David Lidington (Letters, December 13) is right to remind us all of the importance of local businesses in Buckinghamshire. It is indeed a dynamic sector which needs help to thrive.

The same can also be said for the local voluntary and community sector. In the same way that local people are entrepreneurial in their business dealings, so they are enterprising and enthusiastic in their response to local community needs. Buckinghamshire has twice as many registered charities, let alone unregistered charities and not-for-profit social enterprises, per head of population than the national average.

We know from recent research carried out by the Community Foundation that only 37 per cent of all our charitable giving stays in Buckinghamshire groups. We ‘export’ 63 per cent of our donations to national and international causes. When the county council is facing some tough decisions about the budgets for local communities (BFP, Page 2, December 13), local charities need all the help they can get, especially when they don’t have the marketing budgets that are more common among larger national and international causes.

So, while each of us is doing all we can to buy our Christmas presents locally to support businesses, can I encourage your readers also to remember, in this season of goodwill and generosity, the financial needs of charities too? Please, let’s think local and give local!

Richard Dickson, Director, Buckinghamshire Community Foundation