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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Letters

Blackhall Colliery benefactor has a literary precursor

Detective Constable John Forster of Durham Police in Blackhall Colliery, where bundles of cash have been mysteriously turning up on the streets.
Detective Constable John Forster of Durham police in Blackhall Colliery, where bundles of cash have been mysteriously turning up on the streets. Photograph: Richard Saker/The Observer

I was intrigued by the story about the hidden deposits of cash discovered in a County Durham pit village (Are the people of Blackhall Colliery the most honest in Britain?, 20 November). Maybe the secret benefactor is a fan of the Irish author Niall Williams. In his beautiful novel As It Is in Heaven, Williams writes of Philip, a retired tailor who is dying of cancer and who makes a pact with God to give him more time on Earth to support his lonely son in the development of a love affair with an Italian violinist. Over a period of a few months, Philip withdraws several thousand pounds from the bank and deposits caches of £20 notes under railings in Dublin.

May the people of Blackhall Colliery be allowed to enjoy the beneficence that has come their way this Christmas. And may their benefactor find what he is seeking.
Sue Hoar
Milland, West Sussex

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