Debbie Southall, of Longford Lane, Kingsteignton, writes:

I read with interest the article re the proposed sale of the St John Ambulance hall in Ashburton.

The same thing happened to Newton Abbot St John Ambulance in 2012, which had been in the town since 1895.

I was a member for 19 years being Divisional Superintendent for the last eight years. I had a dedicated group of well trained and active members and we were busy covering many local events particularly during the summer months, providing high quality first- aid cover at local events from school fetes to major town events and even Widecombe Fair.

The hall, being an old building, needed much maintainenance but we had a considerable bank balance which had been earmarked for such an event.

On application to County Headquarters for permission to start enquiries into renovation work we were eventually advised that it would be better to think about a new site more suited to our needs.

My search failed to find anything suitable. It was then suggested that a new building be purchased on the outskirts of Torquay to serve ourselves plus Torquay Paignton and Totnes Divisions with much more space, parking and a modern feel.

We eventually agreed with reservations. We were told that this would take several months to find a suitable site and building.

A few weeks later I received a phone call on my answer machine to say a buyer had been found for our building. We were to be out of the building in three weeks and as members we should go and join other divisions.

We felt that this was not the way to treat dedicated volunteers and we resigned en masse after sorting through valuable artefacts and taking them to Newton Abbot Museum for storage and future display. Everything else was claimed by County Headquarters, including our ambulance and our considerable bank balance.

To me it felt like an insult to 19 years of service. Being superintendent was like having a part-time unpaid job, spending almost every weekend on duty during at least half of the year.

The hall in East Street is now a very smart dance studio. Its like we never existed. How sad.