I was delighted to see your story about Robert Wadlow (Herald and Post, May 14). Before relocating to Farnham, I spent the first 25 years of my life in Brighton, Illinois - named after Brighton, Massachusetts, itself named after Brighton in Sussex.

Brighton is a very small town nine miles from Alton, Illinois. Alton was the major centre for us growing up: where we shopped and where my secondary school jobs were, including work at a local restaurant and hotel.

Alton, Illinois, is an extraordinarily historic city with several important moments that put it on the map. Apart from being the home of Robert Wadlow - who died aged 22 from an infection related to his gigantism - it was also home to Elijah Lovejoy, an American abolitionist and minister who published anti-slavery newspapers and was eventually murdered by a pro-slavery mob. He was the first minister at the now-closed College Avenue Presbyterian Church, which I attended as a child.

Another fascinating piece of local folklore is the Piasa Bird. French priest and explorer Jacques Marquette is said to have seen a depiction of the terrifying creature in 1673 while travelling along the Mississippi River.

It was described as a strange mythical beast comprised of several different animals, in a style reminiscent of Greek mythology, and was purportedly created by a local Native American tribe. My high school appropriated the animal as its mascot, and I contend it is the most unique school mascot in the world.

Beyond its role in the abolition movement, Alton also played an important part in the American Civil War era. It hosted a Confederate prison where prisoners of war were held in extremely poor conditions, and shortly before the war it hosted the final Lincoln-Douglas debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during their Senate campaign - one of the defining political contests of the period and a factor in accelerating the breaking up of the Union as it culminated in Lincoln’s election.

It has been great to see the parallels drawn. Last year I visited Jane Austen’s house in Chawton and have also read quite a bit about the Roman history of Alton in Hampshire.

What struck me most, though, was that both Altons seem to have found themselves close to the fault lines of civil conflict.

Alton, Illinois, sat directly on the divide between free and slave states during the American Civil War era, hosting both abolitionist agitation and later a Confederate prison camp. Meanwhile Alton in Hampshire was also touched by civil war, with the nearby Battle of Alton at the beginning of the English Civil War marking a Parliamentary victory over Royalist forces.

Both towns also grew around important transport routes - one shaped by the Mississippi River, the other by the coaching roads and rail lines of southern England - which perhaps explains why both became connected to moments of outsized historical importance.

Clearly the name carries a great deal of historical weight on both sides of the Atlantic.

Brian Sztukowski

Farnham

It’s been our fate since Hunt was our MP and now we’re 15 months in,

The Georgian splendour which once was Castle Street is just a cluttered mass of cones and council vans and no-go signs,

The traffic lights are out of sync and so pedestrians hurl themselves across the road at will,

And all the motorists can do is sit and fume and pray, mostly in vain, the lights will change,

Or they’ll be on a warning when they’re late for work.

It was inevitable, of course, contractors would run out of fancy-smanchy paving blocks before the job was done,

But that’s the best you get for £16 million and blotchy lumps of Tarmac take their place to plug the gaps,

While we stand by in disbelief and gape.

Today, the local protest groups are out in force in anoraks and scarves. Marooned in a morass of potholes and protruding pipes,

They wave their clipboards at us in the hope that we’ll endorse their plea to save the shops.

Tonight a squad of blokes in helmets and hi-vis will take their place, their job to rearrange the orange signs and reconstruct the maze so, in the morning,

It will be impossible to tell if a new route will lead to Elphicks or to certain death.

Hilary Hares

Farnham

Is anyone else wondering about the logic behind the grass verge cutting programme currently happening in and around Farnham?

The grass is no more than about six to eight inches high so is in no way a hazard to motorists, and bearing in mind that it includes wild flowers which support our diminishing insect population I just do not understand why money is being spent in this way - money that could be spent on fixing the copious quantities of potholes in Surrey.

I was more incensed about this senseless act than the big traffic jams caused by the closure of a lane to accommodate the crews - of which there were many - carrying out the works.

I imagine the council, when asked about it, will come back with some lame comment about health and safety, so I didn't bother contacting them.

Bev Ward

Acacia Gardens

Farnham

Traditionally, the MP who is vice-chamberlain of the household is held hostage at the palace while the sovereign opens the new session at the state opening of parliament.

The electorate made clear its views on May 7. Sir Keir Starmer should spend some time as hostage at the palace, in lieu of the vice-chamberlain, while someone better suited to the role of prime minister is found.

In truth, it matters not where Starmer is held hostage, but he must be replaced so that no longer is our country held hostage to decent governance by his litany of failed policies and U-turns.

Lester May

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Camden Town