I recently visited your beautiful island in August, 1998 and stayed at the St.

George's Club. The reason I stayed there in particular is because I am a timeshare owner, and prefer the additional comfort and options that timeshare properties provide. As a timeshare owner, I have been able to see and stay at many beautiful locations around the world with many diverse options in accommodations. I was saddened to hear of the decline in tourism in Bermuda, and felt it might be beneficial to provide you with the following input.

Let me begin to compliment you on the cleanliness and natural beauty of your island. The people of Bermuda were wonderful throughout our stay and went out of their way to help us with our different arrangements. I am primarily a timeshare traveller, and was disappointed there were not more resorts to exchange with on your island. Although St. George's Club was nice it was not the true on-the-beach experience we prefer when vacationing. I think Bermuda is missing out on the volume and market of the timeshare industry by not having more properties available to exchange with. I did inquire about this and it was said that some of the regulations make it difficult to establish a resort property. I would love to return to your lovely island but St. George only allows trades every four years and is quite frankly too far from the beach. Your property at the Hamiltonian is not really preferred either because of the distance from the beach, and making it necessary to rely on public transportation for just about everywhere you want to go. Transportation being a big issue on your island can be mitigated if you increase your timeshare on-the-beach resorts. With the hectic busy lives most people nowadays endure, the desired resorts are those that have all the amenities with the most important being the beach. Not having to go anywhere in a car, bus or plane has great appeal when you are choosing resorts.

I do hope you re-evaluate your position on timeshare properties. If you had a beachside exchange, I guarantee you I would be back there this summer. Many of the Caribbean islands afford many choices of timeshare properties to choose from, I reside in California but would be more than willing to travel the distance to Bermuda, if I could use my timeshare exchange privileges with more properties to choose from. I propose that you probably are losing a lot of revenue by excluding the timeshare industry.

I want to personally thank Anne and Conrad Engelhardt for their hospitality.

My mother, daughter, and I visited Bermuda initially because my grandparents had honeymooned there in the 1920s at the Inverurie Hotel. My mother had always longed to see the property. Through the assistance of the library, Janice Ingemann at the Bridge House Art Gallery and Jill Raine of St.

George's, we were able to locate and meet the former owners of the Palm Reef Hotel formerly the Inverurie Hotel. We had a lovely visit to their home where we heard all about the marvellous Inverurie Hotel. We saw pictures of the former hotel, and were given a true vision of what it was like for my grandparents. My grandparents passed away many years ago. Our visit to delightful Bermuda, allowed us to share and cherish a piece of the past with them; and to share memories of their hearts in an era gone by.

In closing, my family will treasure the visit to lovely Bermuda, and we will pray that more people will be able to experience your island the way we did.

Opening it up to timeshare travel would in our opinion, be a positive step in improving your economy and gaining a very valuable market. If you do print this, I would appreciate a copy of the issue it appears in. Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts.

LYN MOULTON Laguna Hills, California Passing the torch March 9, 1999 Dear Sir, In 1979, a group of ladies, led and inspired by Dame Marjorie Bean, organised the Committee of Six to raise money for worthy causes. The ladies were Dr.

Norma Astwood, Mrs. Mimi Caviezel, Mrs. Dorothea King, Lady Sharpe and Mrs.

Margaret Wheatley. They held a Springtime Coffee Morning at the Bermudiana Hotel and thus was born the tradition. In the early years the Committee held a cocktail reception and a golf tournament, but by 1983, the focus became the very popular Coffee Mornings. There have been 18 of these, attended by many generous guests. $140,000 has been raised and distributed to over 45 local charities.

We, the present Committee, have decided that the time has come to pass the torch to another group and are very pleased that the Kardias Club has agreed to take over the tradition. Their charitable aims are compatible with those of the Committee of Six. In retiring, we would like to publicly to thank the many people who have over the years contributed to the success of these Coffee Mornings: The hotels for their generous hospitality -- the Bermudiana, the Castle Harbour, the Elbow Beach, the Sonesta and particularly the Southampton Princess, our home for the past ten years.

The local businesses for generously providing our raffle prizes.

Those people who have shared their talent to entertain us.

Elsbeth Gibson (who is almost a member of our Committee) and her models for the wonderful fashion shows and the shops for providing the fashions.

All the generous people who came to the Coffee Mornings and whose loyal support made it all possible.

We hope the Community will continue to support this function and give to the Kardias Club the encouragement we have always received.

We wish the Kardias Club well and look forward to many more Springtime Coffee Mornings.

MARJORIE BEAN, GLORIA ASTWOOD, LOUISE JACKSON, MARGARET LLOYD, EILEEN SHARPE, PENNY TERCEIRA Amusement park March 11, 1999 Dear Sir, I'm a Bermudian, and I'm writing this letter because I'm concerned with what the Government is doing with the land where the American Base was stationed, before it closed. It will be a shame if the Government put another golf course there. There are enough golf courses in Bermuda as it is and I feel that we don't really need any more. Too many people in the community complain that our young people are always on the streets doing nothing, making too much noise, breaking the law and things of that nature.

Here's my suggestion. Why not build a smaller version of an amusement park for our young people to enjoy, and maybe not even just them, but some mature people might enjoy it also. It could consist of Bumper Cars; a Merry-go Round; Food stands; Fun Karts; a House of Mirrors, that make your body look configured, Mini-Motos, and others. This in turn could open up jobs for our young people. They could be the ones serving the customers, handing out tickets for the rides and things of that nature. This in turn may cause them to become responsible young men and women, and it will give them a sense of pride in what they are doing, and also in the country in which they live.

The Ministry of Tourism is always commenting on the fact that Bermudians are always going abroad to spend money, so why not have something here for us to enjoy, so we will want to stay. The Ministry sometimes become so focused on catering to the tourists who visit, why not cater to your own, so they can stay here and spend money and not always go abroad to do it.

A CONCERNED BERMUDIAN Southampton