Field days
Sir: As a supplement to the fine article by Alexandra Artley on the Foundling Hos- pital (21 October), it may be appropriate to recall the valiant and finally successful struggle in the 1920s and 1930s to save the grounds from development after the de- molition of the Hospital.
It is a shocking thought that Coram's Fields might have been built over, as they so nearly were. The general public was less aware of such dangers as they would be now, and it took a great voluntary effort to raise the large sum of money to acquire the site and establish its controlled use mainly for local schoolchildren.
Many people helped financially and in- terested themselves in the scheme, but two deserve to be especially remembered: Mrs G. M. Trevelyan and Miss Dorothy Ward (the daughters of Mrs Humphry Ward) who worked tirelessly to obtain donations' and to co-ordinate the plan.
Not only have Coram's Fields remained open, but they have been of benefit to very many young people, not least during the second world war. The generous heart of Captain Thomas Coram would have been delighted.
F. H. C. Tatham
27 Montacute Road, Lewes, East Sussex
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