RECENTLY I was told by friends of mine from Ruardean about trouble at the Memorial Hall and so I was interested to read the front page of the Review.

The Darby and Joan Club are very upset and I must say that after studying your report that it is easy to understand their anger and dismay towards the attitude taken by the committee, especially when describing a cherished and historic work as 'clutter,' 'not fitting the image of the hall' and would 'ruin the decor' if rehung.

I can't help wondering about the psychology behind this, for although one of the reasons given (ie the wall is damp therefore a risk to the picture), my friends tell me that the framed cloth has been in situ for the last 10 years on that wall – 'and not a blemish on it;' also if the committee are worried that putting it back in its place 'might limit the use of the hall for wedding receptions,' one wonders – why?

Surely the signatures of some of the Darby and Joan members' mothers who were founder-members in 1955 ought to be a reassuring sign of continuity and stability (if their offspring are still honouring memories of the departed) – as an increasingly uncertain future approaches in the hands of those in power that is beyond their capabilities to cope with the same (many at Whitehall and now, it seems, at Ruardean).

Nationwide, there appears to be a growing agenda to destroy any vestige of heritage, sell off the family silver and, in this particular case locally (insult piled on insult) suggest that anything these committee-members do not care for themselves, ought to be concealed behind drawn curtains, hung out the back or displayed at the local primary school – a site totally unsuited to the raison d'etre for this piece, according to my sources.

Is it asking too much of the chairman/woman/person in charge of the committee's decision to consider whether chucking-out (for that is what it amounts to) a treasured symbol of times past is better than (bravely) sinking the hubristic posture and confessing to a severe miscalculation – before things solidify into a permanent stand-off? Hard­ly. – M.E. Parker, Kensley Vale, Cinderford.