Letters: From moonlit wonder and AI to a royal welcome for a Telford fundraiser

PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: Greeting two young fundraisers and their four-legged companions at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II chats warmly with Rachel Dancer from Telford (centre), and Holly Smith from Sheffield. The dedicated pair completed an extraordinary walk all the way from Balmoral in Scotland to London to raise funds for the Michael Elliott Trust animal sanctuary. Pictured alongside their donkeys, Joshua and Tinker, the young women earned a memorable royal reception following their gruelling cross-country journey. The heartwarming moment captures the spirit of charity endurance and a unique royal encounter outside the palace grounds. | ©PA

placeholder image — PICTURE FROM THE ARCHIVE: Greeting two young fundraisers and their four-legged companions at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II chats warmly with Rachel Dancer from Telford (centre), and Holly Smith from Sheffield. The dedicated pair completed an extraordinary walk all the way from Balmoral in Scotland to London to raise funds for the Michael Elliott Trust animal sanctuary. Pictured alongside their donkeys, Joshua and Tinker, the young women earned a memorable royal reception following their gruelling cross-country journey. The heartwarming moment captures the spirit of charity endurance and a unique royal encounter outside the palace grounds. | ©PA

Readers share their thoughts on very different subjects - one recalls a childhood moment of wonder, while another takes a humorous look at artificial intelligence and football loyalties

Once You’ve Seen The Moon

Once you’ve seen the moon look down

And the streetlight’s glow upon the privet

- The humble privet hedges of the town -

You know you will be hard pressed to leave it;

One night of frost a spell was cast;

A small boy was held in wonder -

Revealed to him, the Spirit of Place

As he walked hand in hand with his mother

His mother, who merely wished for home

For warming fire and tea

Remained unaware that beside her, her son

Was rapt in mystery

Something had stolen into him

‘Adventure’ was the word that sprang to mind

But that was a very weak synonym

For something he could never leave behind

For that moment would remain a part of him

For as long as his heart held a beat

And even now you may see an old man standing

In the spot where it happened on the street

A far away look, he may be wearing

As he travels back in time to meet the boy

Who walked with his mother one cold evening

And suddenly became ‘surprised by joy’

And yes I’ve seen the moon look down

And the streetlight’s glow upon the privet

- The humble privet hedges of the town –

And I would be hard pressed to leave it.

Alan Jones, Midlands

AI computer is fan of Gunners

By the spaghetti of wires that were attached in the 1940s to Colossus, the first large scale programmable computer, this development of AI needs watching.

Uncle Norbert and I have first hand experience of the concern it can cause when our great niece, Boudicca, visited us with her enhanced AI computer. Ask it anything she told us, so we decided to ask it how will the football team that we support, Tottenham Hotspur, get on in the Premier League this year. It answered, "Rubbish, stop supporting them and switch to Arsenal!" With that I had to restrain Uncle Norbert from attacking the machine.

At least it proved that this version of AI is nowhere near human with an illogical allegiance of loyalty to a football club.

Peter Steggles, Rushbury

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