SIR,

Many of your readers will remember how, in 1993, a group of local people joined together to prevent the development of a superstore adjacent to the A40 at Dixton.

STORM – Stop Tesco or Ruin Monmouth – was successful in its campaign to prevent the retail giant from potentially damaging the business of existing shopkeepers by attracting customers out of town.

We were a properly registered body with a constitution that provided for appropriate distribution of any surplus funds, as and when STORM would disband.

The group having achieved its aims, the committee of STORM has now been disbanded, and it has been decided that the total remaining bank balance of £293.15 will be shared equally between two local charities, Bridges Community Centre and the Special Needs Unit at Overmonnow Primary School.

Thanks are due to everyone who supported STORM, for the many donations received, and for the time given by the committee and the many volunteers.

Christine Smith (Treasurer)

David Evans (Chairman)