It was meant as a goodwill gesture ? but a cutback on this year's Christmas Seals has led to a storm of complaints about the sudden demise of a proud festive tradition.

The stamps, which raise thousands of dollars each year for TB Cancer and Health, have been popular with festive card-senders on the Island for at least four decades.

But charity workers decided to cut this year's production by half, from 6,000 seals to 3,000.

Staff said they made the decision because they felt it unfair to ask people to dig into their pockets to buy the stamps after raising so much money for the charity in the past few months.

However, the 3,000 stamps were snapped up so quickly thousands of people have been left high and dry.

The have complained the run-up to the festive season just isn't the same without the famous Christmas Seal on the envelopes they mail to loved ones.

Now charity workers have apologised for underestimating people's affections for the Seals and pledged that from next year they will return to previous levels of production.

Pauline Girling, spokeswoman for TB Cancer and Health, said: "We have been getting phone call after phone call from so many people saying they are disappointed they can't buy Christmas Seals.

"One woman came up to me and said 'how do you think I can send my Christmas cards off now?'

"People have been quite angry. A worker from a post office told me she had been inundated with people saying they wanted to buy Seals. She said she could have made another $500 if she had been able to sell them.

"But we honestly had no idea the tradition was so strong. We really thought we were doing the best thing by everyone because people had been so good donating money over the past few weeks.

"We sat down and discussed it ? we didn't want to get in people's faces and thought we would let the fund-raising take a back seat for a while, and not pressure people into buying too many Seals."

Mrs. Girling said she has now found records of the Christmas Seal dating back to 1960 - and the tradition could have been started even earlier.

She said it began life as a fund-raiser for the charity but over time had also become a Christmas tradition for people across Bermuda. Last year, the campaign raised $12,000.

She said: "We have always had a tremendous amount of support for the Christmas Seals. It's been seen as a token of support from our community.

"I'm told there are people all over the world who ask to be sent Christmas Seals when they come out each year - maybe because they want to add them to their collections.

"But maybe we didn't realise it meant as much to people as it does. It's been a painful lesson to learn, but now we know it's such a strong tradition, we certainly won't be making the same mistake again. I want people to know the Christmas Seals will be back to full strength next year."

Mrs. Girling said more than $270,000 was raised for the charity throughout October - $70,000 more than had been expected.

She said cash came pouring in from a string of events, including sponsored walks and a dress in denim day.

She said: "People seem to want to give generously to us because so many people are affected in some way or other by cancer. We are grateful to all the efforts people make."