response to Helen Roberts from two eighty year olds.

May we remind you that on 19th July this year the law on mask wearing was made no longer compulsory, so why all these notices on shop doors and windows requesting that we do so which seem to emanate from Stroud District Council; this is a personal choice and is an insidious form of bullying allied to that campaign by the NHS and Govt. ministers to frighten and control the population so that they were too terrified to go anywhere, a policy that has worked so well in some instances that even now there are people who are trapped in their homes by their own fear.

It is wicked and cruel; if you did this to animals you would be prosecuted yet it is happening to the handicapped.

We know a lady whose daughter in a home is not allowed out.

The irony is that she then caught Covid but has now recovered, so how 'safe' was she in 'care'.

This lady feels her daughter has been kidnapped by social services. How do we know this?

Because we are fortunate to belong to a group of regulars who meet up on Sundays in the `Monastery Cafe at Prinknash Abbey, not all Catholics, which has been both a refuge and a sanctuary for so many through all this wretched Covid crisis.

They come in their hundreds every year, from all faiths and none, for welcome Benedictine hospitality.

We met a charming Sikh family from Birmingham recently, and an Anglican lady vicar sometimes writes her sermons while having coffee and cake.

It is the atmosphere, conducive to peace and calming thoughts, plus the background of CDs of the monks chanting their timeless daily office which sets it apart from the cares and woes of the outside world.

You feel better after soaking it up, try it. The walking is good there too.