My chosen charity was the East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH), specifically the one in Milton.
Over the year, we held a number of functions starting with the annual Civic Service. Many thanks to the Rev Busk and the parish church council for all their support.

The manager of the new Co-op shop in the town, Adrian White, has been very supportive throughout the year.
Before Christmas we organised a skating evening and afterwards we held a Fair Trade event. With the help of the Co-op and St Mary's Church Fair Trade Group, we raised a substantial amount.

In January we held a concert in Godmanchester Parish Church.
The Huntingdon Male Voice Choir was superbly supported by the choirs from Godmanchester Community School and St Anne's Church of England School. Again, it was a really successful event.

Towards the end of the year, I persuaded Godmanchester's Mark Beagley, about to run the London Marathon, that no-one runs marathons "for fun".
So he agreed to run it for EACH, and with the help of the staff at the White Hart and a time of just over three hours, we raised even more.

In a couple of weeks I will be presenting EACH with a cheque for around £3,500, so a great big thank you to all the people and businesses in the town who supported me.
Mal Cohen
Croftfield Road
Godmanchester

College needs a new home
>> I WAS dismayed to see there was so much opposition to the new regional college (Town Crier, May 22).
People in Huntingdonshire are always complaining about poor facilities, and this area clearly needs a better and bigger college.

But it's the usual complaint that people don't want it built in their backyards.
It needs to go somewhere and will undoubtedly upset someone wherever it goes.

I just hope the planners appreciate how important a new college will be and ignore the nimbyism.
F Taylor
Huntingdon

Post office arithmetic
I see the silly season has come early this year. Last year the Mayor of St Ives accused me of hoodwinking supporters of ACE.
This year the silly accusations come from the chairman of the local branch of UKIP. (Your View, Town Crier, May 22).

Both are wrong. Let's look at some simple arithmetic.
If Royal Mail moved out of Bridge Street entirely they could let the premises for around £25,000 per annum.

They were approached some years ago but, I believe, did not reply.
They could rent suitable premises in the industrial area for half the above amount.

By avoiding the unnecessary movement of mail up and down stairs there are significant productivity savings.
Then add some more from the ability to drive in and out of the sorting office,  easier loading and avoidance of town centre traffic.
The productivity savings are difficult to gauge but they ought to be at least £7,500 as a conservative estimate.

 The total income and savings I have outlined comes to £20,000 per annum which would go a long way to helping save a few local rural post offices.
As I have already indicated, there are plenty of other inefficiencies within Royal Mail. 

If UKIP had their way and Britain left the EU, the problems of management inefficiency in our postal services would remain and need sorting out. It is a pity that UKIP concentrate on negative campaigning. 

Rural services will continue to be subsidised after closures and that is something that the Liberal Democrats support.
Indeed Norman Lamb from rural North Norfolk has been championing the case for rural postal services for a very long time.

So, I say to the electorate of St Ives, very many of you weren't conned by the Conservatives this year so please don't be fooled next May by UKIP when they conduct their telephone canvassing.
Colin Saunderson
St Ives Liberal Democrats

Why not let firms run hospital?
>> I'VE read with interest recent comments regarding Hinchingbrooke Hospital and have seen the web vote on your website.

Most seem to be against the idea of letting it be run by a private firm but few seem to have any idea why they are against it other than fear of change.

The cold hard fact is the NHS is in dire financial straits and something needs to be done to ensure free health care for all.
To me this is a sensible option, as long as certain safeguards are put in place.

Money could be saved from having fewer managers, less red-tape and ditching branded drugs for generic ones.
Having private companies running public services has worked in some instances. The rail system is better than it was under British Rail, housing associations have drastically improved the state of council housing stock and private funding has helped regenerate some schools.
T Jacobs