I AM getting increasingly sick of seeing services to Dales communities cut. The latest is the good work done over many years by the Richmond-based charity Community and Voluntary Action (RCVA) (D&S Times, Mar 24).

Not only did the charity do all the things the chairman listed in the article, but it also provided an invaluable service to small, local community groups throughout the Dales which needed equipment to enable speakers to give talks.

Winter evenings in the Dales villages are enlivened by presentations such as those given to the Bellerby Study Group and the Yoredale Natural History Society.

While some speakers talk eloquently without slides to reinforce their words, the majority need a projector and laptop as they just bring along a memory stick. Groups have been able to hire such equipment for an affordable fee from RCVA.

These evenings, as well as being educational, have a social benefit with the chance to have a cup of tea, a homemade cake and a chat after the talk.

I had imagined when I first heard the bad news that we would be able to continue as before, but with the new group. I then asked where it would be based and was told it would be in York.

That leaves me wondering how many of the small village groups will be able to continue with their talks come this September when the winter season begins.

Yoredale Natural History Society is borrowing from the RCVA one last time for its talk tonight in Leyburn Methodist Church Hall on butterflies tonight at 7.30pm.

Sheila Simms, chairwoman, Bellerby Study Group, Leyburn