Don’t fret, there’s life in the old sugar tongs yet

sir – Jane Shilling speculates that her mother’s sugar tongs are the last working pair in existence (Comment, December 11).

Readers may be interested to know that tongs are used all the time in my son’s tea room on the Isle of Wight. Customers don’t always know what they are, but this doesn’t stop them taking them as souvenirs. Sandra Crawley

Shanklin, Isle of Wight sir – At the end of the Nineties, I showed my reception class a pair of silver sugar tongs and asked if anyone knew what they were for.

A hand shot up and one of the children said: “For getting teabags out of mugs.”

I knew then that the future of these tools was assured, albeit for a different, though allied, purpose. Erica Barrett

Hastings, East Sussex