With the arrival of a new video store in Brooklyn, we asked you to tell us about your most memorable anecdotes

After a film had been in the cinema but before a film was on general sale (also called ‘Home Release’) there would be a window of perhaps a few months where the retail price of a single VHS tape would be about £100 [$133]. In a world of digital media that now feels mad, but it was obviously profitable for the rental shops to buy tapes at that price.

​Readers share their ​favourite experiences that benefit local people, including community cottages in Northern Ireland, an anti-mafia tour of Palermo​ and an eco project in Ecuador

Global Mamas, in the port town of Elmina, creates financial prosperity for local women through the production of handcrafted goods using traditional techniques. We joined them at a batik workshop, where Mavis Thompson showed us how to dip our chosen designs into melted wax, and stamp a length of cream cotton. After dyeing the fabric using natural pigments, we plunged it into boiling water to remove the wax. As the cotton had to be sun-dried between each stage, we sat on low stools and watched the other Global Mamas produce larger, more complex designs. Our vibrantly coloured tablecloths are a reminder of a happy afternoon with Mavis and the mamas.
Helen Jackson