WHAT a joy it was to see the vitality of Captain Tom on his 100th birthday. It certainly gives one hope for the future in these desperate times. Sadly, the lack of sponsorship events is having a disastrous effect on the income of charities. Unfortunately, we cannot all be as inspirational as him, but those of us who can afford it should still be able to step up to the plate in our own ways.

For example, I am fortunate enough to have a regular flow of income from my pensions. As a result of not having a weekly visit to the pub or to cafes for coffee and cake, I find that I am not spending as much as I used to and I am making contributions to a number of charities instead.

Dare I suggest that fellow readers in a similar position may think of doing the same in order to help fill the void? This is obviously an individual choice but please consider supporting some of the less high-profile organisations. For example, the likes of Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Willows Animal Sanctuary in Aberdeenshire rely heavily on visitors to keep them going and are struggling to survive, as are many others.

Gordon Evans, Glasgow G73.

Vietnam remembered

IT was reported recently that the death toll in the United States from the pandemic had passed the 58,220 service personnel who died in the Vietnam War ("Lockdown restrictions in US being lifted despite positive cases passing million mark", The Herald, April 29). That war eventually, apart from the significant number of casualties, developed into a humiliation for America in many respects. Many of us who can recall the years of that war can call to mind two startling and searing images in particular: a Vietcong prisoner being pistol-shot in the head by the chief of the Saigon police and young children running and screaming following a napalm strike. We should be grateful to Harold Wilson, then Prime Minister, for refusing to allow the UK to be drawn into that quagmire in the face of frequent and pressing importuning from the USA.

His refusal led to Dean Rusk, the US Secretary of State, saying: "When the Russians invade Sussex, don't expect us to come and help you'".

To retreat from Vietnam as they did was traumatic for many Americans. However, it is interesting to reflect upon the scale of the visitations to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, designed by Maya Lin, at the time a student at Yale. It is constructed in granite with the names inscribed of all the members of the American forces who died during the conflict. Completed in 1982, it has become one of the country's most frequently visited monuments, with millions visiting it every year.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

Home truths

GERRY Gill (Letters, May 1) makes an interesting and logical point regarding the increase in sales of alcohol (I liked his analogy using toilet roll as an example). It might be worthwhile adding that this increase is in off-sales only. As restaurants and bars are currently closed due to the Coronavirus lockdown alcohol, sales in these establishments will be zero.

David Clark, Tarbolton.

Power of three

IT cannot be often that a universal truth can be distilled from Herald Letters on three totally different topics: spitting, the wisdom of age, and climate change, (April 28, 29 & 30): Don’t spit into the wind.

R Russell Smith, Kilbirnie.