I read the letter from Robin White of Stogumber in last week’s Free Press with interest. I also was saddened to see the sorry condition of some of our rural finger posts.

I contacted my parish council on the matter and luckily it had just been notified of the Somerset Fingerpost Restoration Project.

In July, Somerset County Council hosted a series of training workshops, open to all Somerset parishes (I think), to enable and empower interested volunteers to undertake some repair and repainting works themselves to help preserve these assets.

Crowcombe Parish Council widely advertised this initiative with an article in its parish magazine and on its webpage, and displayed posters around the parish.

The county council also dedicated a page of information on the subject on its website, so plans have been afoot for some months to try and deal with finger post condition.

We are surely all aware by now that budgets are extremely tight within local authorities, so if we want to save these posts we should perhaps try and to do something about it ourselves, not just demand action from the county council as the highway authority - that stance offers no solutions.

If we want these posts preserved, we will either have to pay more in council taxes to help fund such ‘nice to have’ projects or those of us who are so inclined need to get out there and become proactive within our immediate community and environment by doing some of the work ourselves, spare time permitting.

If we don’t really care about them that much after all, then I suppose the highway authority could still meet it’s statutory obligation - just remove the rusting/damaged finger posts and replace them with modern compliant lower maintenance metal road signs.

But Somerset County Council has not done that (so far) and is instead seeking help from within the parishes to keep the posts in good order as far as is practicable; subject to resource, safety requirements and financial limitations.

Please, let’s not just sit back and expect other organisations or individuals to get things done for us. If we all say “It’s not down to me” then we probably deserve to lose some of the things we like and value about living in Somerset.

Volunteers who want to join the project can e mail [email protected] to find out more.

Having driven through a parish near Wimbleball Lake a few times recently, it looks like an initiative is well underway in this area, with several smart newly painted posts on display.

M Reinholds, Crowcombe Heathfield.