Sir

May I, as an evacuee to Monmouth during the Second World War, take this opportunity to express my thanks to all your staff at the Beacon, in particular Victoria, for making it possible for me to reunite with family, relatives and friends as a result of the BBC Television Documentary earlier this year called 'Historic Towns in Wales', when Monmouth was the focus of the programme.

During the TV broadcast my mother's name was mentioned, Mrs Florence Manchee, by one of her former pupils in the early 1940s, Mrs Maude Vickers, who worked with my mother at the Parachute Factory and spent their lunch hours being taught how to dance popular dance steps of the times in their air raid shelter.

As a result of your article about this programme, I had many responses from individuals who remembered my mother and that enabled me to organise a reunion and dinner with Maude Vickers and her workmate Beatie Jones with family and friends at the Riverside Hotel on 4th September.

Thanks to the hotel staff we had a most enjoyable time. The occasion was further enhanced through the generosity of the management, Tom and Louise at DS Music in Monnow Street, who were most generous in providing, free of charge, all the electronic equipment and support gear I needed including a keyboard that enabled me to present a selection of wartime songs for my guests to sing and enjoy during the evening.

Other contacts made in the town and at County Hall have given me the opportunity of providing some educational resources including material that supports students in schools, studying the Second World War and the evacuee situation.

This material will also include music scores, lyrics and support CDs for training purposes and specially recorded texts that assist students with reading difficulties helping them to enjoy the materials.

Some of this material is lodged at the Nelson Museum, where Andrew Helme and his staff made me most welcome when I paid them a visit on 3rd September.

May I also take this opportunity of wishing Andrew Helme, the curator of the Nelson Museum, every best wish in his preparations for his retirement from the post.

Thanks to the Monmouthshire Beacon, the future is potentially very bright in this corner of the world in more ways than one.

Roy Alan Manchee

(Spain)