I have the scrapbook of Coun Herbert Sainsbury, Mayor of Devizes 1913 1915, containing cuttings and memorabilia.

Of particular interest at this time, with the Audit Commission due at the end of October to carry out a further audit of the troubled affairs of the Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust, is an item from the Gazette for September 9, 1915.

The headline says Devizes Nearly £200 for the Devizes Cottage Hospital. It goes on to describe how the money was raised from donations, Thursday boxes, sale of flowers, concerts, proceeds of stalls. Singled out for praise are the efforts of Mrs Oliver (grandmother of well-known local musician and teacher Michael Oliver) and Mrs Tytherleigh. Mrs Oliver apparently careered the rural district in search of stock for the stalls, while Mrs Tytherleigh made 156 lavender bags, which sold well and brought in over £6. What admirable examples they set!

The Bank of England has informed me that the purchasing power of the 1915 pound equates to £42.52 today, so that the sum raised in 1915 approximates now to about £8,504.

The community supported the hospital then and has continued to do so to the present day through the tremendous work of the Hospital League of Friends, our MP Michael Ancram, mayors and councillors.

Contrast this with the excellent report in the Gazette for July 29, 2004, which told us that the Audit Commission report on the financial affairs of the Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust revealed a lack of financial control. It said no monitoring of budgets was done, which meant managers had no idea how much they had spent. The trust overspent by £2 million in 2003/04. The £2 million overspend has been brought forward into this year and the trust started the year having to make savings of £12.5 million. What a lot of lavender bags you'd need to sell to repay that!

The trust's response has been to send the director of resources on leave. It also intends to close Devizes and Malmesbury maternity units. Could it be that there is a property developer waiting to develop the site and pay handsomely for it? It will mean that this whole area will have no hospital for the foreseeable future, but Mr Golledge can hang onto his job, and Mr Reynolds can come back off leave and they can both work in their handsome offices in Pans Lane.

I think Dr Reid should sack the trust altogether. Appoint some competent people to work out a strategy. As for Messrs Golledge and Reynolds, let them make lavender bags.

D Morris

Devizes