should, the next letter in the Greek alphabet, and presumably the next named Covid variant, is "π", and mispronounced here as "pie", and not as in the greek world as " pee" or " pea".

What fun awaits.

Gordon Robinson, Perth.