Our thanks for £2m raised

I WRITE to share the fantastic news about our charity partnership with Royal Mail which has raised a staggering £2 million.

Over the last two years, staff at Royal Mail have been busy raising money for the Stroke Association and every penny was match funded by the company.

Every year there are more than 100,000 strokes in the UK each year that is around one stroke every five minutes.

Stroke can be devastating. It has a massive and sudden impact and there are more than 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK who are rebuilding their lives after stroke.

The money raised by Royal Mail will provide up to 10,000 Life After Stroke Grants, which can help restore confidence and enable stroke survivors to regain some independence. Stroke survivors and their families in Wales can find more information on the grants service by visiting our website stroke.org.uk/grants.

As a charity, we rely on voluntary donations, so on behalf of stroke survivors and their loved ones, I would like to say thank you to everyone at Royal Mail for their time, commitment and support.

Together, we can, and will, conquer stroke.

Juliet Bouverie, chief executive, Stroke Association

Referee has the final say

I really enjoy a good game of football. One recent night the game I was playing in was great with good skills and even a bit of fun between the players at the beginning.

The referee was good, at one stage bringing together a rather over-enthusiastic young player and his captain to warn of his style of playing.

Then it all went pear shaped. Within seconds he made another wild tackle and was shown the red card.

The players crowded around the referee, objecting to his dismissal.

Now, my question is: Has a referee ever changed his mind after giving a decision?

If, as I believe he has not, then this should be explained to the players before the game starts.

There is an old saying that the ref is not always correct but he is always the ref.

John Leigh, Blackburn

Time to make Brexit work

AS a Scot and a UK citizen living in a democracy, I voted Remain in the EU Referendum but the Leave result won and must be respected, and Westminster follow through on it.

It was never my intention to be in the EU as a citizen of an independent Scotland, so for Nicola Sturgeon to claim that she has a mandate to push for independence because of me and others like me is complete rubbish and amounts to gerrymandering.

It is heartening to see the numbers on the petition against another referendum (165,104 in 48 hours and rising in total, and a 2,609 total in East Lothian at writing), since these mean that it merits a debate in Parliament and will strengthen Theresa May’s decision.

Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland has now decided to use Brexit to further the cause for a united Ireland, and it is fairly certain that the voters there in the EU Referendum had no such thoughts when they cast their votes .

Wales voted Leave and now Plaid Cymru has become energised over perceived Brexit problems, so there is now a situation where three political parties in the United Kingdom are following their own agendas instead of working constructively with Westminster to deliver Brexit.

Because Europe sits tight on its own problems and gives no information away, Scotland, Ireland and Wales can only second-guess matters at present. It is time to make Brexit work.

Helen Fraser, Blackburn

On papers and preference

I READ the letter about the customer who was choosing papers at a supermarket and was accused by another customer of reading papers but not buying them.

One chooses a daily newspaper by size, political persuasion, what’s on page three perhaps. It’s not a big decision. I prefer my paper previously unread and indeed untouched,

Cath Stobbart, Burnley