Here in Kingsbridge we have been blessed for many years with a happy, hard-working and interesting Oxfam shop and the organisation’s delightful bookshop.

The manager and volunteers are cheerful, always give a smile and manage to make both shops look inviting.

I never go in either shop without coming out feeling a little better than when I went in.

To be aware of the years of great work they have done – yes, on my behalf too – is to say thank you to them. Their overseas aid workers have sustained hardship and seen sights from which most of us would recoil in horror.

Please let us remember that in every organisation there are a few rotten apples. I can remember when certain Members of Parliament were mentioned in a London brothel raid, but we didn’t feel we should get rid of the House of Commons, and the Lords too, or withhold funding and salaries of the others members. No, we got rid of the rotten apples and tried to make sure it didn’t happen again.

I would ask you to remember the wonderful work that does take place, and the loving kindness and life-preserving help that is happening around the world by aid workers who are not tainted by base deeds.

Shirlee Matthews

Barnfield, Kingsbridge