SIR, — May I please use your letters page to pass a giant thank you to the residents of St Albans for their generosity and support on Saturday, March 1, for the Great Dane Adoption Society s collection day. Many, many people thoroughly enjoyed petting th

SIR, - May I please use your letters page to pass a giant thank you to the residents of St Albans for their generosity and support on Saturday, March 1, for the Great Dane Adoption Society's collection day. Many, many people thoroughly enjoyed petting the gentle giants who stood patiently to raise money for our charity. We had dogs ranging from a six-month-old Dane puppy called Hector, to Samson and Joe, the old men of the day; and of course Clancy the St Bernard and Phoebe the Rottweiler who pretended to be Great Danes for the day.

This was a great way for people to meet giant breeds without the national press hysteria which has terrified so many normally-sensible members of the public!

The support from the public following the story you published (Herts Advertiser, February 28) was overwhelming. Many people came to see me on Saturday to express their disappointment at the way we had been treated, and to compliment me and your newspaper for our perseverance.

I have been contacted by several other animal charities since the article was run and it seems they have had problems in the past with their animals being sited too close to the food stalls in the market place. I was offered a choice from three alternative stalls for our collection and although my choice was not as well sited as the usual stall, it gave us a good base to work from for the day.

The residents of St Albans were as generous as they always are. We raised £667.67 in the market place, and an online donation was made to our website www.danes.org.uk from a gentleman in Harpenden.

I look forward to a much smoother run up to our collection day next year. Many thanks again. As with all charities, we depend on donations and you can see the work we do on our website www.danes.org.uk

JOYCE GOODWIN,

Great Dane Adoption Society