already drawn favourable comment in Letters to the Editor. The $50,000 spent on playground equipment is a contribution of cash collected by the Bermuda Junior Service League. Youngsters are already taking advantage of the equipment.

The location of the equipment next to the busy Shelly Bay Beach seems to us to be ideal for children, coupled as it is with the shallow water which makes Shelly Bay very much a children's beach. Government offered the Junior Service League three sites and they chose Shelly Bay which was prepared for the playground by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Parks.

This is another example of the solid and highly valuable contributions made to Bermuda by charities and, especially, by women's charities. It is often difficult to imagine just where Bermuda would be without the contribution made by these groups. The Shelly Bay playground is just the latest example of what people give freely to Bermuda.

A recent PALS fair was another case in point. A large group of people, almost all women, were working hard to provide funds for the care of cancer patients in Bermuda. The Patients Assistance League and Service provides home care along with assistance and service to people in this community who suffer from cancer. The work they do is very sensitive, very personal, and of extraordinary benefit to their patients.

There is a long tradition of women giving to Bermuda. Such things as parish welfare societies grew into the "Pink Ladies'', or Women's Hospitals Auxiliary, without which Bermuda's hospitals would be the poorer in terms of labour, cash and facilities. The thousands of hours given by Pink Ladies and by young girl Candy Stripers set an example of which many of us are in awe.

We use the Junior Service League, PALS and the Women's Hospitals Auxiliary as examples not to single them out from the large number of other groups and individuals who contribute to Bermuda and Bermudians, but simply to point out the kind of thing which is done and can be done by people who are contributors.

Add to all of this the tremendous number of efforts which support specific events. Large numbers of people, mostly women, sell tags on tag days each month in Hamilton and any number of other tag days in the parishes. Every Saturday there are bake sales about the Country to support a wide range of public efforts. Generally it is women who bake. When such efforts as these are considered along with the unceasing efforts which go into the churches, the schools and a multitude of groups which benefit young people, it is easy to see that contributing is the Bermuda way.

We doubt if there is any other country in the world where so much effort is given so freely. Collectively we must be thankful for the efforts of the individual. Individually we should be happy that we live in a place where contributing is a part of life.