AS one who has contributed to your columns on a variety of subjects for many years, it would certainly never have occurred to me to declare a family connection ("Letter writer should have declared his relationship", P9, Evening News, Friday, October 15).

Perhaps, at some time, I should have mentioned that a member of my family holds a responsible position at Buckingham Palace, and that another is an eminent musician, yet another a naval officer closely associated with Prince Charles.

Oh yes, we can claim two MBEs and an OBE as well as a distinguished bellringing record.

They are rarely relevant to the argument and we are not in the habit of bragging about them all the time.

In my 28 years as a Worcester City Council Estate Officer at Dines Green and elsewhere, I came to know many people living in the catchment area of Christopher Whitehead School and to understand their problems.

They are far more numerous than the vociferous minority in the immediate vicinity of the school and go well beyond the boundaries of St John' s. As one who contributed considerably towards the purchase of the site of Christopher Whitehead School, I feel strongly that we should now capitalise on our enhanced asset, rather than pour money into retaining an inadequate facility for the benefit not of the children of the catchment area, but the Nimbys of St John's.

JOHN HINTON,

Worcester.