The exasperation and frustration expressed by Mr Benham (Letters, May 22) reflects the feelings of Hassocks' 700 daily commuters, hundreds of students, dozens of shoppers, theatre-goers and visitors to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty who use the present horrid prefab.

We have waited 35 years for the "railway people" to get concerned about it.

They all say it needs rebuilding but because rail operators, regulators, civil servants and local authorities change chairs with dizzying speed, there is no time for anyone to actually take possession of the project.

It just isn't high enough up their financial or operational agendas. So why not do it ourselves?

We are the inheritors - the "railway children" - of our Victorian forebears.

Surely we have some of their entrepreneurial spirit left? And once we start to raise funds, official purse strings may loosen.

The Hassocks Amenity Association plans to put the builders' ball through the station in 2010.

The greatest help Mr Benham or any other angry local resident can give would be to join our rail group.

Then he would see exactly what time, commitment and pure hard graft people such as Councillor Wilsdon are putting into this project in order to safeguard the future viability of our villages.

-Gina Field, Hassocks Amenity Association, Hurstpierpoint, BN6 9TZ