IT is 21 years since I joined a fund-raising committee in Ramsbottom for Save the Children. In that time we have raised many thousands of pounds which have been used in different projects in the UK and overseas.

The charity is now in its 80th year nationwide, HRH the Princess Royal is still our president, and yet we struggle to get our message across to the public.

When I joined Save the Children I was a single mum, struggling to pay bills and feed myself and my daughter (we seemed to live on jam, bread, cheese and apples!). But I felt, even then, that we were more fortunate than many people. Our group relies on families and friends to support the few fund-raising events we organise. Sometimes we receive donations in memory of someone who has died, or celebrated a special birthday or anniversary, and sometimes we are given money from a church collection. Like many other charities, we struggle to maintain our volunteers (the average age of one group I know is 79). Younger people today seem to have less time and energy to become involved.

It is now the end of national "Save the Children" week and we have been unable to hold any public collections as we are few in number and we clashed with so many other appeals (Red Rose Week for the hospice, Christian Aid and Kosovo to name a few). In the event we are relying on donations, the sale of quiz sheets and our annual walk on June 11 when, hopefully, some Bury Times readers will be able to support us.

I do not wish to appear sanctimonious, but I do think that if you try to help others it does make you feel better about yourself.

MRS MAVIS HOPKINSON,

Belmont Road, Bolton.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.