Q. Further to the letter in your column re the
'no presents' requests, my husband and I recently celebrated our golden wedding. We too had a dread of more 'things' to be looked after. We invited 90 guests, most of whom accepted. When we sent out the invitations we enclosed a little note saying `no presents, please' but that if any of our guests cared to make a donation to the 'Save the Children Fund' it would be greatly appreciated. Mary, we raised £650 for the Fund. Most people sent their cheques with replies to the invitation. Most said what a jolly good idea it was. (We also were given some super champagne and fabulous flowers. But no 'things'.) M.T., Rochester, Kent A. Thank you for your suggestion. Custom decrees that gestures of well-wishing, in the form of material goods, are the norm on such occasions. Yet when one set of people has a surplus of cash and another a deficiency, it is clearly best that the largesse should be diverted to the needy. The only trouble is that some guests may bridle at the 'blackmail' aspect. For this reason hosts should supply the address of the charity to which cheques can be sent directly, so that guests can feel you will have no way of catching them out should they not get round to contributing. Those who want to show you how generous they have been will send the cheques directly to you with their acceptance letters anyway.
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