YOUR columnist Joe Willis has told of his experience with modern day toasters (A Dales Life, July 19). As a youngster, I had a special, long-handled wire fork that made excellent toast when held against a red hot fire for tea – but a newly-lit fire in the morning was no good for toasting.

A friend of mine, whose wife made her own homemade marmalade, would often tell how he always enjoyed breakfast when he had her marmalade on toast.

Douglas Punchard, Helmsley.