Now that the year is coming to a close, we wish to formally thank you for having the confidence to publish our weekly column 'Faces in the Street' in The Grenfell Record for the past six months. When we first raised the idea with you, it took a great leap of faith by you to commit space in the Grenfell Record each week without knowing whether there would be ongoing interest in the concept by the reading public.

We explained the background to you, and you made a courageous decision based on the concept. Margery, who grew up on the Main Street, loved the people who were part of her life and gave so much to the Grenfell community, and wished to make a lasting record of their contribution in this Sesquicentennial year before the details were lost.  Alison, a friend of Margery's from childhood, supported the idea and helped the project develop. Alison also has deep ties to Grenfell, with her father being part of the Main Street for six years, having come to Grenfell to work in the Commonwealth Bank following active service in the RAAF in New Guinea and the Philippines. It was on the Main Street that Kevin Thomas met Hazel Shone, who was descended from one of the early settler families in the area, married, and had three children Lloyd, Douglas and Alison. Alison, in deciding to move to Grenfell with husband David eighteen months ago, is returning to be part of the long family connection with Grenfell. The articles took their name from Henry Lawson's poem, 'Faces in the Street.' This poem by Henry has a different message to the tone and intent of the column presented.  The Main Street 'faces in the street', far from drifting past with aimless, weary feet as in the poem, ran, jumped and embraced life as part of an energetic, dynamic and focussed community, looking forward with enthusiasm to the future. Each week, Ngaire, you showed endless patience while we worked out word limits with you, tracked down photos, and called on you many times to try another template so that 'the face' would be publicised in the best way. Not once did you lose that patience or be anything but totally encouraging and supportive. We thank you so much for helping us so significantly with this project. We have a number of incomplete articles, and 'faces' still to be interviewed. To finish the project so that it becomes a lasting testament to Main Street identities, we will continue collecting histories next year, with a view to compiling a book in the future. Could we ask, through the Record, for those who wish to further contribute to the project, to email either Margery.nicoll@gmail.com or alirum@bigpond.com.

Thanks so much, Ngaire.

Yours sincerely,

Margery Nicoll and

Alison Rumps.