I'm afraid serpents are a bit thin on the ground in Hailsham to effectively tackle C Wadey's Mark 16:18 Christian challenge and "take one up" (Letters, January 4).

I'm also teetotal these days so am definitely out of practice for the other Gospel requisite, drinking poison.

I did, however, get entangled by a couple of roving reptiles in Tangiers 28 years ago - having imbibed a particularly "deadly" Moroccan brew shortly before - and lived to tell the tale.

Fortunately, my dreadful Dave Hill (of Slade) hairstyle did not.

-William Fraser, Summerheath Road, Hailsham