HOW great to see Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino on your front page today ("Meet Team Woods", The Herald, July 12) getting ready to celebrate the 150th Open Golf Championship, and of course Nicklaus being awarded the freedom of St Andrews.

I was born in 1948, and from 1950 until the start of the 1970s, my mum and dad booked a house in Crail for the month of July, and they took me and my sister there every year – even when we got older, we still managed to find time to visit Mum and Dad in Crail for a long weekend or a few days during July. Such happy memories. My dad was a bowler, but every time an Open Championship took place in St Andrews, he took three weeks off his work at Rolls-Royce in Hillington, so that the first week of his holidays could be taken to watch the golf. I remember Dad telling me that when he went through early to St Andrews, on the few days before the actual tournament, he would choose one or two golfers and follow them round the Old Course – no security, very friendly both with the spectators and the competitors, a completely different world in which we lived in those days.

But back to Jack Nicklaus in 1970, when Doug Sanders was leading on the last day of that year's Open, and Mum, Dad and myself had fantastic seats at the 18th green, and therefore saw every golfer who had lasted until the last day. Nicklaus was right behind Sanders. Dad and I decided that we needed to visit the toilet, and struggled out of our seats, visited a loo in a local hotel, and when we got back to our stand, I managed to climb up some scaffolding to get in again to our seats. Mum asked where Dad was, and I said he would be coming. Well, he never appeared much to Mum's annoyance, and slight worry too I suppose.

The time came for Sanders to approach the green, and the tension was palpable, and suddenly I shouted to Mum: "There's Dad!", and it was him all right, as part of the security stewards keeping the crowd back from Sanders as he approached the 18th green. And so the three of us – Mum and myself from the comfort of our seats and Dad as part of the security team at the edge of the green, witnessed Sanders missing his famous 24-30in putt which denied him winning the greatest golf tournament in 1970, forcing him to return the following day to play Nicklaus in the first ever 18-hole play-off for the Claret Jug – which Nicklaus, of course, won.

Happy memories, but admittedly not for Doug Sanders.

Walter Paul, Glasgow.

FOLLOW THIS LEAD TO HELP REFUGEES

I NOTE that North Lanarkshire Council has halted the demolition of two tower blocks and, with financial support from the Scottish Government, it is then going to refurbish them to accommodate up to 200 Ukrainian refugees ("Scottish local authority to bring 200 homes into use for Ukrainian refugees", The Herald, July 11). Independently of this, a cruise ship has been hired by the Government to berth in Leith as the refugee super sponsorship initiative has been seriously oversubscribed. This will be able to host 700 refugees as an interim facility.

Surely other councils must be able to do similar, in fact my own council, North Ayrshire, is about to demolish approximately six blocks of flats in the Garnock Valley's three towns and I wonder if they would follow this lead and, in turn, be supported in like manner. I wholeheartedly support this initiative and wonder if our Government could perhaps extend it to help the homeless throughout Scotland.

George Dale, Beith.

• IT was very moving to hear the stories of Ukrainian refugees on the BBC1 Countryfile programme on Sunday evening. This

made me think about the Ukrainian families who have come to Scotland. When they hear about the discontent of Scots being part of the UK, they may wonder what all the fuss is about.

With major world problems facing us at the moment, including the developing global food crisis and the likelihood of an extended

war in Eastern Europe, it seems to me that the case for Indyref2 should remain very far down the list of priorities.

Jim Morris, Strathblane.

BANKS SHOULD JOIN WITH SHOPS

I COULD not agree more with Catriona C Clark (Letters, July 12). In rural areas especially, because of bank closures, access to cash can prove a big problem.

But the banks are not losing money, simply trying to increase profits for themselves and their shareholders. That may appear OK for a certain sector of society, but it's not good for ordinary customers, the homeless or charities, because people who don't carry cash any more are no longer donating.

I have access to cash machines in Glasgow. But I find myself embarrassed when I can't throw a coin into the hat of a promising musician in Argyll Street or Buchanan Street, because I have become attuned to paying everything by card.

It's also too easy to "swipe" and not keep a track on your spending. That can prove costly.

Why can't banks do as the Post Office has done: join forces with local shops and secure a space in the corner?

Let's splash the cash, bankers. You are going to make so much from selling your soon-to-be-redundant premises in towns and villages around Scotland you'll have money to burn.

Andy Stenton, Glasgow.

WHY SHOULD THE ANIMALS SUFFER?

I WRITE to agree with the the letter from Fiona McSeveny (July 9) saying that animal experimentation should be ended.

Most cancers are caused by the toxins in everything we eat, drink and breathe. The toxins are added to our processed food by the food industry, making us sick, so why should animals be tortured when the problems are caused by humankind?

Margaret Forbes, Blanefield.

BBC'S DISDAIN FOR SCOTLAND

IT is an indication of the contempt with which the BBC holds Scotland and its Scottish viewers, when the lunchtime news (July 11) has been shortened to 15 minutes and the BBC News at One overruns into the first five minutes of Reporting Scotland. Disgraceful.

Francis Deigman, Erskine.

STOPPING TIME

MY favourite clippie story (Letters, July 11 & 12) is a Dundee one.

When the tram stopped, a following car slammed into the back of it and the clippie leaned out and shouted: “Hoo d’ye stoap yer motor when there’s nae caurs?”

P Davidson, Falkirk.