Dear Sir,

Ever since those great-hearted residents of our villages of the Gower and the Ferris and the hamlet of Burdrop dipped into their pockets and contributed to the preservation of ‘Wheathills’ as a green oasis in the middle of our villages, I have wanted to thank them publicly. I was not in a financial position to help but my heart was and is in full support. I have long sought for words to express my thanks but all I could discover were of such banality that they were better left unsaid until three weeks ago. Then a programme on TV marked the centenary of the death of John Ruskin (1819-1900) the English Art Writer and Critic and stylist. Miraculously within hours I was presented with copies of six of his works – all quite by accident. A few days later I came upon the following extract from one of his books;

God has lent us the earth for our life. It is a great entail. It belongs as much to those who are to come after us as to us and we have no right, by anything we do or neglect, to involve them in any unnecessary penalties or deprive them of the benefit which was in our power to bequeath.

These sentiments sum up completely my appreciation of the ‘Wheathills’ benefactors and may also form the basis of the policy of the Council for the Protection of Rural England.

I commend these sentiments to your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Reginald Craig