SIR – I went to the mayor’s banquet at the Guildhall in Worcester last month and afterwards helped to collect the donation envelopes that had been placed on each table.

The £700 raised (£1,100 if you include the money collected in sponsorship by Councillor Lucy Hodgson) will go towards the work that we do with homeless people across Worcestershire.

Although the money is welcome, the banquet actually fulfilled a much greater purpose for us.

St Paul’s Hostel is a local charity working with some of the most disadvantaged people, often living on the fringes of society and sometimes overlooked by mainstream services.

The banquet provided us with an opportunity to get our message across to some of the most influential men and women in the county, many of whom we would not otherwise have had access to. Several I spoke to that night I am sure will be useful contacts for the future.

This is a critical point for smaller charities such as ours which, although wellestablished and wellregarded by other agencies, will still benefit from the boost in our public profile that being adopted as one of the mayor’s charities will undoubtedly give us and, in future years, those charities that come after us.

For these reasons, the banquet should stay.

ROBBIE PORTER

Chairman, St Paul’s Hostel