A village divided about stopping the heat wave

SIR – In a previous dry spell we at St Botolph’s said together the Prayer for Rain from the Book of Common Prayer (Letters, July 25). Lo and behold, it rained for weeks.

Word got round the village and at the Bricklayer’s Arms a parishioner took me aside and pleaded: “Rector, please stop praying.”

Last Sunday as people were coming into church, I floated the idea of saying the prayer again.

Jean, a farmer’s wife, was keen. But from the rest it was a very firm No. They were thinking of the children about to start their holidays.

So far the enjoyment of fair weather is winning out and we’re keeping the big bazooka in reserve. Rev Chris Smith

Chevening, Kent

SIR – I’ve been waiting over 40 years for a repeat of the hot, dry and fun summer of 1976. Now it’s finally arrived, please let me enjoy it without the hysterical rhetoric of the climatechange lobby and the nanny-state proclamations of Public Health England. Roger Gentry

Sutton at Hone, Kent SIR – You do horse-flies a disservice (report, July 16). They would not deign to breed in garden paddling pools.

Our nation’s 30 or so kinds of horse-fly are wetland connoisseurs and, as such, standard bearers for the ecological health of our mires, fens and grazing marshes.

In truth, many are endangered and deserve appreciation, alongside our beloved bees and butterflies. This won’t bring solace to victims of their bites, but we should be more sanguine about their summer presence. Dr Richard Smith

York

SIR – A benefit of the heat wave – in our garden at least – is the total absence, for many weeks, of slugs. Alan Thomas

Caerphilly, Glamorgan SIR – I followed Olivia Goldhill’s advice (telegraph.co.uk July 24) about placing a bowl of ice water in front of a floor fan as a means of keeping cool.

Sadly our two American cocker spaniels ate the ice cubes and drank the water. At least they were cooler. Brenda Boyd

Weybridge, Surrey