SIR,

While catching up on old Beacons I read that the deputy mayor and the manager of the Shire Hall visited Italy to explain the benefits of the 'Monmouthpedia' experiment to admiring students.

Can someone please explain those benefits to me? And justify the cost to us humble taxpaying residents who do not desire to attract international tourists with expensive smart phones, or  to get married in the Shire Hall.

While we lose the shops we once depended on to increasing numbers of coffee bars and estate agents, with dress shops coming and going with bewildering speed, who paid to set up and run this exciting commercial indulgence?

I felt qualified to comment on one long historical entry which was a direct quote from Wikipedia written by an Oklahoma house wife with scholarly pretensions who admits to never having left the USA nor seen any historic artefact or document – has this abomination been corrected?

With the sad loss of Keith Kissack and Andrew Helme, Monmouth now has no reliable historian to advise the unknown 'webmaster' on fact versus myth.

I can use my smart phone, I can read the entries but why? I once knew all the shops and local attractions I enjoyed but can no longer recognise.

Kirstie Buckland

(Monmouth)