I attended the funeral of a friend, a once very fit and healthy man, who served his country from 1939 until retiring after 37 years service.

An ex-commando and a stalwart in many men's eyes but who was struck by Parkinson's Disease, which turned him into a shell of his former self with no mind of his own and no physical control over himself.

I am by no means a killjoy, but later that day I did think in an age where the funding to help combat such diseases as Parkinson's is so desperate to come by and is most probably done by 'cap in hand' methods the £750 million spent on the Dome does seem a waste.

George W Bateson,

Moorland Garth,

Strensall, York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.