Joy of chess keeps dark times in check | Brief letters

Eyewitness photo | A forpit of potatoes | Milli-Helens | UK nuclear weapons | Say it’s not Serco

Flicking through the paper, I remarked that it was all bad news and upsetting items. Then I came across the centrefold photograph taken in Erzurum, Turkey and found myself close to tears. Young and old chess players together in a coffee house. What a great picture.
Carol Taylor
Darley Dale, Derbyshire

• Regarding unusual measurements (Letters, 15 March) my Scottish mother used to send me to the local Co-op to purchase a forpit of potatoes: a fourth part of a stone, ie three and a half pounds. The cost in 1950 was thruppence, compared to £1.60 for the same weight of spuds today.
Dr Allan Dodds
Bramcote, Nottinghamshire