Following the meeting of committee and volunteers at Sheila's house last month, we have taken the plunge and reformatted our newsletter with the results you can see.

It is our hope that this smaller, A5, format will lend itself more readily to bookshelves, pockets and handbags, making it more accessible, as well as giving it a longer shelf life.

Needless to say, without interesting content, this is pointless, so we are hoping for contributions from all sources into the future - not just the usual old suspects. If any reader would like to contribute anything - picture, story, article, news, announcement, letter, puzzle, competition - or even to publicise other events, please let Sheila Harris know. For example, we have included references to Merton Historical Society and National Trust dates in the For Your Diary section. Next issue, provisionally, will be in September with a deadline of 31 August.

If this proves popular, we will include in future issues a pull out in standard diary size, which repeats Museum contact details, and the diary events we hope you will attend, in a form you may find useful to keep in your diary.

On a more general, and disappointing note, whilst the signing of the lease on Ravensbury Mill moves ever closer, we have had another set back in our application for Lottery Funds. Full details next newsletter, but it looks like we will have to go it alone, in stages, and will probably be the stronger for it.