SIR

In the Monmouth area during the 12 months ending in April 2012 more than £5,000 has been donated to the British Heart Foundation, BHF, mainly in memory of the departed in lieu of flowers.

On behalf of BHF I would therefore like to thank the bereaved who nominated BHF to receive the donations in lieu of flowers, the local funeral directors from Monmouth and Caldicott who arranged for the collection of the donations and the many individuals who made the donations.

I would also like to thank the two shops in Raglan for holding collecting boxes and the many Raglan shoppers who have made donations.

The number of people living with heart and circulatory disease is increasing, imposing a huge physical, emotional and financial cost on individuals, their families and communities. Cardiovascular diseases are the biggest cause of premature deaths in the UK.

There are 2.7 million people in the UK known to have coronary heart disease most of them under 75.

The BHF is committed to cutting these costs and improving the quality of life of heart patients and their families. BHF's ultimate goal would be to defeat heart and circulatory problems.

Through the fund raising of volunteers and donations received, the BHF has provided life-saving defibrillators for GP surgeries leisure centres etc; it provides Cardiac Liaison nurses and funds research.

Our scientists have found that a commonly-used angina drug could help protect the heart from damage caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.

More than half of all heart research in the UK is funded by donations.

The BHF receive no financial support from the Government or any other official sources and can only carry out its work as a result of fund raising and the many generous donations it receives.

So once again, a sincere thank you to all who have helped to raise more than £ 5,000 in the Monmouth Area in the past year.

Graham Boulton

(British Heart Foundation)