Stella Oliver (Postbag, March 19) presents a heartfelt appeal to Bridport Leisure Centre (BLC) members to continue paying their membership fees, even if their activity has to be cancelled.
We can, and must, go further if we wish our leisure centre to be able to function when this coronavirus emergency is over.
We will all want to remain fit in the meantime and now we may be reduced, forcibly, to indulge in little more than walks.
The thrust of Stella’s message is that we should continue paying our fees, for which we have already budgeted.
My further suggestion is that West Dorset Sports Trust Ltd. (WDST), the registered charity which owns BLC, should invite leisure centre users, to donate their ‘savings’ direct to the charity itself.
My ulterior motive in suggesting this is that, providing our tax bills are sufficient, these donations can then be gift aided; increasing the benefit to the leisure centre, through the trust, by 25 per cent of our donations, courtesy of HMRC.
I hope this might be viewed as a ‘win - win’ proposal; a win for the leisure centre, and a win for us, in that it may then still be here whenever we are permitted to return.
I would extend this advice to users of any facility, but particularly non-profit making, that will suffer from their absence.
NIGEL CARTER
Whitchurch Canonicorum
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