It has been mentioned to me on a couple of occasions that it is the same people whose names regularly appear in the letters page of the Adver.

On finishing my shopping in the Co-op in Old Town, I sat in the coffee shop having a cup of tea and on the table next to me were a man and a woman who made the same comment.

On hearing this, I decided to compile a list of names who contributed letters from 14 February to 14 March (25 copies).

In those 25 copies there were 174 letters published by 119 writers. Of those, 93 correspondents had one letter published while the others had two or more published.

There were a wide range of issues written about, including ‘HIV poverty links’ by Sophie Mambwe of February 26, ‘Toffs out of touch’ by Max Nottingham of February 21 and ‘Origins of murder’ by T E Jones of March 7.

Letters on politics dominated with more than 50 and religion was next with 11. Leading the way in letter writing were Bill Williams (nine), Des Morgan (seven) and C J Meek (five). I myself had two, plus a joint letter with my brother Mark.

So, is it the same names that appear regularly? That’s for the readers to decide.

Some readers would probably have thought that some letters were of a trivial nature and what is the point of writing such material? People are free to write about what they want, providing it’s written within the law.

Thanks to the editor for allowing the letters on many issues to be published and thanks to the 119 who, without them knowing, enabled me to compile the list.

The letter pages of the Adver can make for some very interesting reading.

Martin Webb, Swindon Road, Swindon