4 JUNE 2005, Page 48

Q. I am a single mother with two children. I

would like to repay the great hospitality I have received from neighbours in the six months since I moved to Cornwall from London, but cash flow crises have left me stumped. What can I do, Mary?

Name withheld, Liskeard A. It is a mistake to think that all hosts and hostesses want to be repaid ‘cutlet for cutlet’. They often want to be asked back just for the sake of socialising with others. A cheap way of giving an excellent party would be to give one for one of your children, hire a good entertainer (which often costs as little as £40 in Cornwall) and invite your neighbours to come and enjoy the spectacle. Tea and sandwiches and toxic cakes go down enormously well with adults, as does the opportunity to relive their own childhoods.