Sir, – It was simply wonderful that Farnham people turned out in such numbers to pay tribute, 50 years on, to Mike Hawthorn. The famous visiting racing drivers, representatives of the town, and the public were able to lay their flowers on a well-kept grave in West Street Cemetery.

The grave was not always so. When we at Farnham in Bloom first noticed the neglected gravestone opposite the greenhouse where we raised our plants it was quickly decided in committee that Mike surely deserved better.

The headstone was occasionally cleaned by cemetery workers and we were touched to find a rose and a message on a card saying: "You're not forgotten, Mike." But we thought the grave should have a matching stone kerb so that we could care for it properly and plant it up in summer with Mike's racing colours and with bulbs etc at other times.

It took about a year to achieve this. Few of the people I contacted knew the whereabouts of the grave until I told them. I managed to speak to his fiancée, who said his favourite flowers were roses and, if I remember rightly, rosemary, which at first we planned to include. For funding, I could find no-one interested in spending the money.

I eventually found Norman Patrick, of Patricks the stonemasons, who had originally designed the headstone. He helped plan the planting area of the grave and the Tourist Trophy Garage in East Street agreed to fund the scheme.

Unfortunately the stonemasons at first made the kerbing too small and it had to be extended as you see it today, creating a fitting tribute to a splendid Farnham man.

Incidentally, the neglected grave of another Farnham notable to whom we should pay proper tribute was that of the architect Harold Falkner. I endeavoured for many years to get someone to pay for the improvement of the sunken grave and its headstone but finally had to concede defeat, though we always used to plant it up.

Madge Green, former chairman of Farnham in Bloom, Fox Yard, Farnham