MAY we reply to the recent letters criticising our concerns over the renaming of St. Chad's and Fishpool schools.

There is no reason for the joint-name change to St. Luke's. The so-called "new" school is merely a reversion to the position of 70 years ago; then St. Chad's had both infant and junior classes. It would seem to be change for the sake of change.

One of our critics, using a quotation from Shakespeare, implied that a given name meant little, if anything. In that case, why change it in the first place?

Rev. Frances Ward, as chairman of both the old and the new governing bodies, is in a uniquely powerful position.

We feel we are entitled to contrast the massive and successful publicity given to the relatively trivial act of having her head shaved, with the lack of publicity surrounding the destruction of the good name of St. Chad's after more than a century. The people of Fishpool were presented with a fait accompli and, to add insult to injury, the assertion that they would "get used to it".

We no longer live in Fishpool but we were all born and brought up there, attending both schools and retaining a deep and lasting interest in them. Does that not qualify us to have an opinion? We all lived in Fishpool longer than many of those chosen to vote on this matter. And we know that we are not alone in our views, and the Rev. Ward's comment about "local residents whose opinions we respect'' sounds rather hollow in view of the fact that only 119 people voted for the new name out of a population in Fishpool of 3,000.

There is widespread anger which no amount of pious hope, wishful thinking or comforting words can disguise. The truth is that the "new" school would have got off to a better start without the disruption that the imposition of this meaningless name has brought about.

MICHAEL H. HELM,

ROY STUTTARD,

MARJORIE DUNN (nee Firth)