Sir,

I found two items of particular interest in last week's issue.

First in the obituary column the news that Ted Harris had passed away in North Vancouver, Canada.

In the early 1950s Ted was a keen follower of Monmouth Rugby Club and in an away match at Cheltenham when we could only muster 14 players he was pursuaded to turn out on the wing.

He had never played a game of rugby before and I don't think he ever played again. He did not let the side down and we won the match.

The second item was the report on evidence of a water storage tank found in an outbuilding at Troy House.

I was a member of the Monmouth U3A Historic Houses Group a few years ago when we visited Badminton House.

We were met by the then Duchess of Beaufort who gave us an introductory talk on the history of the house. She remarked that years ago the water supply to Badminton House dried up in the summer and the whole family would go and stay at Troy House, Monmouth, where there was no shortage of water.

Derek Jones

(Monmouth)